DEVOPSdigest

VMware announced rapid advancement of VMware Tanzu, a new portfolio of products and services designed to transform the way enterprises build, run and manage software on Kubernetes.

VMware unveiled a beta program for both Project Pacific and VMware Tanzu Mission Control, and outlined the details of a new VMware Cloud Native Master Services Competency.

In August 2019, VMware unveiled the VMware Tanzu portfolio, including VMware Tanzu Mission Control — a single point of control from which customers will manage all their Kubernetes clusters regardless of where they run; and Project Pacific, focused on transforming VMware vSphere into a Kubernetes-native platform. By utilizing innovations from both VMware and Pivotal, VMware is positioned to deliver a comprehensive enterprise-grade, Kubernetes-based portfolio for modern applications — helping customers to succeed at each step of their cloud native journey.

“Customers have responded positively to our holistic vision for VMware Tanzu and Project Pacific,” said Ray O’Farrell, EVP, VMware. “There is demand for solutions, services, education and training to help customers harness the full potential of Kubernetes and successfully build, run and manage their applications and multi-cloud Kubernetes clusters. That demand has resulted in overwhelming customer response for participation in beta programs for both Project Pacific and the VMware Tanzu Mission Control.”

New VMware Tanzu portfolio updates include:

- Project Pacific to Enable Broad Adoption of Kubernetes: VMware announced that Project Pacific is available to select customers through an advanced beta program — with demand for participation outstripping availability. VMware expects to expand access to the Project Pacific beta program later this year. Project Pacific, which will be in new packaging when available, unifies VMware vSphere and Kubernetes. This will enable VMware vSphere administrators — using the tools they already know — to deploy and manage Kubernetes and container infrastructure anywhere VMware vSphere runs—on-premises, in a hybrid cloud, and on hyper-scalers. Moreover, developers will be able to easily manage their application services and deployment using the Kubernetes tools they are already familiar with. Project Pacific will include fully integrated container networking, which can dramatically simplify Kubernetes implementation, deployment and management. Project Pacific will also include integrated Cloud Native Storage, which will enable developers to provision any vSphere- supported storage on-demand, in a fully-automated, scalable fashion.

- VMware Tanzu Mission Control to Manage Multi-cloud, Multi-cluster Infrastructure: Now in a closed beta with select customers, VMware Tanzu Mission Control manages conformant Kubernetes clusters from a single control point regardless of where they are running — vSphere across hybrid clouds, public clouds, managed services, packaged distributions and do-it-yourself (DIY) Kubernetes. Operators will be able to set policy for access, back-up, security and more to individual clusters or groups of clusters across environments. Developers will be able to access Kubernetes resources via APIs in a self-service manner.

- VMware Cloud Native Master Services Competency for Partners: VMware also announced a new VMware Cloud Native Master Services Competency. This new Master Services Competency will enable current and future partners to architect a Kubernetes-based platform supported by complementary technologies from the cloud native ecosystem for continuous delivery of applications. VMware’s latest Master Services Competency builds upon the VMware PKS Solution Competency introduced in February 2019 to provide partners with the capabilities to offer VMware PKS to their customers. The VMware Master Services Competencies universally recognizes and validates services-capable partners in a given VMware solution area with a consistent brand and an industry standard “competency” program structure. These competencies also allow partners to differentiate in six specific solution areas.

“VMware is heading in a direction that should be of interest to developers and DevOps professionals. By grouping its developer-centric technologies into the VMware Tanzu portfolio, VMware has better-focused its offerings; and by embedding Kubernetes into vSphere via Project Pacific, the company plans to have solutions that should resonate with both developers and operations professionals,” said Al Gillen, Group VP, Software Development and Open Source, IDC. “Developers will appreciate VMware’s alignment with open source technologies and the community, while operators will value how these offerings are packaged and supported to simplify enterprise adoption of software that enables a cloud native experience on premises.”