VMware Cloud On AWS Helps Customers Across Europe Migrate and Modernize Applications

At VMworld 2019 Europe, VMware, Inc. announced VMware Cloud on AWS will be launching in the AWS EU (Stockholm) region, bringing the total number of available global regions in Europe to five and globally to 17 in just over two years. VMware also announced new capabilities for the company’s flagship hybrid cloud service that will enable both customers and partners to drive greater value from the consistent infrastructure and operations delivered by VMware Cloud on AWS.

“Momentum for VMware Cloud on AWS continues as customers expand their adoption of our unique hybrid cloud service,” said Mark Lohmeyer, senior vice president and general manager, cloud platform business unit, VMware. “With total VMs up 9x, the number of partners with their VMware Cloud on AWS Competency up 3x, and the number of available ISV partner validated solutions up 3x in just the past year, we’re now ready to launch our fifth region in EMEA in Stockholm. This will enable customers in the Nordics to adopt VMware Cloud on AWS as part of their cloud strategy. Our innovation engine also continues to deliver capabilities that set VMware Cloud on AWS apart. Customers will now be able to migrate and modernize their applications with integrated Kubernetes support.”

Modernizing Applications with Kubernetes on VMware Cloud on AWS
Organizations that want to run containers and Kubernetes on VMware Cloud on AWS can start today with VMware PKS. Combined with VMware Cloud on AWS, customers can quickly create and scale their Kubernetes clusters. In addition, they can minimize disruptions to applications by easily rolling back any incompatible updates. With additional support from VMware’s expert Kubernetes Architect Team, customers can architect and deploy a Kubernetes platform that is customized to their needs, and ready their in-house team to operate a cloud native infrastructure. In the future, VMware Cloud on AWS customers will also be able to leverage Project Pacific, which will transform VMware vSphere into a Kubernetes native platform.

Migrating Any Application to VMware Cloud on AWS Leads to Lower Total Costs
Organizations use VMware Cloud on AWS to support business growth, drive digital transformation, improve development cycles and optimize costs. A critical path to adoption is addressing challenges that increase migration time, cost and risk. With capabilities such as VMware HCX, VMware vMotion, L2 Stretched networks and VMware NSX / AWS Direct Connect integration, VMware addresses customers’ migration requirements. VMware will add the following new VMware HCX cloud migration capabilities:

• OS Assisted Migration: Ability to migrate non-vSphere workloads such as applications running in RedHat OpenStack/KVM, and Microsoft Hyper-V environments to VMware Cloud on AWS. This will provide customers a simple path to rebalance and re-platform workloads to a VMware Cloud on AWS.
• VMware HCX cross-SDDC (Region to Region) and inter-cloud migration: Capability will enable push-button migration and extension of networks and interconnectivity between VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC running in different AWS Regions, something previously not possible. By providing the ability to extend networks between regions, customers can make their policies and configurations more consistent. This capability will also enable customers with the choice to connect and move workloads between other VMware-based clouds and VMware Cloud on AWS.

A Total Economic Impact (TEI) study commissioned by VMware and conducted by Forrester Consulting showed a composite organization saved 59 percent of operational costs in the cloud, versus the equivalent capacity on-premises. Additionally, the following risk-adjusted present value quantified benefits are representative of those experienced by the companies interviewed:

• Avoided application redesign, totaling savings of $2.7M
• Reduced labor hours for operations, saving $1.2M
• Reduction in data center operating costs, totaling $1.4M
• Software and hardware savings of $3.2M

Download and read the full study here.

New Multi-Tenancy Capabilities for Managed Service Providers
VMware Cloud Director service is a new solution that will enable VMware Cloud on AWS managed service providers (MSPs) to better address the requirements of small- and medium-sized businesses. VMware Cloud Director brings the proven multi-tenant capabilities of VMware vCloud Director to VMware Cloud on AWS, allowing MSPs to share VMware Cloud on AWS instances and the overall costs, across multiple tenants. VMware Cloud Director service will provide cross-site networking capabilities with existing vCloud Director infrastructures thereby creating a hyper-distributed provider management plane. Cloud providers will have the ability to slice and dice VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC resources, and have fine-grained control of resource allocation and consumption. Cloud providers will also be able to offer customers with a custom branded user experience.

VMware Cloud on AWS Customer Stories
William Hill plc is one of the world’s leading betting and gaming companies. “Cloud is at the heart of our business; it’s the only way we can transform and achieve our business objectives. We have a two-year plan to move all applications to the public cloud,” said Sarah Lucas, head of platforms and infrastructure, William Hill. “VMware Cloud on AWS provides William Hill with a more secure and agile hybrid cloud platform built on consistent infrastructure and operations. With VMware Cloud on AWS, William Hill is migrating workloads quickly with no refactoring, allowing us to meet our data center evacuation and cloud migration timelines. The speed of migrations, and the operational efficiency we have gained by leveraging our existing VMware processes, skills and tools allow us to more easily meet the dynamic capacity requirements of key sporting events like the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National.”

The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the UK’s biggest public service department, responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. “Three years ago, much of our IT was outsourced and we were suffering under monolithic contracts with 12 to 24 month delivery cycles, limited flexibility, and no control. We wanted to take back control of IT,” said Steven Prescott-Jones, OPH Lead- Hybrid Cloud, DWP. “VMware Cloud on AWS gives us complete control of a modern hybrid cloud environment, with consistent infrastructure and operations that empower us to place applications in the best possible environments, whether that’s on-premises or in the cloud. We can now take advantage of a genuine consumption-based model where we’re paying only for what we need, ensuring our platforms are now cost-optimized, and we are lowering operational expenses through automated provisioning and streamlined management. Most importantly, our applications perform better for our users.”

Rackspace is a leading VMware Cloud on AWS managed services provider and a Cloud Verified partner.
Lee James, CTO Rackspace EMEA said, “Rackspace today offers a hybrid cloud services portfolio that allows customers such as Metro Bank to offload the complexity of deploying, integrating and managing applications, and gives them the services needed to accelerate their IT modernization initiatives. Rackspace was one of the first managed service providers for VMware Cloud on AWS, and we’ve evolved our offering with VMware HCX-based cloud migration services, managed Guest OS services and forthcoming managed external storage services. With these capabilities, Rackspace offers customers a hybrid-interconnect to enable fast, simple and more secure application migration and portability across VMware-based private clouds and VMware Cloud on AWS, increased storage scalability without the need to purchase additional hosts, and access to Fanatical Experience for operating systems on customer VMs.”

About VMware Cloud on AWS
VMware Cloud on AWS is a jointly engineered service that brings VMware’s enterprise class software-defined data center capabilities to Amazon Web Services (AWS), with optimized access to AWS services. The service offers fast cloud migration, powered by VMware HCX and vMotion combined with consistent hybrid cloud infrastructure and operations. Once applications are migrated, customers can extend the capabilities of these applications through integration of native AWS services, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), and Amazon SageMaker. In the future, through innovative technology such as Bitfusion and partnerships with industry leaders such as NVIDIA, customers will be able to enrich existing applications and power modern enterprise applications, including AI, machine learning, and data analytics workflows, through best-in-class GPU acceleration services.

Availability

The following capabilities are expected to be available in VMware Q4 FY20 ending January 31, 2020: VMware Cloud on AWS availability in AWS EU (Stockholm) Region, VMware PKS with VMware Cloud on AWS, HCX OS Assisted Migration, HCX cross-SDDC and inter-cloud migration. VMware Cloud Director service is expected to be in beta in Q4 FY20.