Telstra, VMware to bring vCloud Air to Australia

Telstra has agreed to host VMware’s vCloud Air hybrid cloud service within its connected data centres, once the service launches in Australia in 1H15.

The vCloud Air service is designed to allow companies to integrate their on-premise infrastructure with the public cloud. It was previously known as the vCloud Hybrid Service, and launched in the US in August last year.

It offers two infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings - a dedicated cloud or a virtual private cloud - that can be used as a public cloud deployment or incorporated into a customer’s hybrid cloud environment. The Australian version of the service will use Telstra’s existing customer portal management interface.

VMware said the service is compatible with hybrid cloud services provided by its network of service providers, which already includes providers running more than 20 Australian data centres.

The company plans to fully manage the Australian vCloud Air platform, offering ongoing updates and technological support.

Partners including Deloitte, Datacom, Rackspace and Data#3 will use the new platform to offer cloud services to their respective customers.

Speaking at VMware’s vForum in Sydney, Telstra Global executive director for cloud Erez Yarkoni said the agreement furthers Telstra’s global cloud ambitions.

“As part of our overarching cloud strategy, Telstra is committed to expanding our capabilities by working with global leaders in cloud services,” he said. “Partnering with VMware is another example of us delivering on that commitment, providing our customers with greater flexibility and choice when it comes to selecting and deploying their cloud services.”

VMware Australia and New Zealand managing director Duncan Bennet said 80% of Australian enterprises are already running a VMware virtualised environment.

“This expanded partnership with Telstra will create an even smoother pathway to the cloud for customers adopting a hybrid model. The flexibility and freedom of VMware vCloud Air, coupled with the performance and resiliency of the Telstra network, will be a very exciting combination for organisations looking to a hybrid cloud solution,” he said.

Research conducted by IDC and commissioned by VMware shows that two in three Australian enterprises believe the hybrid cloud will be critical or very important to reaching their business goals and staying competitive by 2020. But complexity is inhibiting the adoption of hybrid cloud environments - 37% of respondents considered this to be the main factor preventing them from embracing the technology.

Australian companies expressing hesitancy about the hybrid cloud typically cite two main issues - cross-platform compatibility and flexibility - as contributing to this complexity, Bennet said.

“Australian businesses want the ability to shift workloads between private and public clouds with no fuss, without their data becoming locked into one or the other.”

The survey also shows that 45.5% of businesses believe that by 2020, IT’s main role will be providing support for revenue-generating online services, and 40% believe that seamless employee self-service will be a core function of the IT department by this time.

The dedicated cloud component of the vCloud Air service starts at 30 GHz of computing capacity, 120 GB of vRAM, 6 Tbps of storage and 50 Mbps of bandwidth. The hybrid cloud starts at a more modest 5 GHz of compute, 20 GB of vRam, 2 Tbps of storage and 10 Mbps of bandwidth. It comes complete with VMware’s vSphere disaster-recovery service.

IT News notes that this is not VMware’s first attempt at wholesaling cloud services in Australia. In 2009, the company launched the vCloud express service, but by 2011 its partners had mostly transitioned to reselling public cloud services.

VMware plans to address the mistakes it made with its first foray by offering more functions that can be called on by third-party hosters and supporting a wider variety of API calls.

Image courtesy of Eva Rinaldi under CC.