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VMworld 2015: VMware Announces vCloud Air SQL
The new database as a service will initially run Microsoft SQL Server in hybrid cloud scenarios.
VMware announced this week that it has launched vCloud Air SQL, a new database as a service for organizations looking to move their SQL Server applications online without having to modify them.
Unveiled at this week's VMworld conference in San Francisco, the new service is available for testing through VMware's early access program and is planned for general availability by year's end.
The service will initially use Microsoft's SQL Server database to support various memory, compute and storage configurations, though VMware said it will offer other relational databases in the future. It'll work in hybrid cloud environments, allowing organizations to use company's public cloud to scale their databases.
"It's the identical SQL Server you might run inside your own datacenter, so that differentiates it from the Azure competitive offering [now called Azure Database], which is not the same," said Matthew Lodge, VMware's VP of cloud services and product marketing, in an interview at VMworld. "For a lot of our customers, that compatibility really matters to them. Database migrations are hard. Companies don't want to change the technology unless it's a port to a new platform, and they are probably doing that for a different reason."
The company sees two use cases for the forthcoming vCloud Air SQL service: "Organizations can accelerate time-to-market using vCloud Air SQL to rapidly provision database instances in the cloud for development and testing and then run applications in production, either on VMware vCloud Air, or back on-premises in a 100 percent compatible environment," said Michael Cincinatus, VMware's senior director of product marketing for cloud services, in a blog post. "Additionally, organizations can extend on-premises applications with next generation mobile or Web-based cloud native applications running in VMware vCloud Air, using VMware vCloud Air SQL."
VMware is offering its early access testers up to $300 in service credits to trial the new database service.
About the Author
Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.