End-User Computing for the Mobile Cloud Era

VMware is building a complete portfolio that is all connected in three major pillars: desktop, mobile and content.  This session highlights a new suite "VMware Workspace Suite" with Horizon, AirWatch and Secure Content Locker.

Horizon 6 was launched in April and their has been tremondous interest from customers.  It delivers both VDI and App delivery in a single platform.  Horizon 6 provides a unified workspace and central image management that can be delivered on a virtual SAN platform.  Virtual SAN eliminates complexity and cost.  In addition with vCOPs you get management from the datacenter to the device.

VMware introduced Horizon DaaS on vCloud Air earlier this year.  Enhancements to this service include Cloud Bursting or monthly terms for seasonal use cases.  In addition Apps-as-a-Service will be available.  The service will also be expanded to EMEA.

The session makes mention of a customer using Mirage for a 60 - 70,000 seat environment.  The session moves to a live demo that starts from a Mac laptop with access to workspace integrated with Horizon Application delivery and the nice seamless windows interface with seamless printing.

The next application that is demo'd is Lync running on Mac.  The demo then moves over to the chrome book with the NVIDIA integration.  The NVIDIA demo uses GPUs on hosts and standard based codex's on the client as well as HTML5 on the wire.  

Project Meteor was profiled again which is the Just in Time desktop technology based on the ability to fast clone a VM in seconds (Project Fargo) and provision aplications using CloudVolumes.  This allows the VM to be created a few seconds before the session request and destroyed after logoff.

CloudVolumes adds a 2nd layer of abstraction for the applications.  It leverages a vmdk that can be mounted quickly.  You simply install the application into the vmdk (CloudVolumes refer to these as App Stacks) and link them back to the desktop.  This allows you to organize and manage applications in layers.  VMware recommends that you organize yourself into logical abstraction layers so by department or user segment for example.  CloudVolumes actually supports vmdk and vhd.  In addition they support RDSH servers.

The discussion switches to mobility which is very complex when consider the number of devices, compliance, security and regulator requirements.  AirWatch is designed with scale and multitenancy so you can seperate different business groups and different compliance requirements.  There is also a strong focus on enablement to ensure you can unlock the power of the content for your customers or end users.

To deliver this, AirWatch starts with device management which is entirely customizable.  Once the device is managed you tie it to the framework.  This is all done on a consistent code base which allows AirWatch to scale.  The framework allows you to manage the full device or a container on the device.  

The cost of managing a mobile device is much less than a PC.  In addition the device is not that important as the data lives in the Cloud.  VMware is attempting to bring this concept to a destop.  To do this VMware is looking at a mobile cloud architecture.

What VMware looked at was a few integration points that benefit end users and administrators.  For users it is the ability to access apps anywhere, sso. file synchronization between devices and finally the users social framework.

For administrators this is a centralized and consistent management framework, a service catalog and a single access point with policies.

The session ends with a summary of the announcements: VMware Workspace Suite, the partnerships with NVIDIA and Google and VMware and SAP as well as Project Meteor.  

 

VMworld General Session (Day 2) - Live from VMworld

Ben Fathi VMware's Chief Technology Officer takes the stage.   Ben reiterates Pat's message on a liquid world that requires a friction free IT system.  In todays session they will be delivering some demos of the product announcements yesterday.  Ben introduces Sanjay Poonen the Executive Vice President and General Manager, End-User Computing.  

Sanjay mentions that they have done 3 aquisitions.  Sanjay says the world is changing and sites the fact that their is more technology in todays automobile than in some of the original rocket ships.  VMware's mission is Secure Virtual Workspace for Work at the Speed of Life.  Sanjay is here to explain what VMware is doing in three key areas: Desktop, Mobile and Content.  In each category the software must be world class but tie into a SDDC architecture.  VMware is bringing the entire stack together.

Sanjay mentions that with Horizon 6 they delivered unified VDI and App Publishing on a single platform.  In addition they have launched DaaS using DeskTone and today are announcing Application as a Service from VMware vCloud Air.  He teases a CloudVolumes demo.  A video is shown of google chrome users leveraging View desktops on the NVIDIA grid to deliver a rich 3D user experience.

Sanjay introduces Kevin Ichhpurani the SVP from SAP to discuss the VMware and SAP partnership.  Kevin explains that mobility is key in their customer base.  Through the partnership SAP is integrating their APIs with VMware AirWatch to deliver seamless management.  The benefit for customers is with preintegrated solutions their is less TCO.  

Sanjay mentions United Airlines who is one of Apples largest iPad customers who are managing the devices through AirWatch for security.  Sanjay announces a new suite which is is modelled after the vCloud Suite.  Sanjay mentions that they have leap frogged the competition and are now number one according to the analysts. 

Sanjay introduces Kit Colbert (@kitcolbert) the CTO of End User Computing who is going to dive into some sample use cases.  Kit mentions healthcare and works through a day in the life of a doctor.  It begins with VMware workspace portal for using applications.  The doctor then moves to his iPad with no loss of applications.  Then the doctor leverages a View desktop for high resolution imaging and finally the secure content locker is used to transfer files through AirWatch.  The final piece is a demonstration of both doctors collaborating on the shared image.  In the end this is about more time to focus on treating patients.

Kit then shows a demo of CloudVolumes.  From within the CloudVolume Admin UI the user is entitled to an application enabling the application to integrate into a View desktop.  CloudVolumes leverages hypervisor technology to deliver the applications vs. streaming or pushing.  The old delivery methods are not very scalable.  Kit mentions project Fargo which clones a running virtual machine is about a second.  Project Fargo will be used to clone a virtual machine while CloudVolumes delivers the applications in seconds.  The desktop is then destroyed when the user logs out.  This really simplifies management and provides tremendous cost reduction along with better secure.  This wholestic approach to "just in time desktops" is under development and is called project meteor.

Sanjay summarizes with the value message which provides customers with a complete stack from SDDC to EUC.

Raghu Raghuram the Executive VP of the SDDC and Ben return to stage to demonstrate EVO:Rail.  EVO rail is a 2 U form factor built from 4 independant nodes runing compute, storage and networkinig (leveraging virtual SAN).  It can perform a rolling upgrade so that maintenance can be done in realtime. It can scale upto a 16 node cluster.  The web UI has been simplified but allows some customization.  The entire process to stand it up is 15 minutes.  

EVO Rack is the second member of this family and comes vCloud Suite, Virtual SAN and NSX.  It is built to be deployed within 2 hours.  It also includes rack management and 20% of the labs at vmworld are running on EVO Rack. 

Raghu mentions that VMware has put in a tremondous amount of effort in Openstack since joining the Openstack project.  Raghu believes that the best way to run Openstack is on VMware.  This will be a fully supported offering from VMware.  The benefit from an IT perspective is that you do not need new skills to run Openstack.

Raghu goes on to mention the vSphere 6 beta which will provide 4 vCPU support for FT.  In addition vSphere 6 will have cross vCenter vMotion or the ability to migrate VMs from one vCenter datacenter to a second vCenter datacenter.  In addition with long distance vMotion you can literally migrate a VM from coast-to-coast.  With NSX you can also ensure that none of the network properties change irrespective of the distance between networks.

Ben explains that VMware is working very hard to deliver "Containers without Compromise" by running them in VMs.  Ben makes the point that Containers on their own don't offer many management points however running them on VMs does.  VMware is working to make containers a first class citizen on their virtual infrastructure.  Ben announces that they are working with Pivotal, Google and docker to run containers on SDDC.

Raghu highlights the vRealize Suite which provides management of the SDDC.  You can sign up for the vRealize beta now.  

VMworld General Session - live from VMware

"The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond the limits"

Robin Matlock the Chief Marketing Officer takes the stage.  Over 22,000 attendees representing 85 countries around the world are in attendance. Robin explains that change is either a barrier or an opportunity.   This week is about pushing boundaries.  This week the SDDC will be covered indepth.  In addition Hybrid Cloud and End-User Computing will be a major focus.  

Robin introduces Pat Gelsinger Chief Executive Officer.  Pat mentions that he has been the CEO for two years now.  Pat describes a liquid world where static structure is giving way to the dynamic.  He uses the anology of education nolonger taking place in a classroom but extending to where you are.  Work, retail and all aspects life are becoming more fluid and dynamic.

He mentions serveral customers including the Ministry of Education in Malaysia pushing curriculum through the remote areas of Borneo using View and virtualization.  He mentions the advent of companies like Uber having a higher market capitilization than traditional brick and motor companies.

In this new world the brave will survive.  He sits several examples of bravery.  Pat mentions however that bravery is seldom a solo act.  When Pat talks about bravery he thinks about his team of engineers and software delivering the next generation of software.  Everyday Pat challenges this group of engineers to be disruptive for the benefit of VMwares customers.

Pat mentions that they are eating their own dog food at VMware, their internal ERP system is migrating to vCloud Air, in addition Airwatch will enable their own BYOD program at VMware.

Pat mentions Apollo Education Group who delivers university curriculum over the internet who have migrated from public to private cloud and reduced costs while improving services.  He all introduces Tim Garza from the California department of water resources who have become IT leaders using VMware software.

Pat explains that right now the discussion is locked in "or" i.e. on premise or off.  VMware believes that they can be the bridge between these two and deliver the "and" vs. "or" delivering on a hybrid cloud model.  VMware is executing on the SDDC, Hybrid Cloud and End-User computing.

The announcements around the products begin with a focus on vSphere.  Pat mentions that they are announcing vCloud Suite 5.8  and are in beta with vSphere 6.0 beta which adds increase scale.  In addition virtual san 2.0 beta is in the works.  In addition with vSphere 6.0 they are delivering virtual volumes.  He mentions that vCenter Operations Suite will be VMware vRealize Suite.

Pat mentions that their are 3 wasy to deliver SDDC 1) build your own, 2) Converged Infrastructure and now Hyper-converged infrastructure and VMware EVO. EVO is SDDC is packaged with hardware in a single solution delivered through VMware's OEM partners.  VMware EVO Rail is profiled. designed for SMB for deployment in 15 minutes based on a physical appliance that will run 100 VMs and sold in clusters of 4.  The second member of EVO is EVO rack which is designed to scale data centers in two hours.  Another component is that EVO will be part of the open compute project as well.

But why do infrastructure?  To deliver applications.  Pat announces VMware OpenStack which is a openstack and VMware integrated product that delivers VMware APIs and OpenStack APIs.  This enables OpenStack development native on VMware.

Pat then announces a common platform for all applications based on containers:  Docker, Google and Pivotal container constructs will be fully supported on VMware.  This will be done through the OpenContainer API.  They are demonstrating "VMware Fargo" which enables containers to be delivered on VMware with little or no overhead.

Pat then uses the anology of an egg which is hard and brittle on the outside and soft on the inside.  This is similar to way datacenters are designed.  This means that once breached you are vulnerable.  Pat explains that with NSX and SDDC micro segmentation is possible and is a fundamental shift in how security is applied.  Pat explains that VMware was positioned in the magic quadrant by Gartner of networking which is the first time a software company has appeared in this quadrant.

Pat shifts to EUC.  Pat explains the number of innovations and aquisitions including the recent aquisition of CloudVolumes.  In tomorrows session we will hear from Sanjay on how this vision is evolving. 

Pat then announces that vCHS is now vmware vCloud Air and a commitment to bring all their products to Air.  Pat then introduces Bill Fathers the Executvie Vice President and General Manager of Hybrid Cloud.  Bill says that they launched Air 1 year ago.  

vCloud Air is based on compatability with the enterprise.  If you do not have compatability then you get a very fragmented cloud.  But if you think about if from the perspective of the enterprise applications.  Like SAP and Oracles of the world it is very important for the infrastructure to be the same.  vCloud Air has a distinct advantage as you can easily meld the application with the pieces and data that live in the enterprise.  In addition, because this is the foundation you can quickly add value services ontop.  

Bill then annoounces, Devops as a Service, Database as a services (including DR), Object Storage or Cloud storage (based on EMC ViPR), Mobility Services (based on AirWatch) and Cloud Management (Based on VMware vRealize Suite).  In addition vCloud Air ondemand is highlighted based on true pay-as-you go service.  You can try the beta at http://vmware.com/go/ondemand

Pat concludes with a summation of the announcements and how VMware provides choice without compromise, opportunities to build the Hybrid Cloud of the future and the ability to connect users securely to the datacenter.  Pat then challenges the audience to go bravely into this new future and introduces Carl Eschenbach, President and Chief Operating Officer.

Carl explains that the current presures on IT trying to provide end user freedom while maintaining control is very high.  In order to enable transformation we need to take a different approach through software and automation.  We need to automate IT so that IT can thrive and support the business.  

Carl introduces Medtronic's vice presedent who explains that they leveraged the VMware Accelerate Consulting Services to transform their IT.  They have implemented the SDDC model to fully automate the server build process while maintaining their corporate standards.  In addition they are an AirWatch customer for enabling mobile device management.  The next phase for Medtronic is Hybrid Cloud through integration of NSX and vCloud Air.     

Carl then profiles MIT who is 99% virtualized and is looking to put openstack ontop of VMware.  MIT has also adopted NSX for network virtualization to provide a secure multi-tenant environment.  In addition some of the faculty is testing VMware Air.

The last guest, Ford Motor Company is introduced.  Ford has also adopted a SDDC model as well.  Carl wraps up with a video profile of the companies that have been part of the EVO Rail beta trail.  The theme was the time to value and lower overall cost of the solution.