VMware has been busy at VMworld 2010 Europe. The big news from Tuesday’s session is the virtualization giant’s move to expand its strategy for modern IT infrastructures.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, VMware announced new and improved products and programs — including vCloud Request Manager, vCenter CapacityIQ 1.5, new vCloud Datacenter Services partners, an expansion of the VMware Service Provider Program, and VMware Go Pro beta — that aim to help enterprises tap the benefits of cloud computing without compromising control or choice via a concept dubbed IT as a Service.
First introduced at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, VMware shined a spotlight on the concept of IT as a Service, which aims to transform IT to a more business-centric approach. Essentially, IT as a Service shifts IT from producing services to optimizing production and the consumption of those services. If VMware’s notion pans out, it would drive an evolution of IT from a cost center to a value center.
The Transformation of IT
Raghu Raghuram, senior vice president and general manager of virtualization and cloud platforms at VMware, boldly announced that the transformation of IT infrastructure to a hybrid cloud model has begun — and that VMware is driving it.
VMware’s vCloud Request Manager streamlines the production and consumption of infrastructure services by adding automated approval work flows to the VMware vCloud Director provisioning process. Here’s how it works: Once a user selects infrastructure services from the VMware vCloud Director service catalog, vCloud Request Manager initiates predefined work flows to coordinate approvals, track software license inventories, and ensure standardization of cloud partitions according to policy blueprints.
VMware also announced advanced storage analytics and visualization purpose-built to manage the capacity of dynamic virtual and cloud environments. Dubbed vCenter CapacityIQ, the solution incorporates real-time analytics to drive a higher level of automation, as well as the ability to…