Just like other revolutionary IT technologies that have come before it - open systems, Windows, and the Internet to name a few - VMware?s rapid march into the data center has been accompanied by some "broken glass". Many of the companies that have gotten the most benefit from VMware have also found that wholesale changes were required in tools, processes, and talent to make this technology work in an enterprise-class fashion. This paper examines some of the most significant management challenges that are coming in the next wave of the virtual data center and what's required to solve them.