So you liked trekking to Cannes for VMworld? Pony up for autumn in the U.K. to attend the vendor-independent "Virtualization Congress."

The congress is run by virtualization.info and currently has sponsorship deals with Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware. I'm hoping it also has a vendor-rep cage fight in the works to keep things really interesting. I'm planning to attend, cage fight or no, if I can swing my schedule for Oct. 14-16.

Do formal sponsors equate to true vendor independence? I prefer to think of this as a 'no dominant vendor' Virtualization Congress 2008. Sponsorship guarantees participation in strength from the big vendors and an opportunity for third-party players to show off cross-platform capabilities.

The first day of the show is specifically targeted at European channel partners and distributors, with the second and third days of the congress set up as a wide-open ticket of open forums, expert talking heads, product demos, and the usual trade show goodness.

I suspect the show will have a nice competitive edge going as the leading virt platform vendors and assorted hangers-on tout their wares and trash-talk the competition.

Quest Software (providers of desktop and app virtualization solutions), ManageIQ, and others also are on board as sponsors. I expect the list will grow thanks to the efforts of virtualization.info's sale team.

Event details are still getting hammered out; the published agenda currently lists three keynotes and 18 breakout sessions without additional detail. That's how these things work. I'll be keeping my eye on the speakers list and planned fun to come.

Early registrants can pay £595 ($1,180.89 U.S.) through April 30 vs. £795 ($1,578.54 U.S.) up to April 13 or £995 ($1,975.65 U.S.) for indecisive walk-ins.

I hope I'll see you there.