VMware Cloud Assumes New Mantle as Multicloud Adoption Soars

VMware aims to capitalize on the multicloud movement with the release Wednesday of three components within its newly holistic VMware Cloud platform.

The additions – VMware Cloud Universal, VMware Cloud Console and App Navigator – will not be immediately available through the channel; rather, VMware wants to give its direct teams time to iron out any kinks in the modules.

This approach mirrors the one the company took with NSX and VMWare Cloud on AWS.

Tracy-Ann Palmer is vice president, partner programs and experience, at VMware.

VMware’s Tracy-Ann Palmer

“This is by design, similar to how we have rolled out other first-generation offerings,” Palmer told Channel Futures. “We believe partners will benefit from the early work we do with customers and want to ensure partners get access to a mature and proven solution when the time comes.”

Even though there’s no timeline on channel readiness, partners will want to stay abreast of the VMware Cloud developments as multicloud environments grow in popularity.

Multicloud and the Rise of VMware Cloud

Research firm Gartner predicts that, by next year, around 75% of enterprises using infrastructure as a service will employ a multicloud strategy. That’s up from 49% in 2017.

VMware has been preparing to take advantage of that trend. To that point, the vendor now positions its familiar VMware Cloud brand as a complete multicloud offering. In other words, VMware Cloud represents more than infrastructure or pieces of IaaS such as VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware Cloud on AWS.

Instead, these days, VMware Cloud contains a full set of modular, multicloud services, according to the vendor. This means the platform accommodates modern and legacy apps. It further applies to developers and operators, pertains to any cloud and on-premises setting, connects to all native-cloud services, and features unified operations and security, VMware says.

More specifically, VMware Cloud lets customers deploy apps to VMware Cloud Foundation running in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle Cloud; on VMware Cloud on Dell EMC; and across VMware Cloud Verified partners. VMware Cloud users further can deploy and operate across native public clouds, and give developers access to all native-cloud services.

“With VMware Cloud, partners can provide their customers a single-cloud operating model for their multicloud reality, and enable customers to gain portability to help address the challenges of single-cloud silos,” Palmer said.

So, expect to hear VMware talk about the new(ish) VMware Cloud as the umbrella offering for a host of tools. And the resources debuting Wednesday are VMware Cloud Universal, VMware Cloud Console and App Navigator.

Exploring the 3 New Parts of VMware Cloud

First up, VMware Cloud Universal. VMware calls this a flexible subscription that simplifies how customers buy and consume its multicloud infrastructure and management services. Users will buy once and redeem credits for eligible services during the contract time frame. VMware says this will especially provide financial benefits for organizations moving from the company’s perpetual licenses to cloud. That way, they can move to the cloud at their own pace.

In addition, customers may convert and apply unused on-premises Cloud Foundation credits toward VMware Cloud on AWS or VMware Cloud on Dell EMC at any point during the term. VMware Cloud Universal also features VMware Tanzu Standard edition for easier Kubernetes deployment and operation.

VMware Cloud Universal best suits users fitting the following descriptions:

Palmer called Cloud Universal “a promising path forward in how …

… our customers will want to transact.” That’s because, she said, “it is the next step in uncoupling the purchase decision from the deployment plan.”

When it comes time for the channel to provide VMware Cloud Universal, partners will be able to engage more deeply with value-added services across the customer life cycle, Palmer added.

The next new piece of VMware Cloud is the Cloud Console. As the name implies, it’s a monitoring and management portal for VMware Cloud infrastructure, regardless of where it’s deployed. The Cloud Console also allows users to redeem credits, provision eligible VMware Cloud Universal deployments and get support from VMware.

Finally, VMware created App Navigator for faster app and cloud modernization. It’s actually a service where customers work with VMware experts. Together, the parties figure out what lives in an organization’s app portfolio and then decide what to do with those programs.

Prepping for the Next Cloud Wave

VMware’s Raghu Raghuram

Raghu Raghuram is COO of products and cloud services at VMware.

“We are on the cusp of the next evolution of cloud and apps,” he said. “Architectures are becoming distributed and increasingly multicloud, while modern applications will soon outnumber traditional apps. The challenge for any CIO is to take advantage of this new innovation without introducing more complexity and risk.”

VMware Cloud, with its new elements, addresses those challenges, VMware says.

“VMware continues to provide our partners more support and tools to differentiate and transform their business and VMware practices,” Palmer said. The VMware Cloud platform gives partners “one of the most complete solutions for helping their customers accelerate both application and infrastructure modernization,” she added.

Organizations in all English-speaking countries now have access to Cloud Universal, Cloud Console and App Navigator.