VMware (and Citrix) get cloud friendly

Updated: VMware said Monday that it will launch a cloud computing initiative to bring enterprise class service to customers with more than 100 partners.

The effort, called vCloud Initiative, will be launched at VMworld in Las Vegas (statement, Techmeme). In a nutshell, VMware is teaming up with vendors like BT, Rackspace, Sungard and Verizon Business to put its virtualization software in the middle of internal and external cloud computing services. Via its software and APIs VMware wants to federate and connect various cloud services with enterprise class delivery.

VMware added that its initiative will work on various operating systems ranging from Windows NT to Ruby on Rails. VMware is aiming to position itself as an agnostic cloud player.

Separately, VMware said it is expanding its platform into a Virtual Datacenter Operating System  (VDC-OS). The operating system is designed to pool resources into an internal cloud computing system that can then be connected to outside services.

Update: Citrix had a similar announcement. The company, which is behind the Xen virtualization infrastructure, said it just launched a product family called Citrix Cloud Center, or C3. Like VMware's effort, Citrix plans to connect its software with a bevy of cloud platforms to bring services to customers and data centers. Separately, 3Tera, which is cooking up its own cloud platform, is partnering with Citrix.

The C3 platform is an architecture that consists of Citrix's three primary brands--a XenServer optimized for the cloud, NetScaler, an application that delivers applications and WANScaler, which will be used to bridge onsite and offsite cloud services.

Add it up and you have virtualization incumbents positioning themselves as cloud operating systems. The cynical folks among us would just say these developments are just more companies on the cloud bandwagon.

Also see: Cloud computing as a term: More meaningless by the minute