News
        
        With Microsoft Cloud Deal, VMware Plays the Field
        
        
        
			- By Keith Ward
- May 18, 2017
VMware this week announced a partnership with Microsoft that would enable VMware's Horizon Cloud Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS)  infrastructure to be delivered on the Azure public cloud. 
News of the offering, dubbed  "VMware Horizon  Cloud on Microsoft Azure," comes  months after VMware  announced a deal with Microsoft's biggest cloud rival, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to integrate its infrastructure with the AWS cloud.
 VMware's announcement of the Microsoft partnership quoted IDC's  Robert Young on the biggest potential benefit for VMware: "The addition of a  major cloud platform such as Microsoft Azure has the potential to accelerate  the adoption of VMware Horizon among customers searching for a different way to  manage and deliver Windows 10 desktops and applications."
Last October, VMware took the wraps off its AWS offering, called "VMware Cloud on AWS," which uses VMware's plumbing  technologies -- such as software-defined networking via NSX and software-defined  storage via VSAN -- to undergird a hybrid cloud environment.
At that time, AWS CEO Andy Jassy  said that AWS would be VMware's primary  public cloud infrastructure partner, and VMware would be AWS' primary private  cloud partner. 
Jassy didn't discuss DaaS, virtual desktop infrastructure  (VDI) or endpoint management. Whether that was intentional or not, it appears  that VMware has decided to significantly broaden its cloud partnerships to  include the No. 2 public cloud provider in Microsoft.
  As a strategy, it appears to make sense, as Azure is a  fast-growing platform adding customers at a rapid rate. AWS continues to  lead, but is seeing that lead shrink as Azure catches up, especially  in the enterprise. According to a recent survey by Sumo Logic, Azure has taken the lead in the  enterprise space, while others have found Azure to be ahead of AWS -- to the  point of widening  its lead -- in the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) segment of the market.
  The Azure deal further solidifies VMware's about-face on  public cloud in general. At one time, both AWS and Azure were primary  competition for VMware in its attempt to build its own public cloud platform, originally  called vCloud Hybrid Services. It was eventually renamed vCloud Air. 
  Launched in August 2014, vCloud Air was an attempt to move  VMware's customers to the public cloud without ever leaving its proprietary  infrastructure. But vCloud Air never took off, remaining more of an on-premises  and hybrid cloud solution. Because of that failure, last month VMware sold  off vCloud Air to the European hosting provider OVH. 
  VMware said  that VMware  Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure is expected to be available in the second half  of 2017. Pricing details weren't given, but Horizon Cloud now costs customers  $16 per user, per month. 
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
            
        
        
                
                    About the Author
                    
                
                    
                    Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.