VMware's CloudVolumes Buy to Transform Application Deployment

With the acquisition of CloudVolumes this week, VMware (VMW) aims to change the way applications are installed, deployed and managed. In fact, if VMware has its way, the whole notion of installing applications on a client device soon may be obsolete.

CloudVolumes makes use of containers that enable applications to bind to their associated storage resources in real time. VMware envisions a world where end users will access applications running in containers on VMware virtual machines that can be fully personalized because all the associated storage volumes for that application can be invoked on demand, said Sumit Dhawan, senior vice president and general manager at VMware.

In that model, he noted, there is no actual installation of an application. Because applications now run on a container on the server, the management of desktop applications becomes a whole lot simpler. In fact, Dhawan said the inspiration to use containers to simplify that process can be linked directly to an application installation process already widely used on smartphones and tablets that can be provisioned in a matter of seconds.

Dhawan likens the historic challenges associated with application management to a “dirty diaper” that previously no one in the industry really wanted to open because it stinks so bad. But with applications running in containers, Dhawan said it now will be much simpler for IT organizations to manage applications at a level of unprecedented scale, running on servers rather than hundreds or thousands of client devices.

The real problem, he said, is the whole notion of installing an application was developed prior to the existence of virtual machines. With the proliferation of virtual servers, the time to rethink how applications are provisioned and accessed is at hand.

Initially, CloudVolumes containers will be deployed on servers on-premise, Dhawan said. For solution providers in the channel, the implications of using containers to make applications more easily accessible on those servers could be profound: Instead of installing applications across thousands of endpoint devices, desktop application management becomes an extension of virtualization management. That means not only do server and desktop application management become unified, but the complexity of the overall IT environment that needs to be managed is sharply reduced.

Ironically, the development of the CloudVolumes container technology was led by Harry Labana, chief product officer at CloudVolumes. Prior to taking on that role, Labana was a CTO at Citrix, where he also worked with Dhawan before he joined VMware.

Of course, there’s a long way to go before that vision becomes the new IT reality. Despite the existence of desktop virtualization for years now, the number of total desktops that have been virtualized still can be counted in single digits in terms of overall market share. But it's clear the rise of containers that can be dynamically accessed on servers has the potential to change the way applications are deployed and managed in Windows environments. And once that occurs, the argument for installing applications on a local device just got a whole lot weaker.