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VMworld 2017: AWS and VMware Lay Out Joint Cloud Effort
Well, it is official; VMware has jumped in with both feet into the partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to complete VMware's cloud vision.
As usual, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger kicked off VMworld 2017 with his keynote presentation on Monday. Gelsinger laid out VMware's strategy for the future, stressing the importance of its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as businesses increasingly move workloads to the cloud.
During the keynote, other public cloud providers were mentioned, but it's obvious that AWS is going to be the cloud of choice for VMware. VMware announced that VMware Cloud on AWS was available in one region immediately, and will be available in all AWS regions by 2018.
AppDefense was the other product stressed during today's keynote. Gelsinger brought IBM on stage for the announcement of AppDefense, which monitors the datacenter systems that will be able to analyze and, if needed, act to mitigate security risks. AppDefense will be available by the end of the year.
The opening general session was more focused on VMware's high-level vision and strategies. In the day two general session (Tuesday 9:00-10:30am PDT), VMware will delve more into the products in their current and soon-to-be-released product line. Highlight speakers include VMware CTO Ray O'Farrell and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies.
What Does This All Mean?
VMware Cloud on AWS was the biggest Monday announcement. VMware's vision is to allow the same VMware tools -- and perhaps more importantly -- your existing procedures and governance to manage your compute, storage and networking, whether it's on-premises or in the cloud. One important question about all this: will AWS be happy to supply only the cloud hardware and allow VMware to provide higher value services? Or will it eventually want to do more?
NSX -- VMware's software-defined networking (SDN) solution -- was also emphasized during Gelsinger's keynote, when he stated that it will take VMware into the next decade.
The biggest teaser during the keynote was related to how VMware will embrace containers. Many of the presenters mentioned that some exciting announcements will be made during the Day Two keynote about VMware and containers. For those not at the show, it's worth streaming the Tuesday keynote to find out more about the company's container vision.
About the Author
Tom Fenton has a wealth of hands-on IT experience gained over the past 30 years in a variety of technologies, with the past 20 years focusing on virtualization and storage. He currently works as a Technical Marketing Manager for ControlUp. He previously worked at VMware in Staff and Senior level positions. He has also worked as a Senior Validation Engineer with The Taneja Group, where he headed the Validation Service Lab and was instrumental in starting up its vSphere Virtual Volumes practice. He's on X @vDoppler.