VMWARE HAS REVEALED plans to concentrate on cloud computing, allowing organisations running VMware virtual infrastructures will be able to move workloads both around their internal data centres as well as onto external service providers as capacity is required.

Through its vCloud Initiative the company has teamed up with a range of other providers including BT, Rackspace, SAVVIS, Sungard, T-Systems, Verizon Business and others to offer the service.

What VMware wants to do is provide the products, integration and services to support cloud computing that is spread across a company's data centre and through external partners.

It's doing this by providing the APIs to handle enterprise-class cloud computing as between on-premise and off-premise clouds, while letting its partners handle the precise details of pricing and scalability.

Overall, the idea seems solid, particularly for small and medium-sized companies without the luxury of a dedicated IT department, who can now internally run the services they need, but tap outside capacity as and when they need it.

The system is also designed to help span the massive variety of operating systems and applications that various people use, from old legacy systems to the latest applications.

Much like 'The Knights who say Ni' - VMware is looking at a nice tiered effect with this initiative giving customers a choice about how to implement this, the level of services offered and who to deal with in the process.

VMware's head honcho, Paul Maritz reckons that "businesses have faced too high a hurdle to realise the benefits of cloud computing," due mainly to the disruptive nature of the technology.

He believes that "the VMware vCloud Initiative brings together industry innovators to deliver enterprise-class cloud computing for any customer and any application."

Because all applications currently running on VMware Infrastructure can run in a VMware-based cloud without modification, the new initiative should be easy to implement by all members of the VMware Service Provider Program. µ

L'Inq
vCloud