The last few releases of Microsoft Windows Server included better and better versions of Hyper-V. For enterprises, it has never been easier to run a more secure, less buggy operating system while virtualizing multiple servers as required. Is Hyper-V the best solution for hosting virtual machines? What about VMware?
Despite some uncertainty around VMware due to its majority owner, EMC, getting acquired by Dell, the company’s suite of products are selling well. Airwatch, vSAN, and NSX (network virtualization platform for the software-defined data center) all grew in sales for VMware. The company promoted its SDDC stack of compute, networking, storage and management last year. This suite of solutions suits customers wanting hybrid cloud capabilities. Customers gain security and ease of management on both public and private clouds. This facilitates running applications possible across all devices and clouds.
Companies that use VMware’s virtualization solutions benefit most if they use the company’s cloud solutions. The software firm is not limiting its cloud infrastructure solution to VMware clients only. It plans to connect its NSX on Amazon Web Services and Azure, regardless of whether or not the underlying infrastructure is based on VMware or not. Still, vSphere, the product encompassing virtualization, suits its customers as VMware offers more cloud solutions.
Targeting small businesses
When does VMware make more sense than Microsoft’s Hyper-V for virtualization? Both software companies target enterprises, small to large. VMware might have an edge of Microsoft in targeting the SMB (small to medium business) market. Instead of running servers on Microsoft Server software, customers may instead build with the focus of multi-cloud and multi-devices.
In the SAN space, VMware is finding its Virtual SAN solution popular amongst customers. An updated release for the vSAN product will happen this quarter. The product is for enterprises looking to virtualize their SAN solutions that run software and appliances.
Shift to public cloud
VMware is getting its products ready for the secular shift from client-server to mobile cloud. By supporting virtual network, storage, and management, its product helps customers transform from the “old” environment to the connected one.
The updates to VMware’s products centre on a world needing multiple cloud and multiple devices. The solutions give customers the ability to run, manage, secure, and connect applications across clouds and devices. This is done on private cloud and managed with NSX, AirWatch, and vRealize. On AWS or Azure, the solution runs on a public cloud.
Risks in VMware’s strategy
VMware’s strategy of including things like vSAN, NSX, vCloud and AirWatch along vSphere may seem too complicated an offering. Some customers might just need the basic vSphere virtualization solution without care for cloud and devices. In that case, the basic vSphere software package will suffice. Microsoft’s Windows Server having Hyper-V would also be enough. It is hard to ignore the shift for computing towards cloud and mobile device. For those getting ready for the shift, VMware sounds like it is positioned to do well pleasing its customers this year.