VMware says vCloud hybrid service will launch in Australia

Australia and New Zealand have by far one of the highest adoption rates of VMware's vCloud suite, according to the virtualisation software provider, but have yet to see a local launch of the company's vCloud Hybrid Service.

Duncan Bennet, VMware Australia and New Zealand vice president and general manager, said the appeal for companies to buy a suite such as the vCloud is because it makes it easier for enterprises to adopt, rather than buying individual products and building their own infrastructure.

He reassured that the yet-to-be-launched cloud service will arrive in Australia, and "it will happen this year".

"We're hiring, so it's real," said Bennet.

Last year, during VMworld 2013, then-VMware general manager for Asia Pacific and Japan told ZDNet that the company had intentions to push its vCloud service out to Australia in mid-2014, but there have been no signs of it since.

Bennet said that Australia and New Zealand's hunger for vCloud is an early indication of how the two countries will adopt the newly announced Workspace Suite, a unified platform accessible via single sign-on to access and determine policy controls for virtually any app, regardless of location and operating system.

In conjunction with the expected arrival of vCloud, the company has been on a hiring streak where "a few people" have been brought on, which Bennet says will help with the increasingly business-focused discussions that are being had with customers.

"People used to talk to us about a product: 'I need vSphere'. The value proposition was just so strong, we were putting vSphere into the marketplace. I think the discussion with customers is no longer about vSphere," he said.

"Most of the customer discussions today are around how are you managing and automating it, how are you taking some opex cost out, how are you looking at migration for Unix application out of that platform. They're still largely discussing how do I get IT off the critical path, how do I save money, how can I be more efficient. I think the challenges aren't that different, but how does IT provide a better service the company, rather than should I buy version 5 or version 6."

According to Bennet, the main focus for VMware in the region will be to retain a customer-centric focus.

"The strategy in Australia and New Zealand is pretty simple," he said. "We've totally been focused on getting our first customers, getting our first orders, getting our first customers in production across multiple locations, so we've got reference customers across the geography and multiple industries."

He continued, saying that what VMware will be delivering to the market is part of the evolution of the industry, which he sees as moving towards a software-defined world.

"We're in a position to address everything from the base virtualisation of the server through to migration of mission-critical information of Unix onto x86, through to DaaS for the New Zealand government, and to make sure we're taking the technology we here create and providing that solution to the local market."

Aimee Chanthadavong travelled to VMworld 2014 as a guest of VMware.