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VMware Teases Tanzu Application Service Update Ahead of VMworld 2021 Launch

• By David Ramel
• 10/04/2021

VMware is teasing an update to its Tanzu Application Service that will be introduced during this week's three-day VMworld online-only tech event.

The company describes Tanzu Application Service as a modern runtime for microservices, targeting organizations that want to securely deploy and run microservices whether in the cloud or on-premises. This week, the firm will debut Tanzu Application Service 2.12, following the previous v2.11 release that shipped in March, featuring "jump upgrades" (as opposed to sequential, version-by-version upgrades) and better compatibility with the vSphere cloud computing virtualization platform.

Lately a lot has been happening in the Tanzu ecosystem, which includes tech for microservices, containers, Kubernetes and other cloud-native offerings. Last month, for example, we reported that Microsoft is previewing a new enterprise Java service for its Azure cloud platform, powered by VMware Tanzu components, called Azure Spring Cloud Enterprise. One of the typical use cases for that read: "Customers want an Azure native experience and want to transition their Tanzu Application Service (TAS) workloads."

At about the same time, VMware announced the public beta of the Tanzu Application Platform for building and deploying cloud native applications on Kubernetes. "Tanzu Application Platform provides a better developer experience so enterprises can take advantage of all that Kubernetes has to offer, while reducing the toil that slows developers down and keeps them from doing what they love," the company said.

Tanzu is a natural fit for Kubernetes, of course, and VMware's recent State of Kubernetes report showed that in a ranking of managed Kubernetes services, Tanzu saw an increase in reported use from 14 percent last year to 20 percent this year.

However, it still trails the leading alternatives from AWS, Microsoft, Red Hat and Google, and VMware is clearly trying to spur momentum with its advance notice of an impending upgrade, of which the details are scarce.

"With a relentless focus on enhanced security and performance for enterprise workloads, Tanzu Application Service 2.12 will include developer productivity features, such as HTTP/2 support and several other command-line interface enhancements," VMware said in an Oct. 1 blog post ahead of VMworld 2021, which starts tomorrow, Oct. 5, and runs through Thursday.

The show's agenda shows an emphasis on Tanzu, with some several sessions focusing on Tanzu Application Service:

• Meet the Experts: VMware Tanzu Application Service [APP2647]
• Bootiful Vaccine Scavenger: Tanzu Vanguards on Tanzu Application Service [APP1227]
• Transforming Customer Experiences with VMware's App Modernization Platform [APP1319]

and others focusing on various parts of Tanzu in general:

• VMware Tanzu Portfolio Overview for Cloud Providers for KaaS [DEM2998]
• The Fast Path to Kubernetes with VMware Tanzu [APP1630]
• Testing Tanzu on the Desktop [CODE2759]
• VMware Tanzu for Developers [GWS-HOL-2235-01-MAP]
• Explore New VMware Tanzu Frontiers [APP1482]
• Get Started with vSphere with Tanzu [MCL1648]
• VMware Tanzu Standard Overview [DEM2961]

VMware also included the session "Understanding the Security Landscape of Kubernetes with VMW Tanzu [SEC3062S]" in its post today on "Not to miss sessions featuring VMware Partners."

Stay tuned for more on Tanzu and other VMware products as the show kicks off tomorrow.