Our News Bits is a roundup that typically covers news pieces that are just small in content, not in impact. This gives content room to breath even if it comes in less than what we normally cover. This year at VMworld Europe in Barcelona, there were several announcements that either small or would potentially get wiped out by some of the larger announcements so we have collected them here. Announcements come from companies such as VMware, Dell Technologies, IBM, AWS, Kubernetes, and Heptio.
Our News Bits is a roundup that typically covers news pieces that are just small in content, not in impact. This gives content room to breath even if it comes in less than what we normally cover. This year at VMworld Europe in Barcelona, there were several announcements that either small or would potentially get wiped out by some of the larger announcements so we have collected them here. Announcements come from companies such as VMware, Dell Technologies, IBM, AWS, Kubernetes, and Heptio.
VMware To Acquire Heptio
In order to bolster its Kubernetes solutions, VMware entered a definitive agreement to acquire Heptio. Heptio was founded by two of the creators of Kubernetes and aims to help companies deploy and operationalize Kubernetes. The transaction is expected to close in VMware's fiscal fourth quarter 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
VMware Unveils VMware Blockchain & Project Dimension
VMware announced new technologies in beta including its Blockchain and Project Dimension. For its Blockchain technology, VMware partnered with Dell Technologies, Deloitte and WWT. The areas this technology set out to address are:
- True decentralized trust, with the ability to deploy nodes across multiple different cloud environments including on-premises managed nodes;
- Robust day-two operations, supported by VMware Blockchain’s availability as a managed SaaS platform, single pane of glass management interface and enterprise monitoring and auditing tools
- Developer-friendly offerings, which includes tooling for smart contract CI/CD; rich developer guides, API documentation and sample code and an open source foundation in Project Concord.
Also in beta is the company’s Project Dimension (VMware is partnering with Dell EMC and Lenovo on this project) which they state will enable customers to consume infrastructure that physically resides in data centers, branch or edge sites through a cloud-managed, as-a-Service approach.
VMware Introduces Cloud Foundation 3.5
VMware announced the latest version of its integrated hybrid cloud offering, Cloud Foundation 3.5. New features and capabilities include:
- Increased Flexibility:
- VMware will validate this latest release of VMware Cloud Foundation with Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes on Dell EMC PowerEdge MX, with increased integration expected over time. PowerEdge MX is Dell EMC’s kinetic infrastructure, which was designed for the software-defined data center, with customizable modules of compute, storage and networking. A proven, complete hyperconverged software solution, VMware Cloud Foundation offers ecosystem support for all VMware vSAN ReadyNodes.
- Support for composable features will be delivered through deep integration between VMware SDDC Manager and HPE Synergy Composer which is powered by HPE OneView. Customers can now dynamically compose physical resources using the VMware Cloud Foundation user interface to meet the needs of applications running on Workload Domains, thus increasing overall operational efficiency and automation.
- Expanded Customer Use Cases:
- Integration with VMware NSX-T 2.3 – which simplifies the implementation of network and security tasks around Kubernetes – will enable support for containerized and cloud-native application use cases. This includes support for VMware PKS, the enterprise-grade Kubernetes solution.
- Previously, VMware Cloud Foundation 3.0 introduced support for multi-site use cases including the use of vSAN Stretched Clusters as well as the quick and easy movement of workloads across private and public clouds using NSX Hybrid Connect.
- Latest VMware Product Innovations:
- VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 will include support for recent VMware product releases including vSphere 6.7 Update 1, featuring simple and efficient management at scale, built-in security for applications, infrastructure, data and access as well as increased support for artificial intelligence (AI) and ML workloads, among other capabilities. Integration with VMware NSX-T 2.3 will enable support for container environments as well as a simplified workflow and a new search interface to allow administrators to search for objects and events within the NSX-T system and perform operations quickly. The new release will also feature VMware vRealize Automation 7.5 with broadened developer use case support through VMware PKS integration for Kubernetes cluster management. VMware vRealize Operations 7.0 will enable customers to adopt a ‘self-driving’ approach to monitoring and managing their data centers and cloud environments.
IBM & VMware Advance Partnership
IBM announced that it was expanding its partnership with VMware to enable a fully automated, highly available managed global cloud architecture for mission-critical VMware workloads designed to help enterprises prevent downtime for cloud applications and automate failovers within an IBM Cloud region. The two companies announced more joint technology such as the integration of IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, VMware vRealize Operations is now available on IBM Power Systems, and VMware will now use Watson for improving customer service.
AWS & VMware Accelerate Roll Out Of VMware Cloud on AWS
AWS announced that it would be working with VMware to accelerate the roll out of VMware Cloud on AWS in both Europe and the United States. The companies announced that in the fourth quarter of 2018 new regions would be forthcoming including AWS EU (Ireland), AWS West (N. California) and AWS East (Ohio).
VMware Introduces New Innovations For Workspace ONE
VMware introduced new innovations and capabilities to its Workspace ONE platform. These include:
- Workspace ONE Intelligence Automation Connector: Workspace ONE Intelligence, a cloud-based service that provides insights and analytics with automated remediation capabilities across a digital workspace environment, can now be leveraged with third-party systems via the Workspace ONE Intelligence Automation Connector. Building on existing out-of-box connectors to Slack and ServiceNow, the connector provides a way for customers to connect automated actions and notifications created in Workspace ONE Intelligence with their existing systems such as service desk platforms.
- Workspace ONE Sensors for macOS: Workspace ONE Sensors enable customers to query any system attribute from silicon to software (firmware, BIOS, peripherals, apps, etc.) for visibility and compliance enforcement. This capability was previously announced for Windows 10 and today VMware is announcing the general availability of Sensors for macOS.
- Dell Provisioning for Workspace ONE now with Dell ProDeploy Client Suite: Dell Provisioning for VMware Workspace ONE is a service that preconfigures devices in the factory and ships them directly to end users for a ready-to-work experience with all Windows applications pre-loaded and available immediately to users on first boot. Today, VMware and Dell announced this service is now part of Dell ProDeploy Client Suite, which offers comprehensive deployment services that complement the provisioning service. This service can be purchased together with a new Workspace ONE license at a special combined rate as part of ProDeploy.
- Integration with Flexera AdminStudio for Easy Win32 App Publishing: Customers can now publish existing desktop applications directly from Flexera AdminStudio into their Workspace ONE catalog, avoiding costly and complex re-packaging of Win32 apps.
- General Availability of Instant Clones and App Volumes for Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS: VMware Cloud on AWS now supports Horizon 7 Instant Clones, App Volumes and User Environment Manager for just-in-time provisioning of stateless virtual desktops. Customers can spin up virtual desktops at an average rate of 1-2 seconds per desktop, and instant clones reduce storage consumed by up to 80 percent.
- Consolidated Monitoring and Management: VMware is announcing integration of Horizon 7 with the Horizon Cloud Service. This integration provides unified visibility, health monitoring and helpdesk services for Horizon 7 deployments both on VMware Cloud on AWS and on premises infrastructure.
- Automated Installation of Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS: VMware is previewing the ability to automate several steps of the Horizon 7 installation on VMware Cloud on AWS via the Horizon Cloud Service integration. This will greatly reduce the install time for Horizon 7 on VMC on AWS with streamlined UI for installation.
- VMware Workspace ONE Boxer: Workspace ONE Boxer now supports G-Suite corporate email, enabling organizations looking to leverage Google to manage email.
- Workspace ONE Intelligence for Workspace ONE Secure Productivity Apps: VMware has built connectors to Workspace ONE Intelligence so organizations can get insights into app engagement, crash rates, login times, user behavior, and more.
- Support for Samsung DeX: Users can now access the Workspace ONE family of apps both on-the-go on their mobile device and connect their Galaxy S8, Note8, S9, Note9 and Tab S4 to a monitor, keyboard and mouse for a desktop computing experience with Samsung DeX. Employees can use their phone to open the VMware apps, use keyboard shortcuts, and drag and drop files all on the big screen.
