The Key to a Seamless VMware Hybrid Cloud Migration

Consistent cloud migration

What qualities are most important for a successful hybrid cloud migration? First and foremost, your on-ramp to the cloud should extend seamlessly from the edge to data center to the cloud.

It should fit logically into your overall infrastructure modernization scheme for staying current and competitive.

Ideally, the solution should be fully functional with legacy applications to conserve and extend their useful life. And, the experience for end-users and IT managers alike should be familiar, reliable and uninterrupted, enabling everyone to conduct business as usual, saving time and money with no learning curve required.

In a word, the ideal hybrid cloud solution should offer absolute consistency across the board. That essential quality is at the core of one notable solution: VMware Hybrid Cloud.

Pulling it all together for uniform performance

VMware Hybrid Cloud is architected with consistency in mind: from single pane of glass management that comes with Hybrid Linked Mode to seamless migrations from vMotion and Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX), all are based on a common virtualization platform.

Moreover, VMware offers the highly proven technology IT professionals worldwide have known and used successfully for decades — a familiar, easy-to-use platform for hybrid cloud migration.

For example, one of our federal customers recently visited our Executive Briefing Center in St. Louis with an interesting problem. The customer had a large data center footprint, considerable cloud resources and constantly shifting workloads that could be located in the rear of a Humvee one day, then back at base the next day preparing for a mission.

They needed a hybrid cloud solution that could be easily managed across all platforms and devices and function seamlessly with legacy applications. After examining a portfolio of viable alternatives, VMware Hybrid Cloud stood out as the logical choice.

Components of a seamless solution

Let's take a closer look at the integrated features that constitute the overall VMware Hybrid Cloud solution:

• VMware Cloud on AWS is an on-demand service for running applications across vSphere-based cloud environments. Customers can take advantage of enterprise-class capabilities across compute, storage and networking with just a few simple clicks in familiar VMware environments, all delivered as a flexible consumption model. With the same architecture and operational experience on-premises and in the cloud, IT teams can now quickly derive instant business value from use of the AWS and VMware hybrid cloud experience. And, it's ideal for cloud on-ramping due to seamless integration, as well as providing a great disaster recovery solution.
• VMware NSX Data Center is foundational to the software-defined data center, completing the virtualization infrastructure. This proven network virtualization platform delivers networking and security entirely in software, abstracted from the underlying physical infrastructure. And, it enables the Virtual Cloud Network, providing pervasive, end-to-end connectivity for your apps and data, wherever they are. NSX enables IT to move rapidly without compromising the security or availability of critical applications – with dramatically improved operational efficiency through automation.
• VMware vSAN is a core building block for the software-defined data center, powering industry-leading hyper-converged infrastructure solutions with a vSphere-native, high-performance architecture. For business-critical applications, remote and branch offices, VDI and disaster recovery operations, vSAN enables customers to scale and evolve easily while reducing total cost of ownership.
• vRealize Suite is an enterprise-ready cloud management suite that delivers a complete solution for managing a heterogeneous, hybrid cloud. With vRealize, customers can proactively detect and remediate issues to protect performance and availability, accelerate applications, and automate the delivery of production-ready infrastructures across multicloud environments. One of my colleagues made the excellent point that, with the right adoption method and development investment strategy, vRealize can take a hybrid cloud vision and make it a reality — from IaaS to ITaaS — within three phases of implementation.

Build consistency into your hybrid cloud solution

When planning your hybrid cloud strategy, consider a uniform, familiar and proven solution that extends seamlessly from edge to core to cloud, saving time and money while providing a reliable and productive user experience – business as usual.

If you're experiencing a hybrid cloud migration challenge, we invite you to bring it to our Advanced Technology Center for a hands-on demonstration of our unique approach to technology integration enabled by an ecosystem known as Silicon Valley in St. Louis.