VMware have been innovators in cloud solutions and technologies for years, but in the last decade or so their attention has really shifted to what they can offer businesses to make the everyday running of their infrastructure easier and more efficient. Their latest offering, named VMware Cloud Universal, aims to take this one step further and offers a single flexible subscription for managing licenses both on-premises and in the Cloud.
VMware Cloud Universal (VCU) utilises their VMware Cloud Foundation solution which manages vSphere, vSAN, NSX and Tanzu across multiple environments and allows you to move licenses as and when you need them between environments to save overprovisioning. For the 37% of businesses1 looking to adopt multi-cloud in the next 12 months this could be the perfect opportunity, by utilising an already established VMware Cloud offering such as VMware Cloud on AWS you can migrate some of your existing licenses across and start to move workloads across at your own rate. This enables you to build within a familiar environment with licenses you already have, opening up a multi-cloud model at your own pace without any additional expenditure.
This is a real boost to hybrid cloud and multi-clouds running VMware Cloud as it gives the user more control over what is licensed and when, without having to constantly raise requests within their business for additional licenses with the convenience of running a unified infrastructure and support any application or cloud. This all adds up to give you more control, allowing you to migrate to the cloud in your own time, moving in a phased and flexible approach. In turn, this means that your organisation can balance your investment between public and private clouds,and create a future-proof hybrid cloud environment which can allow you even greater cloud bursting abilities when additional resources are needed.
What does VMware Cloud Universal cover?
With its heritage grounded firmly in VMware Cloud technologies, VMware Cloud Universal is a subscription offering that establishes flexible commercial agreements to subscribe once and dynamically consume VMware Cloud offerings moving forward.
The services currently offering VMware Cloud Universal are:
- VMware Cloud Foundation Subscription (vCF-Subscription) – which offers you the management layer to deliver compute, storage, and networking.
- VMware Cloud on AWS – fully managed VMware Cloud service running on elastic AWS bare-metal hardware available in 17 global regions.
- VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – for enabling VMware Cloud on-premises and in edge locations to provide simple, secure and scalable infrastructure.
- VMware Tanzu – for simplifying the operation of Kubernetes for multi-cloud deployments, centralising management and governance for many clusters and teams across on-premises, public clouds, and edge.
Customers can also leverage:
- VMware Cloud migration services with VMware Cloud Sizer
- VMware HCX
- VMware vRealize Network Insight
- Disaster Recovery services
- VMware Site Recovery
- VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery
Succeeding with a cloud enablement strategy
This step by VMware to create flexibility means that legacy ties to a specific data centre design due to licencing lock-in start to break down. Customers can now evaluate workload placement, migrations and interim burst requirements on individual merits and move licences to cloud as hardware platforms reach end of life.
Licensing flexibility is a fantastic enabler for migration, however successful adoption can be more of a challenge. Customers should consider not only the change activity to extend their architecture to cloud environments, but also the new skills and processes required to secure and maintain these in a structured and compliant manner ensuring ongoing performance, availability and security. A 2021 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Xtravirt and VMware identified the operational challenges that arise both at the time of cloud adoption and, more importantly, those that increase once in steady state use.
How can Xtravirt help?
If you are interested in the possibilities and the flexibility that VMware Cloud Universal could bring to your business, and the operating model changes required to take full advantage, then you should talk to Xtravirt. With a long history of implementing and supporting VMware solutions to the very highest industry standards, Xtravirt is already well versed at delivering each of the technologies covered by VMware Cloud Universal.
Whether you are just starting with VMware technologies, want a roadmap to follow or are well established on-premises but want to gain the burst-ability that a public cloud offers, we can get you to you started on your journey – contact Xtravirt today and we can uncover your company’s true potential.
1 Forrester Opportunity Snapshot – Optimise your cloud management strategy and succeed