This post is the first in a three-part series leading up to VMworld 2020. The series will deal with challenges and solutions for technology integration and workload migration. The third and final post will complete the series. It will showcase VMware Cloud on Dell EMC. Customers and partners attending VMworld 2020 can get the full details on this by registering for VMworld free of charge and attending session: HCP1321: VMware Cloud on Dell EMC Technology Integration and Workload Migration.
The Setup
One of the biggest challenges for customers is when circumstances force change on information systems. Change is the enemy of smooth information technology (IT) operations. Change can cause business disruption. IT administrators spend a lot of time planning for business disruption. Sometimes one can see the change coming and work around it. Sometimes change is so sudden, that despite the best-laid plans business disruption still occurs.
Consider the following scenario. A mid-sized manufacturing company in the United States has a small IT team. They suddenly learn that their company is acquiring a larger but struggling competitor. The existing team is just barely able to keep their business running. They have aging hardware at their
factory locations and face travel restrictions. Now they are confronted with integrating the newly acquired company’s information systems. They must do this under a very aggressive timeline. See the diagram below highlighting some of the specific challenges and goals before this customer.
What this means to customers
Unfortunately, this is a story that resonates across many market segments and verticals.
This customer faces significant hurdles to attain their desired end state. Their planned hardware upgrades don’t align with the new timeline. The upgrades to the newly acquired sites aren’t even in the budget. They need a solution that is as consumer simple as the public cloud but runs on premises. The good news is that both companies standardized on VMware before the acquisition. So, there is hope that the team can leverage a consistent infrastructure and operational model across all of their locations. This would make it easier to integrate the Cloud into existing data centers. To quickly integrate their infrastructure and operations they need a hybrid cloud solution.
Easy to consume and deploy VMware-based infrastructure at remote manufacturing sites
A fully managed cloud service that allows the customer to focus on the business instead of the infrastructure
A flexible payment model that allows them to spread the cost over time
VMware Cloud on Dell EMC meets these critical needs:
VMware Cloud on Dell EMC combines the simplicity and agility of the public cloud with the security and control of on-premises infrastructure delivered as-a-service. This fully managed VMware Cloud service provides a simple, secure, and scalable infrastructure for on-premises datacenter and edge locations. VMware’s industry-leading compute, storage, and networking software are integrated with enterprise-class Dell EMC hardware in the solution. This unique approach empowers customers to focus on business innovation and differentiation, while VMware operates the entire infrastructure end-to-end.
The customer decides to go with VMware Cloud on Dell EMC. They order the solution from VMware. VMware processes the order. Dell EMC prepares and ships the equipment to the customer’s manufacturing sites. A Dell EMC technician connects the equipment at each site to the customer’s power and networking. Then the system is activated. This is when billing starts. From that point on VMware manages and supports the entire service remotely. This covers VMware software and Dell EMC hardware. VMware handles all of the lifecycle management and availability of the service. If something breaks, a standby node is activated by VMware, and a Dell EMC technician is dispatched to the site. The technician repairs the failed component and the standby node goes back into standby status.
Conclusion
Now that this customer has a solution in place that easily integrates into their existing infrastructure and operations they can begin to focus on the next phase of the project: workload migration…
Read the next blog post scheduled for the week of September 20th to learn about the challenges this customer faces in moving workloads to the new infrastructure. I will also discuss technical options for solving these challenges.
Check out these other great VMworld sessions for VMware Cloud on Dell EMC:
HCP1321: VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – Technology Integration and Workload Migration – Matt Herreras, Director Technical Marketing, VMware
HCP1802: Extend Hybrid Cloud to the Edge and Data Center with VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – Varun Chhabra, VP Product Marketing, Dell Technologies
HCP1803: Business Use Cases Showcase with VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – Wei Wang, Director, Product Marketing, VMware
HCP1804: Build a Killer Application with VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – Matt Morgan, VP Product Marketing, Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware
HCP1831: Building a successful VDI solution with VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – Andrew Nielsen, Sr. Director, Workload and Technical Marketing, VMware
HCP1834: Second-Generation VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, Explained by Product Experts – Neeraj Patalay, Product Line Manager, VMware
HCP2709: Expert Roundtable: Get Answers to Your Toughest VMware Cloud on Dell EMC Questions – Ken Smith, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, VMware
By Matt Herreras, Director, Technical Marketing for VMware Cloud on Dell EMC
