Kathy Gibson reports from VMworld 2014 in Barcelona – As VMware evolves its software-defined data centre (SDDC) technology, the ultimate goal is to reduce complexity to the point where IT simply fades into the background.
That’s the word from VMware’s chief technology officer: EMEA Joe Baguley, in answering the question of what is in the pipeline once the SDDC concept takes off. “What comes next is that it all goes away,” he says.
“The whole point with all these types of automation is that we are trying to make the infrastructure disappear. The computing, networking storage and management need to disappear, to become like plumbing.”
Organisations really don’t want to have invest in resources for infrastructure that is non-differentiating, Baguley says. “The way one company specifies its storage doesn’t make it a better company,” he explains. “The thing that makes one company different from any other company is not the infrastructure.
“So we are trying to make it all go away, by simplifying or automating it as much as possible, to free up the IT people to be innovators within their companies. We are trying to automate the mundane.”
The newly-launched EVO:Rail and EVO:Rack appliances go a long way to making this simplification a reality, Baguley adds.
The EVO:Rail appliance, which will be available in the first quarter of 2015, takes just 15 minutes to provision its first virtual machine (VM) once it’s unpacked and racked up.
“The really cool thing about EVO:Rail is that when you add another appliance, it doesn’t even take 15 minutes, because it provisions itself automatically,” Baguley adds.
The EVO:Rail supports an average of 100 VMs and 200 virtual desktop interfaces (VDIs) per appliance. On release, users will be able to cluster four EVO:Rail appliances, and this will soon rise to eight.
Importantly, EVO:Rail is a partner-led programme, so the technology will be embedded in the hardware delivered by the reseller.
End user computing is another area of IT that is undergoing massive changes, and will possibly be almost unrecognisable in just a couple of years.
Baguley reiterates VMware’s end user strategy, which is to provide secure access to applications and data on any device.
“If you look at where we are going with the technology, we are lining up to provide all the pieces that will deliver on that mantra,” he says.
New developments mean that low cost end user devices can now be used to perform high-end computing.
“A Chromebook costs just a couple of hundred dollars but, if you hook it up to the right back-end, you could do high-end computing with it. The potential is very exciting or applications like 3D design and more.
“And it’s very relevant for emerging markets,” Baguley adds. “Because it doesn’t need high levels of connectivity it could be very relevant for the South African and African markets.
“The new technologies coming down the line are aimed at freeing up the desktop.”
