VMware Global Alliances Blog

Posted by Wen Yu, Alliances
Staff Systems Engineer

Looking for a low risk, agile and efficient architecture for your small cloud infrastructure deployment?  Look no further because the VMware, NetApp and Cisco Entry Level FlexPod will be your answered.   Entry Level FlexPod provides the value of FlexPod sized right for smaller workloads. Suitable for uses that include midsize enterprise workloads and remote or branch offices, FlexPod ES brings large-enterprise-class IT infrastructure to smaller deployments at a price that fits limited IT budgets.  Let’s take technical dive into the architecture, and the built-in joint integrations that make life simple for IT architects and administrators.

Unified Highly Available, Scalable Architecture

Compute: Cisco UCS C200 rack mountable server connects directly to the Nexus 2000 fabric extender

Network: Cisco Nexus 2000 series Fabric Extender provides scalable unified server access across 1Gb to 10Gb Ethernet, and also serves as the extension to the access layer Nexus 5000 switch.  All C200 servers connected to the fabric extender become a single unified highly available management domain

Storage: NetApp FAS2240 storage, with built-in 10Gb support, and also capable of running Data ONTAP Cluster mode

Cloud Infrastructure
The above hardware architecture serves as the solid foundation for VMware Cloud Infrastructure, which consists of vSphere, vCenter and Site Recovery Manager, to provide end customers with a highly available, scalable solution with built-in automation, hardware acceleration, management and business continuity capabilities.

Built-in Integration At a Glance

In addition to the built-in integrations above, the following VMware Cloud Infrastructure features help providing additional benefits for IT Architect and Admin, please refer to NetApp and VMware joint best practices paper TR3749 for further details.

Key Takeaway
Want to be part of the cloud journey?  The first step is to lay the right foundation. VMware Cloud Infrastructure, together with Entry Level FlexPOD, provides customers with simple, low risk, highly available, highly efficient and highly scalable architecture – we can take you there!

Posted by David Auster
NetApp Global Alliance
Marketing

 As an IT manager in a small or midsized business, do you sometimes feel like all of the provisioning pressure is on you? Or that you’re always worried about system downtime? VMware and NetApp understand, which is why together we have launched a new solution featuring our joint real-world virtualization capabilities designed specifically to meet mid-market company needs.

Our goal is to help you solve your most pressing IT challenges with proven solutions built for growing businesses. From server and storage virtualization to integrated data protection to desktop virtualization, VMware and NetApp solutions simplify your IT—and your life.

Check out our new step-by-step guide to prepare to take the first step with us on your virtualization journey. Once you do, stop back and let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments section below.

Posted by Abigail Lee
Alliance Marketing
Manager

 Introducing “IT from the Inside,” a new website featuring comments, videos, photos, Tweets and more from VMware customers. Visiting the site is your chance to hear directly from end-users and IT professionals about how they are using VMware and partner solutions.

Whether you are a large enterprise or a small and midsize business, we encourage you to bookmark the site and submit your story. Tell us how VMware and our partner solutions are improving your IT agility, enhancing end-user productivity, reducing costs, lowering operating expenses or just simply making your life better!

So grab your phone and send us a video. Log onto Twitter and show us your Tweet. Take a screen shot. Write up a tip. Share a best practice. Offer a suggestion. Provide a strategy. What you choose to send about VMware and your partner solution is up to you!

And for a limited time, we’ll enter you in a contest to win a free trip or pass to VMworld 2012—when you submit a video by April 30.  So grab your camera and get started.  We look forward to seeing you in the limelight.

Posted by Brian Forbes, VMware, Sr. Director
Alliance Marketing and Julie Eades,
VMware, VP of Global SMB Marketing

Brian Forbes: VMware traditionally has focused on enterprise software solutions. Why the focus now on SMB customers?

Julie Eades: It is certainly the perception that we are an enterprise software company, but we have a very strong SMB customer base that is growing year-over-year. The reason? Our solutions benefit both large and small companies alike.  Companies of all sizes can realize the same cost savings and business agility from implementing VMware solutions.  Whether a large organization or a growing startup, companies are looking to lower costs, increase IT flexibility and grow without complexity while ensuring that their IT environments and businesses run without any downtime, even when disaster strikes. 

With the focus on SMB, VMware can address the specific evolving needs of these customers by delivering a comprehensive suite of solutions tailored for SMB customers and channels.  Our ultimate vision is to offer our partner community a simple way to provide IT services to their SMB customers and at the same time make IT more easily consumable so that SMBs can concentrate on growing their businesses instead of worrying about how IT works! 

Forbes: What are the two main reasons why an SMB should look to VMware for their virtualization and cloud computing needs?

Eades: Just two?  That is tough…each customer situation is unique, but if I had to narrow it down I would say that customers who choose VMware work with the proven market leader in virtualization and enjoy the benefits associated with the industry’s most mature and reliable technology.  And with virtualization as a foundation to your cloud, many of the leading public cloud service providers run on VMware.

In addition, VMware delivers a range of virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions designed to meet the unique needs of small and midsize businesses.

But I don’t want to stop there.  Given the focus of this blog, I want to highlight our partners.  We have the most knowledgeable partner ecosystem with specializations in infrastructure virtualization, business continuity and desktop virtualization to help customers of all types and sizes. 

Forbes: Is the strong performance and feature benefits associated with VMware products really required for a small or midsize business?

Eades: What we find is that just because a business is small or midsize, doesn’t mean they want to settle when it comes to mission critical business systems.  In fact, we see even very small businesses (1-99 employees) upgrading from our entry-level products, Essentials or Essentials+, to enterprise suites. 

Businesses today, including SMBs, see technology as a business differentiator.  This is especially true within certain industries, like hi-tech, business services, education and finance. Today’s SMBs have similar needs as enterprise customers.  They are just as concerned about availability, performance, security, manageability and scalability as their larger peers, and are looking for the same benefits.

That said, with our added focus on SMB, we are working with our customers and partners to further define the IT needs and characteristics of SMBs and to create, package and deliver the right solutions for their business.

Forbes: Where are you seeing SMBs adopting cloud computing?  

Eades: Several SMB studies from various sources such as CompTIA, a non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of IT professionals and companies, as well as analyst firms have shown that of the SMBs who have adopted or plan to adopt cloud, the most common cloud services are storage/backup, email, document management and collaboration.  And the most cited benefit of a cloud solution is cost and flexibility.

This aligns with our expectation that SMBs are looking to external service providers for cloud services and also rapidly adopting SaaS as their initial deployment.  As they gain more confidence in cloud, we expect further expansion into available services.

Forbes: What does VMware have planned in 2012 specifically for the SMB customer base and how do our Alliances impact this?

Eades: We have many good things in store around the globe for the SMB customer base, starting with several product promotions in February. We also have an exciting new marketing campaign that will hit all major markets in Q1 called “The Real World Advantage Campaign”. Several channel and alliance partners have customized the campaign for their own use and more intend to do the same.

In Q2 our VMware Forums (vForum) kick off in the Americas and EMEA regions – these are large, one day, free events where companies can come and learn about virtualization and cloud computing.  SMB IT teams can access real technology in the vForum hands-on labs and speak to experts at the VMware booth. 

Then in Q3 San Francisco hosts VMworld, where we expect almost 20,000 attendees and we always see a large SMB contingent participate.  And finally in Q4, Barcelona hosts VMworld Europe followed closely by the APJ Forums, where we continue to be impressed by the number of attendees learning about VMware technology.

Everything I have just mentioned provides opportunities for our Alliance partners. They can join our events, run joint campaigns and augment our promotions.  Our partner ecosystem is incredibly important to us at VMware and we look forward to continuing our close relationship with our alliance community in 2012.

Posted by Frances Fortanely
Americas HP Alliance Marketing

Virtually There is a new learning environment designed to help Small and Midsize Businesses (SMBs) leverage the power of virtualization for competitive advantage. Created jointly by HP and VMware, the site features a host of valuable tools—from white papers and solution briefs to an ROI calculator and self assessment—that enable SMBs to evaluate how to implement virtualization at a low cost.

SMBs that think virtualization may be too much will be particularly interested in registering for three on-demand webinars:

• Virtualization 101: Launching into Cloud Computing for SMBs
• Setting Virtual Priorities: Which Applications Should You Virtualize First
• Optimizing the World of IT for End Users: Balancing Freedom and Choice with Security and Compliance to Meet Business

This final webinar was recorded live, in front of an SMB audience, in Austin.

Review the data sheets showcasing SMB solutions from HP and VMware. Enter information into the ROI calculator to determine your potential savings from server consolidation using VMware vSphere^®.  Answer a brief questionnaire and receive a smart paper that consolidates multiple sources of information into an executive summary based on your input.

Affordable, enterprise-level virtualization solutions are available for your SMB. Visit Virtually There to learn more.