Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with Pivotal to introduce a range of new services and capabilities in the cloud native applications space:
- We launched VMware Enterprise PKS as a turnkey container management platform
- We introduced the Beta of SaaS-based Kubernetes service VMware Cloud PKS
- We acquired the talented team and technological capabilities of Heptio
We’ll be pushing ahead in the coming year with more innovations and community contributions. Our objective is to establish VMware as the leading enabler of Kubernetes and cloud native operations, whether on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment.
To do this, we need to provide our customers with a range of different ways to consume Kubernetes – so they can choose the method that best suits their needs – which is why we’re introducing VMware Essential PKS.
VMware Essential PKS is a modular approach to cloud native operations. As implied in its name, this pared-back offering includes the fundamentals:
- Upstream Kubernetes
- Reference architectures to inform design decisions
- Expert support to proactively guide you through upgrades or maintenance and provide reactive troubleshooting
VMware Essential PKS leverages Heptio’s highly open approach to development. It’s ideally suited to organizations that want to invest the time and resources to build a highly customized footprint.
The Modular Approach
Some customers have a need to build a more modular architecture on upstream Kubernetes; they have requirements to use specific technologies for networking, monitoring, storage, etc. Importantly, these organizations either have the in-house expertise to design, deploy and integrate those components, the intent to grow that capability or the appetite to use an expert team, like VMware’s Kubernetes Architects, to bridge the gap. VMware Essential PKS will help these customers access upstream Kubernetes with a backstop of proactive support.
The Turnkey Approach
Most customers require a more turnkey solution to container management – particularly to integrate with their existing VMware footprint. These customers recognize the value of pre-integrated and validated components allowing for consistency, security and compliance. VMware Enterprise PKS packages NSX-T for networking and a Harbor for Registry, and includes key operational patterns, out-of-box automations and day 2 considerations for ease of operation.
The Hands-Off Approach
Other customers want to make clusters available to their teams without the burden of operating the platform themselves. Clusters will need to be pre-configured and ready to rapidly deploy and scale. VMware Cloud PKS allows these customers to get up and running in minutes with a SaaS-based pay-for-what-you-use model. This service is currently in beta.
Each of these solutions is built on upstream Kubernetes, enabling greater workload portability. Our approach to Kubernetes is cloud independent – our customers want to run workloads across on-premises and cloud environments.
Toward Cloud Native Operation
Regardless of where you are in your cloud native journey, VMware can help. More than 80% of containers run on virtual machines, with that percentage growing each year. Given our extensive VM experience, we’re uniquely positioned to get you up and running on Kubernetes.
Many Kubernetes deployments start on premises, with customers containerizing applications as a practical path to public cloud. We’re ready to guide customers in modernizing their approach to application development and to improve development velocity using cloud native principles. With our growing product portfolio, Pivotal partnership and expertise, we’re here to help enterprise transformation toward cloud native operation.
