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| VMware Cloud | |
|---|---|
| Name | VMware Cloud |
| Developer | VMware, Inc. |
| Released | 2017 |
| Latest release | 2025 |
| Operating system | vSphere-based hypervisors, Linux guest OS, Windows NT |
| Platform | Hybrid cloud, public cloud, private cloud |
| License | Proprietary |
VMware Cloud VMware Cloud is a suite of cloud infrastructure and platform services built to extend vSphere-based virtualization into hybrid and public cloud environments. It enables enterprise workloads to run on cloud-hosted infrastructure while preserving operational models familiar to administrators from vSphere and vCenter Server. The offering ties together software-defined compute, storage, and networking to provide migration, disaster recovery, and modern application delivery across on-premises and hyperscaler locations.
VMware Cloud is positioned as a bridge between on-premises vSphere deployments and major public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and regional partners including IBM Cloud and Alibaba Cloud. The product family emphasizes workload mobility, operational consistency, and integrated management across environments previously siloed by differing hypervisors or cloud native stacks. Enterprises adopting VMware Cloud commonly aim to support use cases like datacenter evacuation, test/dev burst capacity, cloud-native application modernization, and compliance-aware disaster recovery tied to standards set by organizations such as ISO and regulators like European Commission bodies.
At the core, VMware Cloud implementations rely on components originating from VMware research and acquisitions including VMware vSphere, VMware NSX, VMware vSAN, and VMware Tanzu. Compute virtualization is delivered via ESXi hypervisors managed by vCenter Server instances; network virtualization and micro-segmentation are provided by NSX variants; storage aggregation and policy-driven persistence use vSAN or integrated storage arrays from partners like Dell EMC, HPE, and NetApp. Management and automation layers integrate with orchestration tools and APIs from vRealize Suite and CI/CD pipelines that depend on integrations with Jenkins, GitLab, and GitHub. Identity and access are commonly federated using Active Directory and standards-based providers such as Okta and Ping Identity.
Offerings span multiple deployment models including fully-managed cloud-hosted datacenter instances operated by partners such as Amazon Web Services (VMware Cloud on AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure VMware Solution), and provider-hosted private cloud through partners like Dell Technologies Cloud and IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions. Appliances and on-premises converged infrastructure options come via vendors including VMware Cloud Foundation on certified hardware from Cisco UCS, Lenovo, and Fujitsu. Consumption models vary from subscription-based software-as-a-service bundles to capacity-based managed private cloud contracts used by financial institutions and large enterprises involved in initiatives overseen by entities like Financial Stability Board compliance groups.
Key features include live migration capabilities such as vMotion for workload mobility, integrated disaster recovery services leveraging Site Recovery Manager, and software-defined networking features from NSX enabling micro-segmentation, distributed firewalling, and load balancing. Storage policies and deduplication are governed via vSAN capabilities and partner storage integration, with backup and archival addressed through ecosystems like Veeam and Commvault. Cloud-native modernization is enabled by VMware Tanzu components supporting Kubernetes orchestration and container lifecycle management that interoperate with Kubernetes distributions and tooling from companies like Red Hat and Canonical.
VMware Cloud integrates with a broad ecosystem of enterprise software vendors, hyperscalers, systems integrators, and managed service providers including Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, and telecommunications carriers like AT&T and Verizon. Application stacks from SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft are supported with certified reference architectures and validated designs. Ecosystem partnerships extend to hardware partners such as Dell EMC, NetApp, and HPE for converged and hyperconverged infrastructure, and to software partners offering security, monitoring, and automation tools like Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, Trend Micro, and Fortinet.
Licensing for VMware Cloud includes term-based subscriptions, pay-as-you-go consumption on hyperscaler marketplaces, and enterprise agreements negotiated with channel partners including VMware Partner Network members and value-added resellers. Pricing factors include host count, CPU cores, memory, storage capacity, and managed service tiers; organizations often engage consulting practices from IBM Global Services or PwC for cost modeling and migration planning. Support levels range from standard vendor support to premium managed services and enterprise support contracts with defined SLAs, incident response procedures aligned with frameworks such as ITIL, and escalation paths that involve global support centers.
Security in VMware Cloud leverages NSX micro-segmentation, encryption at rest with vSAN encryption options, key management integrations with KMIP-compatible systems and hardware security modules from Thales and AWS Key Management Service. Compliance capabilities are supported through audit logging, role-based access control integrating Active Directory or LDAP, and reporting that assists with standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, and regional data protection regimes enforced by agencies like the European Data Protection Board. Governance models employed by enterprises map VMware Cloud configurations to policy frameworks used by chief information officers and risk teams in regulated sectors including healthcare, finance, and government institutions.