Here we are again – this time in beautiful Lisbon for the Veeam 100 Summit 2026. After years of Prague (with that special Czech connection for me) and one edition in Berlin, Veeam chose a brand-new location on the Atlantic coast. Michael Cade already tweeted about it being a first for him, and I completely share the excitement. New city, same incredible community of Veeam Vanguards, Legends, MVPs and VUG Leaders gathering with the product teams.
I’ve been part of this journey for a long time. I still remember the first Veeam Vanguard Summit in Prague back in a day, then the expanded Veeam 100 editions. You can revisit some of those memories here:
- Veeam Vanguard Summit Prague 2018
- Veeam 100 Summit Prague – My Czech Roots!
- Veeam100 Summit in Berlin 2024 – This year is extraordinary
- Veeam 100 Summit Prague 2025
Every year the group grows a bit, and every year it still feels like coming back to the “Veeam Family”. Even though I’m not a Veeam employee, after blogging about the product since version 3.0 (yes, that far back) and writing hundreds of posts on ESX Virtualization, it really does feel that way.
Arrival and First Impressions
Lisbon is a fantastic choice. The light, the hills, the food, the history – it creates a different atmosphere from the Central European venues we’re used to. The welcome reception (usually sponsored by partners like Wasabi and Object First in previous years) is always the perfect ice-breaker. You reconnect with old friends, meet the new faces, and the energy immediately rises. Nothing beats those first evening conversations after a year apart.As always, the formal sessions start the next day.
The format remains the same and it works: general sessions mixed with breakouts so you can choose what is most relevant to you. Some content is of course marked “red” – confidential – and stays inside the room. That trust is one of the things that makes the Veeam 100 Summit special. Product management and engineering share roadmaps, early previews, and challenges openly, and in return they get honest, direct feedback from people who actually run the software in production every day.
What’s Top of Mind This Year
Coming into Lisbon, the big themes are clear from the public announcements and from what we’ve been testing and writing about all year:
- The continued maturation of the Veeam Software Appliance (VSA) – the hardened Linux-based appliance that arrived with v13 and keeps improving. I’ve covered the migration path, and related topics extensively on the blog.
- Intelligent ResOps and the broader push into data and AI trust. Veeam recently made Intelligent ResOps for Microsoft 365 generally available, with more identity and platform coverage coming.
- Performance and scale improvements in the 13.x line, better multi-hypervisor support, and the ongoing evolution of Veeam ONE, Kasten, and the rest of the Data Platform.
- Community and education initiatives (Veeam University Pro was already previewed last year).
I expect deep dives into these areas, plus the usual excellent sessions on automation, hardened repositories, immutability, and real-world field stories. Last year in Prague the sessions on automated VSA deployment and the architectural changes in Veeam ONE were particularly strong. I’m looking forward to the 2026 equivalents.
The Networking Side
Let’s be honest – the technical content is fantastic, but half of the value is the people. Over the years I’ve built real friendships with fellow Vanguards and Legends from all over the world. Dinner with the “old gang”, spontaneous technical debates in the corridor, late-evening chats about what’s working (and what still needs improvement) in production environments – that’s gold.
The addition of VUG Leaders in recent years was a smart move by Veeam; it brings even more diversity of experience into the room.
I’m already looking forward to catching up with familiar faces and making new connections. The summit is short (usually two packed days of content), so you live inside the hotel and sessions most of the time. It’s intense, but that’s also why it works.
Looking Ahead
I’ll keep and update this post (or write a follow-up) once the sessions are over and once any shareable materials become available. As usual, a good portion will stay “red”, but there is always plenty of public value that can be distilled and shared with the wider community on the blog.A huge thank-you in advance to the organising team – people like Rick Vanover, Madalina Cristil, Nikola Pejková, Safiya Mohamed and the rest of the community and product teams who make this event possible year after year.
More posts from ESX Virtualization:
- How to update your ESXi 7.x or 8.x to the latest ESXi 8.0U3k via command line
- Veeam Bare Metal Recovery from Recovery partition
- Veeam Backup and Replication Upgrade on Windows – Yes we can
- Securing Your Backups On-Premises: How StarWind VTL Fits Perfectly with Veeam and the 3-2-1 Rule
- VMware Alternative – OpenNebula: Powering Edge Clouds and GPU-Based AI Workloads with Firecracker and KVM
- Another VMware Alternative Called Harvester – How does it compare to VMware?
- VMware vSphere 9 Standard and Enterprise Plus – Not Anymore?
- Vulnerability in your VMs – VMware Tools Update
- VMware ESXi FREE is FREE again!
- No more FREE licenses of VMware vSphere for vExperts – What’s your options?
- VMware Workstation 17.6.2 Pro does not require any license anymore (FREE)
- Two New VMware Certified Professional Certifications for VMware administrators: VCP-VVF and VCP-VCF
- Patching ESXi Without Reboot – ESXi Live Patch – Yes, since ESXi 8.0 U3
- Update ESXi Host to the latest ESXi 8.0U3b without vCenter
- Upgrade your VMware VCSA to the latest VCSA 8 U3b – latest security patches and bug fixes
- VMware vSphere 8.0 U2 Released – ESXi 8.0 U2 and VCSA 8.0 U2 How to update
- What’s the purpose of those 17 virtual hard disks within VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 8.0?
- VMware vSphere 8 Update 2 New Upgrade Process for vCenter Server details
- What’s New in VMware Virtual Hardware v21 and vSphere 8 Update 2?
- vSphere 8.0 Page
- ESXi 7.x to 8.x upgrade scenarios
- VMware vCenter Server 7.03 U3g – Download and patch
- Upgrade VMware ESXi to 7.0 U3 via command line
- VMware vCenter Server 7.0 U3e released – another maintenance release fixing vSphere with Tanzu
- What is The Difference between VMware vSphere, ESXi and vCenter
- How to Configure VMware High Availability (HA) Cluster
Stay tuned through RSS, and social media channels (Twitter, FB, YouTube)




Leave a Reply