"Enterprise-class cloud services have the potential to revolutionize IT," said Mathew Lodge, senior director, cloud services, VMware. "Enterprise IT organizations have been stymied by an inability to get the required performance, security and application portability from commodity public clouds. With vCloud Datacenter Services and vCloud Connector, VMware and its partners provide an evolutionary path to an IT revolution for millions of existing datacenter applications."

VMware, a provider of virtualization and cloud infrastructure, on Tuesday announced it has reached a milestone in delivering the enterprise hybrid cloud with the availability of VMware vCloudDatacenter services from BlueLock and Colt and beta services available from Verizon. VMware also introduced VMware vCloud Connector, a free plug-in that will allow all VMware vSphere administrators to immediately begin deploying and managing virtual machines (VMs) across VMware vCloud Powered cloud services from within the VMware vSphere Client.

A new study from IDG Research¹, sponsored by VMware, shows two-thirds of enterprises are adopting or planning to adopt cloud computing, primarily driven by the need to deliver improved business agility. The study reveals concerns over security and control may be limiting enterprise adoption of cloud -- nearly 90 percent of the more than 600 IT decision makers polled reported they would likely expand their use of cloud if they were assured of security equal to or better than that of their own datacenters. VMware vCloud Datacenter services address this concern, along with the other top requirements enterprises consider when transitioning to cloud: high performance (reliability and availability), quality of service and application portability.

VMware vCloud Datacenter services combine the agility of the public cloud with the security, performance and application portability that enterprises demand.  Built on VMware secure cloud infrastructure, including VMware vSphere, VMware vCloud Director and VMware vShield, VMware vCloud Datacenter Services are architected and certified by VMware. By providing globally consistent cloud infrastructure, management and security, vCloud Datacenter services make it possible for enterprise customers to move computing workloads from internal virtualized infrastructure to any VMware vCloud Datacenter service and back.

Delivering hybrid cloud management, VMware today introduced VMware vCloud Connector, which will give VMware vSphere administrators a "single pane of glass" across vSphere infrastructure and VMware vCloud Powered public and private clouds. Users simply enter their cloud credentials and can start viewing and transferring VMs, vApps, and templates between the three.

"As a leading provider of CRM and ERP solutions, a ‘one-size-fits-all' approach to cloud computing was not ideal for us as our business needs required greater application portability and flexibility," said Kristen Hayes, director, Global Infrastructure and Security, Consona. "BlueLock Virtual Datacenter, a VMware vCloud Datacenter Service, provided public cloud technology compatible with our internal VMware technologies, allowing our IT team to move quickly, deal with unknown future needs and move resources as needed."

By collaborating with VMware vCloud Powered service providers, VMware solution providers can extend their engagements to include hybrid cloud services, allowing their customers to benefit from the agility of cloud computing with the security, performance and application portability they need. With over 3,600 providers, the VMware service provider program has grown more than 145 percent in the last 12 months.

• Hybrid Cloud Is Not Public Cloud