VMware Extends Collaboration with Microsoft to Make it Easier for Customers to Run Enterprise Workloads in Microsoft Azure

VMware, Inc. extended its ongoing collaboration with Microsoft to help customers with an Azure-first strategy to modernize enterprise VMware vSphere workloads quickly and cost-effectively in Microsoft Azure. Customers will be able to purchase Azure VMware Solution as part of VMware Cloud Universal, a flexible purchasing and consumption program for executing multi-cloud and digital transformation strategies.

“The availability of Azure VMware Solution through VMware Cloud Universal makes it easier for customers to adopt Azure VMware Solution as part of a multi-cloud strategy,” said Zia Yusuf, senior vice president, strategic ecosystem and industry solutions, VMware. “VMware Cloud Universal customers will gain greater flexibility to adopt Azure VMware Solution at their own pace to speed cloud migration, simplify ongoing operations, modernize applications faster and achieve better economics while benefitting from a single operating model across clouds.”

VMware Cloud Universal is ideal for customers committed to a hybrid cloud architecture; that have extended or variable cloud migration timelines; that have cloud bursting requirements; or desire an OPEX model for on-premises infrastructure. With VMware Cloud Universal, customers purchase credits for VMware’s multi-cloud infrastructure and management and apply these credits to deployments of Azure VMware Solution and other VMware Cross-Cloud services.

With Azure VMware Solution, customers benefit from the scale, performance, and innovation of Azure and the enterprise capabilities of VMware Cloud to run VMware vSphere workloads in the cloud. Azure VMware Solution enables customers to achieve higher availability and better security with a VMware Cloud environment built on industry-leading vSphere, vSAN, and NSX capabilities running natively on dedicated Azure infrastructure. Consistent VMware Cloud infrastructure and operations and the ability to use existing skillsets, tools, and training help reduce costs and simplify operations in the cloud. Built-in advanced networking and security help safeguard against modern, laterally moving threats. Customers can also accelerate app innovation and modernization by leveraging the rich set of developer solutions available in Azure, including VMware Tanzu.

“Digital transformation holds the promise of enabling new business models, improving customer experiences, and delivering better outcomes for organizations,” said Kathleen Mitford, corporate vice president, Azure Marketing, Microsoft Corp. “This promise is often held back by business and technical realities, talent shortages, or financial constraints. Azure VMware Solution offers a unique path to help enterprise customers overcome these challenges and sets itself apart to help these organizations modernize and better secure their vSphere workloads with a combined set of unique features and compelling economic benefits only Microsoft can deliver.”

Sentara Healthcare is an integrated, not-for-profit healthcare delivery system which serves over 900,000 members. “With Azure VMware Solution, we were able to meet an aggressive data center evacuation deadline,” said Matthew Douglas, Chief Enterprise Architect at Sentara Healthcare. “We now run in a more modern and secure environment, with the ability to use NSX micro-segmentation to apply consistent security policies across our environments. Sentara is also better positioned to simplify IT operations as we continue to experience further M&A. Being able to apply Azure credits helped us lower our overall TCO.”

Moving to Azure VMware Solution has the potential to yield significant financial benefits to customers. A Total Economic Impact study commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Forrester Consulting shows a composite organization found a projected ROI between 125% and 274% and projected TCO savings ranged from $3 million to more than $7 million over three years. Specifically, customers can lower overall costs for Microsoft applications running on vSphere. Customers benefit from free extended security updates for Windows Server and SQL Server 2008 and 2012, the ability to bring and use existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses to the cloud with Azure Hybrid Benefit, and support for Microsoft 365 and Azure with Horizon® virtual desktop environments.