NEW DELHI: Salesforce.com and VMware have announced a partnership to jointly deliver, sell and support a new enterprise Java cloud called VMforce. This was announced at an event in San Francisco hosted by the CEOs of the two companies.

VMforce will bring together the technologies, expertise and communities of the two leading cloud computing companies driving the tectonic shifts in the information technology industry.

With VMforce, the more than six million enterprise Java developers, including the over two million developers using the Spring framework backed by the SpringSource division of VMware will have an open path to cloud computing. Now, CIOs and IT departments will be able to leverage their existing programming skills and investments in Java applications and take full advantage of the Force.com platform to build Cloud 2 enterprise applications that are social and work on any mobile device in real-time. VMforce will dramatically simplify how enterprises and enterprise Java developers can harness the economics of cloud computing without compromising the flexibility, control and choice they require.

“Enterprise Java developers, welcome Cloud 2. This fundamental shift incorporates cloud computing, real-time collaboration and mobile devices like the iPad to meet the new needs of the enterprise. Now, in partnership with VMware, we are delivering VMforce and bringing Java to Force.com so enterprise Java developers can create powerful new innovative Cloud 2 apps," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce.com.

“Companies are looking for solutions that deliver the benefits of cloud computing while leveraging existing resources, expertise and infrastructure. By creating a dramatically simplified solution for modern application development, VMforce is a significant step forward in offering our customers a path that bridges existing internal investments with the resources and flexibility of the cloud,” said Paul Maritz, President and CEO, Vmware.

VMforce is designed to deliver the first enterprise Java cloud that is:

· Trusted: Running on Salesforce.com’s trusted global infrastructure, VMforce will inherit the benefits of a service delivery infrastructure that has received some of the most stringent security industry accreditations including ISO 27001, SysTrust and SAS70 Type II. Thousands of the largest companies worldwide are already working with VMware and salesforce.com. With VMforce they can leverage the combined strength of both companies to take their mission critical enterprise apps to the cloud.

· Open: VMforce will support standard Java code: plain old Java objects (POJOs), Java Server Pages (JSPs), Java Servlets and more through the popular Spring framework. By building enterprise Java apps with Spring, companies will be able to easily port enterprise Java apps onto VMforce or vice versa.

· Elastic: With VMforce applications can scale automatically. VMforce customers will not have to worry about scaling up app servers, databases or infrastructure to meet performance demand. VMforce can handle scalability automatically as a service.

· Complete: VMforce will provide a comprehensive solution for enterprise Java development in the cloud, including the trusted global infrastructure, virtualization platform, orchestration and management technology, relational cloud database, development platform and collaboration services, application run time, development framework, tooling and more.

· Cloud 2: Cloud 2 combines next generation mobility, social collaboration and real-time information access, creating new levels of productivity and taking enterprise cloud computing to the next level.