VMware unveils unified platform for the hybrid cloud

• NSX and vCloud Air to bridge public and private clouds with a single network
• vSphere 6 to deliver more than 650 new features and innovations

CLOUD and virtualisation specialist VMware Inc has announced what it claimed was the industry’s first unified platform of virtualised compute, networking and storage for the hybrid cloud.
 
Defined in software, the platform will enable customers to create one consistent environment across the private and public cloud to run, protect and manage any cloud-native or traditional application, VMware said in a statement.
 
The platform will also offers customers openness and choice in how to build and manage their applications and cloud environments based on their specific needs, the company added.

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The manner in which businesses create value is changing significantly, shifting value from hard assets to the more liquid assets of software and data. In this time of transition, IT is adopting the cloud to increase agility.
 
In doing so, IT must sort out the mire of ‘somewhat’ compatible on- and off-premises cloud platforms. And, they must do all of this while managing the requisite levels of security and compliance, VMware said.
 
VMware is helping customers through this time of transition by putting software and data at the core of the business to enable a ‘new model of IT.’
 
“Every traditional industry across the globe is being transformed by software,” said its chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger (pic above).
 
“To navigate and thrive in the face of this change, businesses must be decisive in the face of uncertainty.
 
“Today, we are taking another leap forward in helping our customers meet these demands through a unified platform, defined in software, which will offer unmatched choice and extends our innovations across compute, networking and storage to deliver the hybrid cloud,” he added.
 
Unveiled today during a recent live event in San Francisco, VMware detailed the following new solutions and services for the hybrid cloud:
 
VMware vSphere 6
Calling it the foundation for the hybrid cloud, VMware said vSphere 6 features more than 650 new features and innovations, delivering new capabilities to address the unique needs of business-critical and cloud-native applications with higher performance, scale and consolidation ratios.
 
VMware Integrated OpenStack
 
VMware Integrated OpenStack is an OpenStack distribution that will enable organisations to quickly and cost-effectively provide developers with open APIs (application programming interfaces) to access VMware’s enterprise-class infrastructure.
 
VMware packages, tests and supports all components of the distribution, including the open source OpenStack code, and will provide the distribution free of charge to VMware vSphere customers.
 
VMware Virtual SAN 6 and vSphere Virtual Volumes
 
Designed to enable mass adoption of software-defined storage, VMware Virtual SAN 6 will introduce significant scalability and performance enhancements to the company’s hypervisor-converged storage solution.
 
Additionally, VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes will offer a new level of storage integration to make external arrays natively aware of virtual machines.
 
VMware vCloud Air
 
Expanding on integration work announced earlier this year, VMware revealed vCloud Air hybrid networking services that will help customers bridge VMware’s vCloud Air public cloud service and VMware vSphere-based private clouds to enable a single, secure network domain through a gateway appliance.
 
VMware NSX is a network virtualisation platform that delivers the entire networking and security model from L2-L7 (Layers 2 to 7) in software.
 
VMware NSX is being deployed as the networking foundation for VMware vCloud Air.
 
Available via a phased release starting in the first half of 2015, VMware vCloud Air hybrid networking services will enable customers to maintain hundreds of virtual networks spanning the private cloud and vCloud Air over a single WAN (wide area network) connection, and share the same fine-grained ‘zero trust’ security policies and network isolation for applications, unchanged.
 
VMware vSphere 6, VMware Integrated OpenStack, VMware Virtual SAN 6 and VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes are expected to become available in the first quarter of this year.
 
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