VMware Announces VMware Ready Program for Management Solutions
Qualified Partner Management Solutions Extend VMware vCenter Products to Deliver End-to-End Datacenter and IT Process Management
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, September 15, 2008— Today at VMworld 2008, VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, announced the expansion of the VMware Ready Program for partners providing management solutions for the Virtual Datacenter Operating System (VDC-OS) from VMware. (See related press release, “VMware Announces Next Generation of Virtualization—the Virtual Datacenter Operating System.”) The VDC-OS transforms enterprise datacenters into an “internal cloud” – an elastic, shared, self-managing and self-healing utility that also federates with external clouds of computing capacity to free IT from the constraints of static hardware and location. The VMware Ready Program gives management solution partners full access to a rich set of management functionality and integration interfaces for the VMware vCenter management product portfolio – as well as technical qualification, integration best practices and logo usage that offer customers an easy way to identify products that tightly integrate with or extend native VMware vCenter management capabilities.
Key management vendors including BMC Software, CA, EMC, HP Software, IBM Tivoli, NetIQ, nworks (a veeam company), Quest Software, Symantec, and Tripwire are using vCenter technologies today and are delivering or qualifying VMware Ready management solutions.
Partner Solutions Integrate With and Extend VMware vCenter
Today, VMware vCenter products provides management functionality for a wide range of virtualization management operations for the VDC-OS, including virtual machine discovery and configuration management, monitoring, performance management, provisioning, and resource management. vCenter products combined with standardized, hardware-independent virtual machine containers that can be easily changed, moved and manipulated, have helped some VMware customers automate more IT processes and increase datacenter management productivity by 2-3 times compared to physical environments.
Additional APIs and integration technologies (e.g., UI plug-in architectures) facilitate the integration of VMware management functions into many types of VMware Ready third-party solutions. These open interfaces offer solution providers the ability to integrate management of the VDC-OS with end-to-end management processes spanning heterogeneous datacenter environments (such as x86, mainframe, Sparc, and Power; and across different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and Solaris; and across different application stacks, such as Java, .Net, LAMP, web 2.0). For example, a common integration would be an enterprise-wide IT service requisition solution that delivers policy-based provisioning of VMware virtual machines alongside physical datacenter resources.
VMware Ready Management Solution Qualification and Logos
The VMware Ready Program will include a new tiered qualification criteria for management products to help validate that partner products follow VMware guidelines and are interoperable with vCenter products. This assurance will accelerate implementation of qualified management solutions and help customers reduce IT expenses.
In addition to designating solutions that meet basic interoperability with vCenter, VMware will also designate a set of recommended solutions for essential management processes like monitoring, performance management, configuration management, change management, provisioning, compliance and chargeback that adhere to more stringent integration guidelines and pass technical validation. Partner products passing this additional qualification will be allowed to use the VMware Ready Optimized logo, where Optimized signifies that the qualifying products provide optimized levels of integration, functionality, or performance.
“VMware has helped thousands of enterprise customers create a fluid and dynamic shared infrastructure cloud that is abstracted away from the complexity of hardware as well as the varying nature of applications,” said Brian Byun, vice president of global partners and solutions, VMware. “VMware Ready for management solutions provide customers added value beyond the capability of any single vendor; customers get end-to-end solutions that will help manage their VDC-OS and control and manage applications in highly dynamic and heterogeneous environments.”
“Virtualization has changed the face of how infrastructure is deployed and managed in the datacenter,” said Cameron Haight, research vice president, Gartner. “To truly capitalize on the value of virtualization, manageability cannot be an after-thought. IT leaders must plan for and adopt processes and tools that work across both virtual and physical environments.”
Management technology vendors who are members of VMware’s Technology Alliance Partner program with products meeting eligibility requirements may apply to qualify those products as VMware Ready. Qualified partners in the program will have advance access to vCenter technologies to develop and deliver solutions that interoperate and are optimized for VMware vCenter products. VMware Ready management solutions will be featured in the VMware Ready solution catalog on vmware.com.
To read about partner support of the VMware Ready Program, please visit: http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vready_vmworld_partner.html
For more information on the VMware Ready Program for management solutions, and VMware vCenter products, please visit www.vmware.com/go/vcenter
About VMworld 2008
VMworld 2008, now in its fifth year, with more than 14,000 attendees and 206 sponsors and exhibitors, is the must-attend event for IT professionals looking for actionable ideas, innovative products and best practices for virtualizing the enterprise – from the desktop to the datacenter. Under the theme, "Virtually Anything is Possible," VMworld celebrates what is happening today and what the future of virtualization holds. Keynotes are being given by Platinum Sponsors Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, NetApp, Symantec and VMware. VMworld features more than 285 breakout sessions and hands-on labs, led by VMware and industry professionals, and is being held September 15-18 at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
About VMware
VMware (NYSE: VMW) is the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter. Customers of all sizes rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2007 revenues of $1.3 billion, more than 120,000 customers and nearly 18,000 partners, VMware is one of the fastest growing public software companies. Based in Palo Alto, California, VMware is majority-owned by EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) and on the web at www.vmware.com.
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VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release which are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate, but are not limited, to new product and technology initiatives, introduction of new virtualization products, market adoption and deployment of VMware products and architecture, levels of demand for VMware products including market size and leadership, ongoing development and delivery of innovative new products and applications and capabilities of VMware products and technologies. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in consumer or information technology spending; (iii) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (iv) our customers’ ability to develop, and to transition to, new products, (v) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vi) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software; (vii) uncertainties in product development timelines; (viii) our ability to resolve technical challenges; (ix) VMware’s relationship with EMC Corporation, and EMC’s ability to control matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of VMware’s board members; (x) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xi) our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; and (xii) the impact of fluctuating currency exchange rates. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
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