VMware makes big push for virtualization of network and storage

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: VMware is making a big push towards virtualization of network and storage. VMworld 2013, the company's 10th annual event, was witness to a record number of releases and a record attendance of over 23,000 delegates!

A year after introducing the software-defined data center architecture, VMware claims its pioneering IT framework has gained wide acceptance across global business giants and start-ups.

The announcements made during the five-day event were around the next-gen products and services that will further enable the software-defined data center, new capabilities for VMware Horizon Suite and the availability of vCloud Hybrid service. These technologies are being described as "disruptive" in industry circles as VMware hopes to change the game with its vCloud Hybrid service, Virtual SAN and its NSX network virtualization platform.

VMware, which holds 60 percent market share in the server virtualization marketplace, with its software-defined data center strategy aims to give IT departments, flexibility to configure their data centers and clouds.

Pat Gelsinger, VMware CEO, set the conference in motion by stating that VMware was moving into the mobile/cloud era with social, mobile, cloud, and big data trends shaping this era.

Gelsinger points out that enterprise applications are becoming more like consumer applications and that there are three imperatives: virtualization beyond just compute, automation taking over IT management, and ubiquitous hybrid cloud. He highlighted the importance of storage, but mentioned that it is complex, and must address the requirements of today's apps, and also the requirements of the next generation of applications.

VMware NSX

The biggest announcement was the VMware NSX, a network virtualization platform that VMware sees will deliver the entire networking and security model in software, decoupled from networking hardware.

By virtualizing the network, VMware NSX boasts of delivering a new operational model for networking that breaks through current physical network barriers, allowing data center operators to achieve significantly better speed and agility, while reducing costs.

Just like server virtualization abstracts the operating system and applications from the physical hardware, network virtualization enables data center operators to treat their physical network as a pool of transport capacity that can be consumed and repurposed on-demand.

On the network virtualization road, VMware is now being pitted against Cisco. It will be interesting to see how their relationship endures in the near future. According to Martin Casado, VMware's chief architect for networking, the deepest relationship that VMware has with any hardware vendor is with Cisco. "We need physical infrastructure as we send packets around. We love Cisco! NSX is totally compatible with Cisco products. That said, partnerships evolve at their own pace and have their complexity."

VMware Virtual SAN

The company announced its Virtual SAN technology that extends the hypervisor to enable the software-defined storage. VMware Virtual SAN will be available via a free public beta program in Q3 2013 and general availability is expected in conjunction with the first update to vSphere 5.5 in the first half of 2014.

vCloud Hybrid service

VMware is attempting to take on the mighty Amazon in the public cloud business by announcing the general availability of its vCloud Hybrid Service, new data center locations, and new capabilities to make it simple to bring existing and new cloud-native applications to the public cloud.

This is VMware's big push towards a completely automated and virtualized data centers. VMware's vCloud Hybrid service is a full-fledged "infrastructure as a service" public cloud that will take on the likes of Amazon Web Services, IBM SmartCloud, Rackspace and HP Cloud.

"Since its debut on May 21, VMware vCloud Hybrid Service has experienced great momentum and success with an over-subscribed Early Access Program, acquiring a strategic beach-head of customers taking full advantage of the ability to extend their applications to the cloud," said Bill Fathers, senior VP and GM, Hybrid Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware.

"With the new data centers and important new capabilities, we're executing quickly against our vision of a hybrid cloud service that is completely interoperable with existing infrastructure and enables new and existing applications to run without compromise. The vCloud Hybrid service, built on VMware vSphere, enables customers to extend the same skills, tools, networking and security models across both on-premises and off-premises environments."

New capabilities and partnerships for VMware Horizon Suite

VMware also unveiled the combination of new desktop-as-a service, VMware Ready smartphones, a growing community of desktop and mobile partners, and integrated device and workspace management that reinforces VMware Horizon Suite as one of the industry's most comprehensive and integrated platform to enable an increasingly mobile workforce.

"VMware and Cisco are battling," says Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald, adding, VMware is "downplaying the true competition. The Cisco people will fight this."