VMware unveils platform for cloud database provisioning

LAS VEGAS--VMware has launched a new platform that it says will help companies better manage today's database environment that is increasingly difficult to manage due to the growing demand for "modern applications".  

In a statement released at its VMworld annual conference here Monday, VMware said the new vFabric Data Director is an extension of the virtualization vendor's cloud application platform and enables IT administrators, via policy-based automation, to better manage a database environment that is increasingly heterogeneous.

Built on VMware's vSphere, it added that the new platform extends the benefits of virtualized infrastructures to the database layer. It also helps streamline application development process through self-service provisioning, made available on a Web portal, allowing developers to more quickly tap database services required for modern applications, the vendor said.

VMware noted that applications built in the emerging cloud era are "fundamentally different" from those developed for the traditional client-server or Web architecture. It said: "Increasingly, modern applications are written in high productivity development frameworks and delivered via dynamic virtual and cloud infrastructures. Today's applications must also account for a wider variety of Web, software-as-a-service, social and mobile platforms and exponentially higher volumes of real-time data."

This growing data volume, the result of modern applications, is creating an enterprise painpoint--datacenter sprawl--that is leading to undermanaged, poorly secured and unmonitored databases. In addition, VMware said, manually managing this disorganized database environment is hindering developers' ability to quickly access database services for their applications.

With vFabric Data Director, IT administrators will be able to create a policy-driven model to ensure consistent security, data protection and best practices adoption, the vendor added.

Eileen Yu of ZDNet Asia reported from the VMworld 2011 conference in Las Vegas, USA.