This article was originally posted here on September 4 2018.
At VMworld US last week, we saw a huge amount of interest from partners in VMware Cloud on AWS. We hosted multiple sessions about new program updates and new features now available with VMware Cloud on AWS. Here’s what we announced:
New Features for VMware Cloud on AWS
Availability in AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region, and more coming
Since VMworld US 2017, when we first announced VMware Cloud on AWS availability in AWS US West (Oregon), VMware and AWS have completed four releases of VMware Cloud on AWS. Each release has added many additional enterprise capabilities as well as regional expansions of the service to the AWS US West (Oregon), AWS US East (N. Virginia), AWS Europe (London), AWS Europe (Frankfurt) regions. In addition, on June 20th 2018, VMware also reiterated its commitment to the public sector by announcing a forthcoming service called VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US), which is on the path to secure FedRAMP authority to operate. VMworld US 2018 marks the fifth release of VMware Cloud on AWS which brings the service to AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region.
We are also excited to share our plans for deploying VMware Cloud on AWS to more AWS availability zones in the future. Here’s our rollout schedule:
- Q4 2018: Tokyo, Ireland, N. California, Ohio Gove Cloud West
- Q1 2019: Singapore, Mumbai, Central Canada, Paris
- Q2 2019: Sao Paolo, Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul
- H2 2019: Bahrain, Gov Cloud US East, Sweden
- Future: Beijing, Nongzia
Multiple price points
Partners told us their customers want more configuration options, including smaller configurations with lower entry prices. In June, we announced the availability of a 30-day time-bound, single host SDDC configuration for test and development. Last week, we announced a three-host configuration, which will be available at the price of a two-host configuration for a limited time, September 10, 2018 through November 2, 2018. Now, partners have three configurations with three price points to offer their customers, the standard 4 host configuration, a 30-day time-bound single host configuration for test and development, and a new three-host configuration for a special price of two hosts for a limited period. The VMware Cloud on AWS pricing page will be updated on September 10 with the new pricing and configuration information.
More Tools for Developing Migration Services
Migrating applications to the cloud is one of the top use cases for VMware Cloud on AWS. We’ve made product enhancements and developed new VMware IP to help partners migrate their customer’s applications to the cloud.
- We’ve bundled VMware Cost Insight with VMware Cloud on AWS, giving partners a tool to do migration cost analysis.
- VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension, which is available to VMware Cloud on AWS customers at no cost, now includes a new feature called VMware Cloud Motion with vSphere
- Replication that supports migration of 1000s of VMs live, with no reboot required. This enables large-scale, replication-accelerated, live migrations between on-premises & VMware Cloud on AWS.
- We’ve updated multiple cloud VMware Solution Enablement Toolkits that include VMware IP which partners use to develop their own cloud migration professional services.
- We’ve announced a new program, VMware Partner Acceleration Program, that includes webinars, workshops and classroom sessions to help partners develop their own cloud migration services.
Free VMware on AWS Credits bundled with vSphere Platinum
Customers who purchase the new VMware vSphere Platinum edition will receive a special promotional offer of $10K VMware Cloud on AWS credits to apply against VMware Cloud on AWS usage. This is a great way for partners to get their customers to try out VMware Cloud on AWS. Customers must activate the promotion within 4 months and will have 60 days from activation to being using VMware Cloud on AWS or the promotion will expire. Minimum purchase of 5 vSphere Platinum CPU licenses required. If you are helping your customer purchase vSphere Platinum, develop a plan to help them try out VMware Cloud on AWS.
These are just a few of the new features now available with VMware Cloud on AWS. To find out about all the new features, read this blog
New and Updated Partner Programs
In addition to new features in VMware Cloud on AWS, we also announced a number of new and updated partner programs to help you sell more VMware Cloud on AWS.
New Cloud Sales Institute
The rapid adoption of cloud computing represents a huge opportunity for VMware and its partners. As part of VMware’s efforts to enable our partners to sell and deliver hybrid cloud solutions, we have recently created the VMware Cloud Sales Institute for our partners. The VMware Cloud Sales Institute provides sales training that teaches participants how to talk about cloud technology, how to tell the VMware Cloud story, how to describe VMware’s Cloud offerings, and how to prospect and qualify a customer for VMware Cloud on AWS and other VMware Cloud services. Delivered via short, web-based training modules, partners can learn at their own pace from wherever they’re located. By taking this training, partners will acquire the foundational knowledge they need to successfully sell VMware cloud services. Partners can access Cloud Sales Institute here.
New and Updated Solution Enablement Toolkits
VMware Solution Enablement Toolkits, created by VMware’s Professional Services Engineering team, are used by partners to develop their own professional services. They include VMware services, sales, and marketing IP. VMware has two new and seven updated Solution Enablement Toolkits to help partners develop cloud professional services for:
- Hybrid Cloud Readiness
- Migrations and Flexibility
- Integrate, Extend and Optimize
Partners can access Solution Enablement Toolkits here.
Enhanced VMware Cloud on AWS Solution Provider consumption incentive
VMware is increasing our partner’s ability to generate revenue with VMware Cloud on AWS by enhancing the VMware Cloud on AWS Solution Provider consumption incentive. Previously, partners that drove post-sales consumption of VMware Cloud on AWS received a consumption incentive for up to 1 year. Now, partners can receive the consumption incentive for up to 2 years.
New Partner Acceleration Program
The VMware Worldwide Cloud Practice team offers consulting services to help partners build their hybrid cloud business. There are over 10 different services covering business modeling, strategy, service development, hands-on training, POCs and more. These services are customized to each partner and are available at no cost to qualified partners.
New Marketing Assets
Partners that want to run integrated campaigns or demand generation programs for VMware Cloud on AWS can do that using Partner Edge. We’ve recently added a Cloud Migration sales play to help partners close VMware Cloud on AWS deals faster. We’ve also added new VMware Cloud on AWS marketing assets on Partner Central.
Related News
In addition to the VMware Cloud on AWS new features and partner program announcements, VMware and AWS announced Amazon Relational Database Service on VMware. Amazon RDS on VMware is a service that will make it easy for customers to set up, operate, and scale databases in VMware-based software-defined data centers and hybrid environments and to migrate them to AWS or VMware Cloud on AWS. Amazon RDS on VMware automates database management regardless of where the database is deployed, freeing up customers to focus on developing and tuning their applications. Available in the coming months, Amazon RDS on VMware will support Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB databases. To learn more about Amazon RDS on VMware, visit: https://aws.amazon.com/rds/vmware.
