I still remember when VMware was the new kid on the block.
These days, they’re the market leader rather than the market disruptor, but—as the latest edition of VMworld proved—they still haven’t lost their edge, especially their appreciation for the cutting edge.
VMware no longer has to trumpet the virtues of virtualization; everybody gets it now. Instead, VMware spent a lot of VMworld talking about the next generation of cloud technologies, from supporting containers to managing cross-clouds. Those who attended VMworld in Las Vegas this year saw a company that was leveraging its position as a market leader to shape the cloud of tomorrow.
Listening to the show’s themes, you heard a lot of words that will become more commonplace in IT over the next few years including:
“Container orchestration”
This has the potential to be a game changer. Today, if I want to move a cloud app from VMware into AWS, for example, it’s not a simple process. VMware is embracing the idea of containers, and container orchestration will allow cloud apps to move seamlessly between clouds. VMware, for their part, is betting on the idea that their virtual environment will be the best place to join those containers.
“Infrastructure as Code (IaC)”
Imagine an app that can configure what it needs for itself: security, capacity, etc. That’s the revolutionary idea behind IaC and, like containers, it will fundamentally change the way IT operates.
“Stateless compute infrastructure”
As more apps move into the cloud, a stateless infrastructure becomes important because it allows sessions to shift to different servers or resources easily. A stateless infrastructure will basically create a fail-safe cloud.
“Cross-clouds”
Many enterprises have already adopted a hybrid approach to the cloud by deploying apps in both public and private cloud environments. In the future, cross-clouds will be the norm and enterprises will need tools to manage multiple clouds using centralized tools and processes.
“Cloud Foundation”
This is VMware’s own branded approach to building cloud solutions. The VMware Cloud Foundation provides a single, software-defined platform that integrates machine virtualization (vSphere), storage (VSAN), and network virtualization (NSX) into a packaged solution, which makes clouds easier to deploy and manage.
Clearly, the cloud conversation is just getting interesting. What impressed me at VMworld was VMware’s understanding that the cloud is bigger than any one company. They realize that VMware won’t have all the answers (VMware + EMC + Dell, perhaps…), and they’re committed to partnering with the next generation of cloud disruptors to find those answers.
For more on cross-clouds, containers, and Infrastructure as Code, stay tuned here. ▪