VMware Heralds ‘One Cloud’, Releases vSphere 6

VMware has rolled out vSphere 6, what it calls the ‘foundation’ for the software-defined data centre, as well as hooking up its products to OpenStack with VMware Integrated OpenStack.

Unveiling the products, which also include updated software-defined storage platform Virtual SAN 6, at an announcement which was webcast out around the globe, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said that vSphere 6 is the “biggest ever release” of his company’s flagship product.

“Every traditional industry across the globe is being transformed by software,” Gelsinger said.

Brave New IT

VMware’s name for all of this is ‘One Cloud’ – its vision to homogenate managed cloud and public cloud.

“We will allow any application to run on any device. One cloud that is unique, capable, powerful,” said Gelsinger (pictured left).

He said, naturally, that the foundation for this is in the software-defined data centre, and that companies need VMware’s ‘brave new model’ for IT.

“To navigate and thrive in the face of this change, businesses must be decisive in the face of uncertainty. Today, we are taking another leap forward in helping our customers meet these demands through a unified platform, defined in software, which will offer unmatched choice and extends our innovations across compute, networking and storage to deliver the hybrid cloud.”

Calling vSphere 6 the ‘foundation’ for hybrid cloud, VMware said that the revamped platform can address the business needs of today’s cloud-facing enterprise.

“Wow,” said Gelsinger. “650 new features. This is the biggest ever release of vSphere.”

VMware’s release of OpenStack will be free for enterprise customers and allows users to switch between VMware or OpenStack management tools.

“We’ve had to grapple with how deeply we embrace OpenStack as a company,” said Ted Ranft, VP of Networks in EMEA.

“Probably if we look back, 24 months ago we had to really think about what we’re going to do visa vie OpenStack. I’ve always advocated internally we have to be as open as we can. I’m excited about where we are specific to that. [The leadership] has decided to take the company in a more open direction. We’re going the full monty, we’re giving the distribution and also supporting it.”

VMware vSphere 6, VMware Integrated OpenStack, VMware Virtual SAN 6 and VMware vShpere Virtual Volumes are set to become available Q1 2015.

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