What is AWS VMware? Officially known as VMware Cloud on AWS, it is a fully integrated cloud service that allows you to run your entire VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) stack natively on Amazon Web Services’ secure, elastic, bare-metal infrastructure. This powerful partnership between VMware and AWS provides a seamless hybrid cloud experience, enabling businesses to extend their on-premises environments to the cloud without any need for application refactoring. Let’s dive into what AWS VMware does and why it’s a critical tool for modern enterprise IT.
What Does AWS VMware Do?
So, what is the core function of AWS VMware? It delivers a VMware-proven environment—complete with vSphere, vSAN, and NSX—hosted on dedicated AWS servers. This setup supports a wide range of critical enterprise use cases.
1. Data Center Evolution and Exit
AWS VMware provides the fastest, lowest-risk path for data center migration. Organizations can perform a “lift-and-shift” of thousands of VMware-based workloads without making any changes to the applications themselves.
2. Robust Disaster Recovery (DR)
Implementing enterprise-grade disaster recovery is a primary function of VMware Cloud on AWS. Its native DRaaS solution offers incredible resilience, allowing businesses to recover from an outage in minutes, with minimal data loss.
3. Elastic Capacity Expansion
A key benefit of AWS VMware is its elasticity. Instead of purchasing expensive hardware for short-term projects, you can elastically scale your VMware capacity into the AWS cloud on-demand, converting capital expense into a flexible operational expense.
4. Modern Application Development
The platform fully supports modern container-based applications through VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, allowing developers to build and run apps on the same consistent VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure.
The Future of AWS VMware: Innovation and Strategy
The future of AWS VMware is shaped by VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom and its deepening alliance with AWS. The strategic direction is focused on greater value for large enterprises.
1. A Strategic Focus for Large Enterprises
Under Broadcom, the strategy for VMware Cloud on AWS is sharply focused on delivering immense value to large global enterprises, ensuring it remains a robust, high-performance hybrid cloud solution.
2. Deeper AWS Integrations
The technical alliance with AWS remains strong. The future roadmap for AWS VMware includes deeper integrations with native AWS services like networking, data analytics, and AI/ML platforms, making the hybrid cloud experience even more seamless.
3. Simplified Subscription Model
A major shift is the move to a streamlined subscription-based model, which bundles the core VMware Cloud Foundation software, simplifying procurement and management for VMware Cloud on AWS customers.
Conclusion: The Power of AWS VMware
AWS VMware is far more than a migration tool; it is a strategic hybrid cloud platform. It provides a validated, secure, and high-performance path to the cloud, allowing enterprises to leverage existing VMware skills while integrating with the AWS ecosystem. For any organization running VMware, it represents the most logical and low-risk entry point into the public cloud.
