Now that VMware is starting to pick up some momentum in the multi-cloud era the dominant provider of platforms used in local data centers is providing some additional incentives to partners. The goal is to enable partners to work closely with customers that are either building new applications or transfer existing applications for deployment on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
To achieve that goal VMware is adding a VMware Cloud on AWS Solution Competency to its channel program in addition to expanding the VMware Solution Provider and Cloud Provider programs to include VMware Cloud on AWS. Solution Competencies provide sales and technical training to VMware partners. Thus far, VMware reports that over 5,000 of those partners have expressed an interest in learning more about VMware Cloud for AWS.
The expansion of the overall VMware Solution provider program provides partners with training, financial incentives, access to VMware expertise and co-marketing support for hybrid cloud solutions based on VMware Cloud on AWS. A new consumption rebate for VMware cloud services has been added to this program to help partners increase their profitability as customers increase usage of VMware’s cloud services, including a suite of DevOps tools VMware delivers via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application model.
The VMware Cloud Provider Program, meanwhile, focuses mainly on managed service providers (MSPs) The expansion of this program provides access to tools, training, and expertise required to develop and deliver managed services for VMware Cloud on AWS, including volume discount schedules for both new and existing VMware partners.
The VMware Cloud for AWS offering began to gain traction when VMware first started to make the service available in the U.S. VMware this week announced it has now extended those services into Europe, with the first AWS region going live in London. Availability of an AWS region in Frankfurt is expected to follow shortly.
“We’ll be making available a region in the Frankfurt in the second half of this year,” says Mark Lohmeyer, vice president and general manager, Cloud Platform Business Unit at VMware.
The German data center will obviously address existing data sovereignty requirements mandated by German law, while the London data center should address any data sovereignty issues that emerge once Great Britain formally exits the European Union.
Overall, VMware has over 4,000 cloud service providers around the world. But only a fraction of the application workloads running in public clouds today are based on virtual machines from VMware. By allying with AWS, there is an opportunity for VMware to narrow that gap, especially as more existing applications workloads move into the cloud. Of course, AWS still has a vested interested in a hypervisor that currently dominates public clouds. But VMware is hoping that with the help of some highly motivated channel partners the number of VMware hypervisors running in multiple public clouds will exponentially increase at a very rapid rate.
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