VMware and Equinix Join Hands to Bring Data to the Edge For Metro or Branch Processing

Highlights:

• The new distributed cloud service integrates VMware’s managed and supported cloud infrastructure-as-a-service with Equinix’s interconnected, bare-metal-as-a-service offering.

In today’s world, cloud computing is just not nice to have but is a must-have. However, various enterprise workloads have certain requirements around latency, data sovereignty and location, security, and performance.

This necessitates that modern businesses embrace hybrid and multi-cloud environments: As per reports from Virtana, 82% of firms are presently utilizing a multi-cloud approach, and 78% have workloads deployed across more than three public clouds.

Zachary Smith, global head of edge infrastructure services at digital infrastructure company Equinix, said, “What used to be the standard of a single availability zone or two different regions has expanded to 10 or more locations for many enterprise deployments.”

VMware Cloud on Equinix Metal facilitates core-to-edge connectivity

Equinix and VMware introduced VMware Cloud on Equinix Metal to make it easier for clients to develop, run, and manage classic and contemporary applications.

The new distributed cloud service integrates VMware’s managed and supported cloud infrastructure-as-a-service with Equinix’s interconnected, bare-metal-as-a-service offering.

He stated, “As companies accelerate their digital transformation by adopting hybrid multi-cloud architectures, they require consistent application experiences that span private and public clouds and reach from the core to the edge.”

More multi-cloud, more challenges

Tim Grieser, vice president of research for enterprise system management software at IDC, in times of digital transformation, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are “table stakes.”

According to Dave McCarthy, research VP for cloud and edge infrastructure services at IDC, for mission-critical applications that rely on low-latency and high-performance network bandwidth, the default has been to retain workloads on-premises or perform real-time needs, such as data processing, at the branch office or metro locations.

He stated that customers frequently lack a preferred choice that combines on-premises security and control with high performance, data locality, and low total cost of ownership. They need tools that address demands for enterprise applications “where latency, performance, security, and data locality are key drivers,” said McCarthy.

Accelerated digital transformation

Equinix is a publicly listed digital infrastructure firm whose platform integrates local computation and demand capabilities. According to Gartner, its rivals include NTT Communications, Expedient, Iron Mountain, and TierPoint.

VMware is a prominent supplier of multi-cloud services for all applications. Its competitors include Cisco, Cell Technologies, HPE (Aruba), and Nokia (Nuage Networks).

According to Smith, the ultimate goal of the firm’s new combination tool – unveiled today at VMware Explore 2022 Europe – aims to expedite digital transitions for clients.

Increasingly, he added, organizations must reach ecosystems in more locations across the globe and reduce application latency for end users or between application architecture components. Smith described the new technology as an efficient and secure method to extend cloud environments to dispersed metropolitan areas. He stated that this would address business-critical performance requirements at the edge while allowing enterprises to maintain the integrity of corporate workloads.

Use cases for the distributed cloud may include business data warehouses, ERP installations, core database applications, smart cities, and retail apps. In addition, he mentioned video analytics, game development, real-time financial services front office, and clients that utilize the internet of things (IoT) and data-intensive machine learning.

According to Smith, combining VMware Cloud and Equinix’s worldwide presence enables users to link their private cloud workloads to any cloud. They can benefit from higher-level platform services available in public clouds that offer or host data locally to meet data residency rules.

Removing ‘day two’ management responsibilities

Smith explained that by using Equinix’s network of more than 240 data centers with low-latency connections to public cloud services and hundreds of networks, the new service could provide less than 20 milliseconds of latency while meeting stringent data residency standards.

Research indicates that clients may lower TCO by as much as 67% using VMware Cloud, according to Narayan Bharadwaj, VMware’s vice president of cloud solutions.

Narayan Bharadwaj said, “Businesses across industries seek to become cloud smart by matching enterprise application needs to the best cloud environments.”

According to Bharadwaj, this new strategy will allow them to benefit from a high-performing, consistent infrastructure with a low TCO. It extends VMware Cloud to additional places to give application choice and flexibility and to speed up cloud transformation.

Smith stated that by reducing the burden of “day two” administration and offering physical infrastructure deployment and life-cycling as a service, users may rapidly and globally activate dedicated private cloud infrastructure.