VMware expands its datacenter cloud

VMware is banking on the fact that the demand for its vCloud Hybrid Service, announced only six weeks ago at VMworld San Francisco, will continue to grow, especially in the US.

The company's existing datacenter in Las Vegas will be joined by a bicoastal pair of facilities, one in Sterling, Virginia and the other in Santa Clara, California.

Regionalizing the delivery of the cloud services should allow for customers to be more comfortable with deploying the vCloud solution. It also brings the possibility of regional duplication for the addition of disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.

The hybrid solution allows customers to operate their own clouds with a seamless connection to the VMware public cloud. Access to the vCloud Hybrid Service Application Marketplace means that customers will be able to deploy tested and approved applications from major vendors with minimal fuss and bother, and coupled with Monday’s announcement of new hybrid cloud management tools, pull together to give customer’s greater confidence in the fledgling service.

By December, the new vSphere web client should be available to allow the direct management of the vCloud Hybrid Service, simplifying VMware users overall management experience.

But VMware's aspirations go far beyond the borders of the US; they also announced its expansion of the Hybrid Cloud Service into Europe, with its first datacenter being opened in the UK. A small group of customers are expected to go into beta testing at the facility this quarter with general availability of the service throughout Europe targeted for general availability in first quarter of 2014.

This jumping into the cloud service provider business with both feet may well encourage a significant percentage of VMware customers to trust in the cloud, especially those in the mid-market space who are looking for efficient and cost effective ways to expand their operational capabilities with minimal capital expenditure.