Very interesting comparison

Salesforce.com and VMware have teamed up to offer an enterprise Java cloud called VMforce. The offering, which ties the existing Salesforce.com infrastructure to VMware’s SpringSource-based Java platform is an indication of a larger trend for infrastructure and platform as a service providers to sell not just a platform, but to sell the app. It’s the difference between selling the services of a general contractor or selling someone a house.

As my colleague Derrick Harris wrote in a GigaOM Pro article this weekend (sub req’d):

The combination of cloud services designed for and hosted on cloud platforms seems like a surefire strategy to secure PaaS (or even IaaS) adoption. … By creating targeted applications designed specifically for use on their platforms, cloud providers can increase the likelihood of bringing customers into the fold (and can increase their profit margins, as well) by letting applications help sell the platform instead of relying on the platform itself. According to some surveys, at least, businesses presently find SaaS significantly more palatable than straight-up cloud computing.

It also is a highly anticipated move ever since VMware purchased Spring Source last summer and said it would create platform as a service for enterprises. Essentially, what this announcement means is that enterprise customers can use their existing Java experts to build application on the Salesforce.com infrastructure and link it to Force.com and Salesforce.com databases and services.

Under the hood, Salesforce.com is running VMware’s software in its own data centers for the VMforce cloud. It’s the first platform as a service offering for VMware, which is continuing its march up the cloud stack, and also shows how influential Salesforce.com can be when it comes to influencing enterprise custoemrs. When asked if VMware would host its Java cloud with any other provider, Mitch Ferguson, senior director Alliances at VMware said the company was currently focused on this product.

The VMforce offering will be available in developer preview at some undisclosed time this year, and pricing will be announced at that time. Maybe VMware President and CEO Paul Maritz will announce it when he speaks at our Structure 10 conference in June.

Cloud Bliss: VMware and Salesforce

Cisco, NetApp, and VMware have teamed up to deliver next-generation dynamic data centers today. This includes the industry’s first end-to-end secure multi-tenancy solution that helps transform IT silos into shared infrastructure.

NetApp, Cisco and VMware have teamed up to create a virtualised data centre architecture featuring “best of breed” technology from all three firms.

The venture marks the first time that Cisco, VMware and NetApp have pooled resources – a collaboration that has resulted in the creation of the Secure Multi-Tenancy Design Architecture.

The architecture, explained the vendors, has been designed to improve efficiency and security within the virtualised data centre environment for customers wanting to deploy cloud solutions.

Paul Maritz, president and chief executive at VMware, explained: “The dynamic data centre built on VMware vSphere, along with Cisco and NetApp technologies, will provide the foundation for both private and public clouds and the ability to move data and applications between these clouds.”

Only mutual partners of all three firms will be authorised to sell the architecture, explained John Rollason, head of product, alliances and solutions marketing EMEA at NetApp.

He said: “Customers can purchase the hardware and software for the Secure Multi-tenancy Architecture from a broad partner ecosystem, which consists of the three companies’ mutual system integrators and channel partners.”

Logicalis UK, a partner of all three vendors, has welcomed the collaboration's “mutual partners only” stance.

Tom Kelly, managing director at Logicalis UK, said: “I make no apologies for the access we will have [to the architecture] over our competitors because we have invested significant amounts of money in these partnerships.”

Written by Alex Williams / January 25, 2010 5:00 PM / 0 Comments

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This post is part of our ReadWriteCloud channel, which is dedicated to covering virtualization and cloud computing. The channel is sponsored by Intel and VMware. As you're planning your Cloud Architecture, check out this helpful resource from our sponsors: Virtualized Datacenter = Real-World IT Optimization.

Driving the enterprise this year is a quest for efficiency and flexibility. To determine the actual direction, one needs quantifiable information that proves certain trends have merit.

The want ads are a great resource for seeing what types of investments are being made by companies. This year, people with virtualization skills are in big demand, followed by -you guessed it - cloud computing.

Forrester Research is predicting that IT spending will jump about 8% but hiring will lag.

According to a post on CIO.com, Wedbush Securities, a Wall Street analyst firm, sees projects involving virtualization, Windows 7 and enterprise software as high on the corporate priority list.

In 2008, Dice.com ran an average of 85,000 job listings. Then Lehman Bros. collapsed and the job market fizzled. Jobs posted took a drop in 2009, falling to a low of 47,000. Today, the count is up to 50,000 and is expected to increase over the span of the year.

The fastest growing skills are for virtualization, which is at about 2,000 ads, up 21% compared to last year. Cloud computing is showing popularity, too. Last year there were zero jobs posted.This year there are more than 300.

Large companies from a number of industries are hiring virtualization pros, showing the demand is not just from technology companies.

IT managers realize that virtualization pros can manage more servers than their counterparts. For example, CIO.com cites a study that found one administrator manages 65 physical servers. The average for virtual servers is 77.

That's not a huge increase but it can help save IT dollars that can be used to prove whether other growing trends deserve attention.

Wow - Check out that growth rate! Hot Jobs: Virtualization Pros are in Big Demand

Virtualization and private cloud trends, value propositions, obstacles, risk mitigation, and vendor selection are key topics in this December 2009 EMC interview with Frank Gens, IDC’s senior vice president and chief analyst*.

Read more

* IDC Analyst Connection sponsored by EMC, Virtualization and Private Clouds: Trends and Directions, Doc#IDC_863, Dec 2009.

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