VMware vCloud
If there is one thing that has got the world of IT excited over the past few years, it is cloud computing. Cloud computing is still in its nascent stages, but that has not stopped a number of cloud service providers from cropping up. One of these providers is VMware, and its vCloud initiative is one of the most talked about and popular cloud computing services in the market today. To understand what the VMware vCloud does and how it can benefit you, you need to go right to its essentials.
Essentials of VMware vCloud
Cloud services are available in different forms. Firstly, you have the PaaS or Platform as a Service model, which gives you a development platform for writing applications, but you may need to scale up or down on resources depending on the phase of development.
Secondly, you have the SaaS or Software as a Service model, examples of which include Google Docs. Finally, you have the Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS model, which provides you with all the things you would have if you had your own virtual machines, data centre, firewalls, computing power, etc. However, you have remote access to these resources instead of actually having them as a physical asset. VMware vCloud belongs to the last group, and it includes a number of cloud computing services, including the following:
- VMware vCloud Director
- VMware vCloud Data Centre Services
- VMware vCloud Express
- VMware vCloud Request Manager
- VMware vCloud API
The solutions and services offered by VMware vCloud helps you leverage the power of cloud computing for building and making your IT infrastructure more efficient and flexible. Here is a more detailed look at the benefits offered by VMware vCloud.
Benefits of VMware vCloud
To understand the benefits offered by VMware vCloud, you need to assume that you require a new ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning system. A modern ERP integrates and plays a major role in almost every function of business, from finance and accounting to sales and customer relationship management. However, you would need to have enough resources to run this kind of a system. You would need adequate storage, servers, firewalls, bandwidth and software, and you also need to be able to scale the system up whenever required.
If you want another system on standby in case of an outage, then the requirements would double. In addition to this, you need to ensure that your infrastructure is PCI compliant, which means constant audits. All of these take up the organisation’s time, money and efforts, but they are needed to run an ERP unless you look at VMware vCloud.
VMware vCloud offers your business Infrastructure as a Service, which means that your IT department can now get all the necessary storage, services, connections, etc. for a monthly fee. Since the service is hosted in a PCI compliant data centre, there is no need to worry about audits either. Moreover, there is no waiting period during which you need to procure all the resources, set them up, and take care of any glitches. VMware vCloud also works on a ‘pay as you go’ model, so you can scale up your resources as and when the company grows without having to stop for a ‘build time’.
In simple terms, VMware vCloud offers 3 unique characteristics that can improve the productivity and reliability of your own hybrid, private or public cloud:
- Improves business efficiency
With VMware vCloud, you can pool resources and reduce your IT infrastructure investments, thus lowering your total cost of ownership or TCO. The IT administration can be freed from the management of servers and hardware, planning for future upgrades or migrations, and other tasks. Instead, administrators can work on other projects and make improvements in the way a business runs. They can run managed services from anywhere as long as there is an Internet connection available, and can simply request for more capacity or virtual machines from the VMware vCloud data centre whenever required.
- Makes your IT services more agile
VMware vCloud allows you to simply better your IT services so that you can shorten your response time to evolving business needs. The provision and management of IT services can become more dynamic, ultimately leading to more responsive IT services and better business performance. You also have control over the services, thanks to the protective safeguards and regulatory compliance.
- Offers you a choice
With VMware vCloud, you can choose where you want to deploy services and how much you want to virtualise them. You can retain your application stack and operating system and deploy your own private cloud, or you can create a public cloud based on VMware vCloud. You have the choice of a number of vendors and service providers that can help you host and integrate your business with the cloud using the VMware vCloud platform.
With so many providers offering a vCloud solution, it is a formidable task choosing a reliable and trustworthy provider to host your cloud solution. Please contact us for help and advice on finding a vCloud provider who will not let you down.
