Migrating your business into the cloud can be a complex process. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. You need a cloud platform that is easy to deploy and operate and will appropriately manage data storage, networking, security and more.    VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a great deployment option for businesses of any size.  VMware created VCF to help organizations with their hybrid cloud architecture. VCF’s foundation is built on delivering an optimal performance for each application, accessing a broad set of hybrid cloud services, and giving IT teams the flexibility to build, run, and manage applications. 

WHY ARE SO MANY BUSINESSES ADOPTING THE HYBRID CLOUD MODEL? 

A hybrid cloud solution combines private clouds with public cloud services, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS), to share data and information.   Businesses tend to be attracted to hybrid cloud solutions for three primary reasons: 

1. Mobility: The cloud can deliver a consistent, reliable, and mobile-friendly workspace that provides access to information and systems securely from any location. 
2. Security: Since data is centralized, users can work from their own devices and connect securely to hosted applications and software.  
3. Scalability: The cloud provides the capability to add or remove services and applications as needed in real-time. Usually, with a few simple clicks, workloads can be expanded in the form of VMs, containers, storage, or additional resources for consumption.  

Hybrid and multi-cloud architecture have become more accessible and easier to deploy over the past few years. Optimizing workloads in the cloud can be complicated. That’s why businesses will partner with experts and service providers who can make sure your hybrid cloud strategy is optimized, functions properly, and delivers the most value to your business.  That’s where a platform like VCF can help.   Related Article: What to Consider When Handling Your Own Cloud Migration

GET STARTED WITH HYBRID CLOUD USING VCF 

VCF is a software-defined data center virtualization platform that is purpose-built for new deployments and brings with it a few important core VMware components: vSphere 7, vSAN 7, NSX-T 3.0, and SDDC Manager.   IT teams can use VCF to deploy a hybrid cloud–ready platform that can be extended to the public or private cloud service providers. What does that mean for your business? 

• vSphere 7 allows for simple management and provisioning of VMs and containers.  
• vSan7 provides storage flexibility for policy-based management and scalability, and includes deduplication, compression, and erasure coding. 
• NSX-T 3.0 offers Software-Defined networking and micro-segmentation.  
• SDDC Manager provides lifecycle management, orchestration and automation, and automatically provisions workload domains.  

SIMPLIFY YOUR CLOUD MANAGEMENT WITH VMWARE 

Deployment is simple since VCF is built upon standardized HCI architecture for simplified scaling and updating. VCF gives users the ability to utilize software-driven management of the cloud right in their own datacenter. Whether applications are VDI, mission-critical applications, containers, or IoT workloads, the IT team can spin them up quickly and on demand.   Since VCF virtualizes all elements of the data center, security is built in at every layer: the ESXi Hypervisor, vSAN for storage, NSX for network, and the vRealize suite for management.  VCF can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and allows for seamlessly running a variety of workloads securely across both private environments in the data center and within private and public clouds. It’s an easy jumping-on point for any workload and hybrid cloud extensibility. 

BENEFITS OF UTILIZING VMWARE CLOUD SOLUTIONS 

VCF offers a variety of benefits for businesses looking for a hybrid cloud environment, including: 

• Faster ROI: Provide new value to your business by investing in the tools, resources, and processes that unlock productivity.  
• Increased efficiency: Manage workloads and optimize performance more intelligently through automation and technology upgrades. 
• Scalability: Grow and build upon your infrastructure, operations, and processes with a strategy that is built for your unique requirements. 
• Enhanced Security: Enable repeatable and standardized security solutions to prevent cybersecurity attacks and data breaches.  

Businesses that take advantage of VCF will be able to run virtually any application in the public cloud in a safe and reliable manner.   

VIRTUAL SYSTEMS: YOUR TRUSTED VMWARE CLOUD VERIFIED PARTNER 

If you have questions about VMware Cloud Foundation, it’s time to reach out to our team.   Virtual Systems is VMware Cloud Verified, and we offer services on top of the entire VMware Cloud stack. Cloud Verified is an achievement that less than 1% of all VMware partners accomplish. We can put our expertise to work for you, and we love talking shop with small business owners and other IT professionals.  To reach us, call us at 844-2-VIRTUAL or complete our online form.  References 

• Tebear, K. (2020, April 14). Getting started with VMware. VMware. Retrieved from https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2020/04/14/getting-started-with-vmware-cloud-foundation-4-0/ 
• Understanding VCF deployment architectures (n.d.). VMware. Retrieved from https://storagehub.vmware.com/t/vcf-3-x-architecture-concepts-1/understanding-vcf-deployment-architectures/ 

• VMware cloud foundation (n.d.). VMware. Retrieved from https://www.vmware.com/products/cloud-foundation.html 
• VCF overview (n.d.) VMware. Retrieved from https://storagehub.vmware.com/j/vcf-overview/