VMworld 2008 – VMware Adds Cloud, Desktop Infrastructure to its Virtualization Roadmap

VMworld 2008 – Roadmap annoucements …

What VMware is proposing to add to its Virtual Infrastructure suite is two-fold.

The first part creates what Balkansky said is an operating system – the VDC-OS – that controls the entire data center and cloud infrastructure, including all the hardware, software and virtual machines. This will allow the data center to scale when additional computing resources are needed and allow for high availability and security.

While the VMware VDC-OS will not replace the Linux or Microsoft Windows operating system that individual servers uses to run applications, Balkansky made clear the VMware plans for the cloud will allow the company to touch every aspect of the data center, from the server to the storage to the networking. At the same time, the VMware hypervisor sits directly on the individual pieces of hardware with the OS running on top of it.

“The Virtual Datacenter Operating System has two salient characteristics,” said Balkansky. “It aggregates all elements of the hardware – server, storage and network – into a logical, single resource. So, it takes these x86 commodity parts and creates a single computer out of it to provide better resiliency and maximum efficiency. This platform also has built in services for application security, availability and scalability.”

At the same time, VMware will offer a set of tools for third-part hosting providers under a plan called vCloud. This allows service providers, such as Verizon, to offer cloud services, while allowing an enterprise to federate with an external cloud. For example, a business can move an application over to hosting provider, let it sit in that external data center for some length of time, and then bring that application back into the internal data center.

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