VMware Widens Its Road To The Cloud With Google Partnership

Google and VMware have announced a new element to their partnership that the two companies said will simplify cloud migrations, provide more flexibility, and help companies modernize their enterprise applications with a minimum amount of pain. 

An expanded partnership between VMware and Google Cloud means AWS and Dell are being joined by a third cloud partner for VMware Cloud Universal, which allows VMware licenses to function both on-prem and in the cloud. Google’s part in the deal involves making Google Cloud VMware Engine usable with VMware Cloud Universal. 

Google Cloud customers who use VMware will likely have heard of Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE) before: It is a Google service that lets customers “lift and shift” their entire VMware environment from on-prem hardware to the cloud. Google describes it as being able to “provision an entire VMware SDDC in about 30 minutes across 13 global regions.” 

In addition to being a quick migration service, a Google spokesperson said that GCVE is designed to get VMware tools up and running on Google Cloud as a native, fully managed service. Basically, it’s a way to get from on-prem to cloud “without needing to make any changes to applications, tools, or processes,” according to VMware. 

Combining the two offerings makes sense: VMware Cloud Universal makes using existing VMware licenses with cloud services possible, and GCVE enables that migration. There’s also the savings: Enterprises can reportedly reduce their TCO by 38 percent over three years, save a total yearly average of more than $2 million and reduce labor costs by $115,000.

Zia Yusef, VMware’s senior vice president of strategic ecosystem and industry solutions, said that the new offering will make it easier for customers to take a multi-cloud approach without losing the advantages of Google Cloud or vSphere apps. 

“We are now making it faster and easier for our mutual customers to consume Google Cloud VMware Engine along with other VMware Cross-Cloud services, across the datacenter, edge, or Google Cloud,” Yusef said.

Prior to its connection to VMware Cloud Universal, Google Cloud VMware Engine was less of a moving company and more of a full-management middleman. Because licenses for VMware products (outside of VMware Cloud Universal) are environment-specific, GCVE handled migration as well as everything else to do with getting the proper licenses and billing customers for them.

Importantly, GCVE used to be a one-way street, and customers could only purchase it through Google. Now, with GCVE purchasable directly from VMware as part of VMware Cloud Universal, VMware customers don’t even need to leave a familiar ecosystem to get out of the datacenter and into the cloud. 

VMware customers interested in moving to the cloud via GCVE will find it in the VMware Cloud Console. VMware made no mention of differences in GCVE pricing compared to that that which Google is charging. We have reached out to VMware for a response, but have not receive one as yet.

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