VMware Hybrid Cloud Service Set For Release

VMware’s hybrid cloud strategy is set to be unveiled this week, and it appears as though it will intensify competition with Amazon Web Services and other competitors in the market.

At present, there are a number of details about the product which need to be clarified ahead of the release, and it needs to be ascertained whether the “vCloud Hybrid Service” will make use of the company’s own public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) in the value proposition, as suggested by VMware executives.

The senior director of cloud services at VMware, Matthew Lodge, stated that the cloud “uncompromisingly assumes you can make all your applications and systems fit their way of working in production.” Lodge adds that the company seeks “a new approach ... that starts inside your data center and extends out to support all applications -- both the new 'born in the cloud' application and your existing systems. We believe the hybrid cloud should allow you to seamlessly extend your data center to the public cloud leveraging the same infrastructure, same network, same management and skills.”

Furthermore, Lodge states that the software-defined data center strategy provided by the company and the VMware ecosystem with service providers systems integrators, ISVs and channel partners, are key to the new strategy.

Non-disclosure agreements have been signed by channel partners that have known about the strategy, but they did not comment on any details; the senior vice president of managed cloud solutions at Tempe, Arizona-based Insight, Bill McCarthy, is one of these channel partners.

McCarthy said: “This is a good fit, and I believe the marketplace needs this offering. Based on our early discussions over the last 90 days, it's going to complement what VMware is already doing, and it's going to give customers another opportunity to deal with the publisher directly.” He was unable to explain this in further detail due to the NDA.

He added: “I personally would not say that it's a game changer, but I do think that it's a needed solution. If I'm already selling VMware, why wouldn't I want to sell infrastructure as a service, as well?”

Both use cases and test cases have been working with a number of customers, and McCarthy expects that this information will be made available when the product is unveiled.

The principal at Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey-based Network Doctor (a VMware partner), Paul Hilbert, is another partner who is awaiting further news. He stated: “Hybrid cloud is definitely where the market seems to be going, because it's hard to go 100 percent into the cloud. Anything that they do for infrastructure as a service is going to be a good competitive move.”

Hilbert noted that VMware should provide better communication in order to strengthen relationships with channel partners. He said: “I don't hear anything from VMware at all. Other vendors tend to hold our hand a little bit, but I never hear from VMware. I would definitely like to get more information regarding road maps and other things that would help us to align our solutions with what they are offering.”

An environment of compressed margins might result due to the addition of new players in the infrastructure-as-a-service space, but the managing partner of New York City-based channel organization GigWerks, Joe Giegerich, said that this could be a positive move.

Giegerich said: “It’s an incredible race to the bottom in terms of price. I like that because the lower prices help to free up revenue. As the money goes out of platforms, it's good for services, which is where we make much of our money.”

He added: “The point of technology to me is to see it commoditize. It's not that money goes away, it merely shifts. And if the whole point of technology is to increase efficiency, then bringing down the price of hosted environments does nothing but free up opportunity for people who are in services who are focused on something other than standing up a box.” (CY) Link