Today, digital transformation is at the front and center of every business and “data” is one of the foundational elements of this digital transformation. Based on the insights gathered from this data, businesses aim to automate intelligence and make time-sensitive decisions on site by bringing IT infrastructure closer to the data source. And that’s where edge computing infrastructure comes into picture. Edge computing has emerged as a critical technology in the modern digital landscape. But deploying and managing edge infrastructure is not easy. Organizations face many challenges while deploying edge infrastructure. Some of the key challenges are lack of scalable, flexible, turn-key infrastructure, operational overhead, incompatible infrastructure and skill gaps, security and compliance issues and infrastructure downtime.
In order to help customers resolve these challenges and deploy a modern infrastructure at the edge locations, today, we are announcing general availability of VMware Cloud Foundation Edge – a new SKU offering , an optimized configuration of VMware Cloud Foundation specifically designed for edge use cases. Let’s look at some of the details of VMware Cloud Foundation Edge:
VMware Cloud Foundation Edge
VMware Cloud Foundation Edge is an optimized configuration of VMware Cloud Foundation tailored for edge use cases that provides a private cloud infrastructure platform for edge locations, offering integrated enterprise-class compute, storage, networking, management and security capabilities. It delivers scalable and flexible edge infrastructure with automated deployment and lifecycle management. With consistent infrastructure across private cloud, public cloud and edge sites, this platform provides seamless integration across the environments. And with consistent and unified operations, VCF Edge simplifies the management and orchestration of edge deployments across multiple sites.
Here are the core components of the platform:
- Complete infrastructure platform– VMware Cloud Foundation Edge Includes entitlements to VMware’s industry-leading solutions—vSphere for compute, vSAN/vVols for storage, and NSX for networking. Additionally, by providing additional entitlements for vSphere with vSAN witness appliance, smaller configurations can be deployed locally in scenarios where customers do not require infrastructure orchestration.
- Infrastructure orchestration – Automate the installation, operations, and lifecycle management of the SDDC platform, streamlining deployment, configuration, and updating processes.
- Management and orchestration – Deliver comprehensive operations, automation, and analysis, across the full infrastructure platform.
- Hybrid Cloud Extension – Enable seamless migration, workload rebalancing, and disaster recovery across private cloud, public cloud and edge.
Why VMware Cloud Foundation Edge?
VMware Cloud Foundation Edge offers a unique solution for setting up a modern edge infrastructure with some of the key differentiators as:
- Enterprise-ready edge infrastructure: VMware Cloud Foundation Edge provides a turnkey infrastructure for the edge locations with enterprise grade compute, storage, networking, security, and management. This solution also includes unique, built-in security, performance, availability, supportability and manageability capabilities to meet enterprise requirements.
- Unmatched flexibility and scalability: VMware Cloud Foundation Edge gives customers the ability to start small with as low as 1-node deployments and scale later as needed. This also gives organizations the flexibility to deploy full infrastructure platform or individual components, depending on the particular use case. With this flexibility, customers can determine if it is necessary to deploy an SDDC manager or simply use vCenter for different levels of automation and lifecycle management. VMware Cloud Foundation Edge also provides storage deployment alternatives, enabling customers to use vSAN, vSAN with shared witness, or external storage systems at the edge.
- Unified operations and management: VMware Cloud Foundation Edge simplifies operations with a unified operations layer provided by VMware vCenter and Aria Operations to manage workload domains across different edge sites.
Customer Benefits:
With all these key features and capabilities, VMware Cloud Foundation Edge offers the following customers benefits:
- Reduced operational overhead and complexity – With automated deployment and lifecycle management, VMware Cloud Foundation Edge reduces an operational burden of an edge infrastructure. With consistent operations, it streamlines the operations across data center and edge sites.
- Cost efficiency – VMware Cloud Foundation Edge decreases the total cost of ownership (TCO) through low-cost optimized VCF configuration and automated lifecycle management, reducing both CapEx and OpEx.
- Enhanced security and reliability – VMware Cloud Foundation Edge delivers high availability, resiliency and robust security for edge sites, ensuring comprehensive data protection and uninterrupted business operations.
Deployment Scenarios:
There are multiple design options to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation Edge as per the customer needs. Some of the examples are- Centrally managed Remote Edge, Standalone Edge, Air-gapped Edge, Far Edge and Near Edge use cases. To dive deep into these design options, please check out this white paper: Design Considerations for VMware Cloud Foundation Edge
Pricing and Packaging:
Please consult with your Broadcom sales representative or channel partner to get pricing information for VMware Cloud Foundation Edge. Also, please note that VMware Cloud Foundation Edge should be deployed at the Edge sites ONLY.
Learn More:
To learn more about VMware Cloud Foundation Edge, please check out the following resources:
