VMworld News: VMware, Cisco, EMC, VCE

At VMware's VMWorld conference underway this week in San Francisco, several partners are coming out in support of the new vSphere 5.1 and vCloud Suite 5.1.

VMware vSphere 5.1 for SMB. VMware (VMW) announced new vSphere 5.1 solutions to help small and midsize businesses (SMBs) simplify and protect IT with virtualization, business continuity and automated management. With 77 percent of SMBs either using or planning to use virtualization software by the second half of 2012 according to a Spiceworks study, VMware notes that of those that have virtualized, more than 75 percent have selected VMware vSphere. vSphere 5.1 includes over 100 enhancements and new features and can reduce IT operations costs by as much as 30 percent. A new release of VMware Go Pro is a cloud-based virtualization and IT management solution built specifically for SMBs. It will help customers virtualize from any Web browser with wizard-based installation guides. “Our business demands 24/7 uptime – there is no room for compromise,” said Mark Haden, vice president, Engineering and IT, MLB Network. “VMware provides us with the software infrastructure we need to make it happen for both the broadcast and the back office sides of our business. When we were looking for a technology that is flexible, resilient and could provide the ability to work effectively even with a small team of IT pros, VMware was the best choice for us.”

Cisco and VMware expand partnership.  Cisco (CSCO) and VMware announced that the two companies plan to expand a strategic partnership to include integrated products and solutions aimed at delivering the software defined datacenter.  Highlighting the investment are dedicated engineering teams collaborating on deeper integrations across the VMware cloud infrastructure and management stacks and Cisco’s Data Center Networking and Fabric Computing platforms.  VMware will integrate the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series switches with the new VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 and both companies will develop Cisco UCS-based cloud solutions that bundle Cisco virtual networking, virtual services and management such as the Nexus 1000V virtual switch with vSphere 5.1 and vSuite 5.1. “Cisco and VMware have delivered incredible value to customers seeking to accelerate the deployment of private and public clouds. The next-generation datacenter will enable customers to capture the value of VMware cloud infrastructure and management stacks along with the next wave of Cisco innovations in hardware, ASICs, systems and network programmability to deliver unprecedented scalability, security, diagnostics and policy management. As the leader in networking, Cisco looks forward to continuing to lead the industry in partnership with VMware.”

VMware and EMC power Data Protection.  VMware and EMC announced a new backup and recovery solution for VMware vSphere 5.1.  The new VMware vSphere Data Protection solution is built on EMC Avamar deduplication backup software technology and is delivered as a part of VMware vSphere 5.1. managed directly from the vSphere Web Client vSphere Data Protection includes variable-length deduplication, full support of Changed Block Tracking and single-step restores. “Backup and recovery is a critical element of virtualization implementations," said Bogomil Balkansky, Senior Vice President, Cloud Infrastructure Products, VMware. "Our selection of EMC Avamar technology enables us to deliver better backup and recovery capabilities directly from the VMware vSphered platform.  VMware vSphere Data Protection represents a tremendous value-add for our customers and delivers yet another point of differentiation for vSphere 5.1.”

VCE supports vCloud Suite.  VCE announced support for VMware’s new cloud solution – VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 – in VCE Vblock Systems. VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 further enables Vblock systems to form the foundation of a software-defined data center and  support thousands of virtual machines. "VMware and VCE are providing our customers and partners with the next generation of cloud infrastructure," said Gary Green, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. "Vblock Systems have been designed specifically for VMware cloud infrastructure and this latest integration with VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 will further enable the delivery of end-to-end cloud solutions.”