Adopting a multi-cloud strategy is essential to the success of modern enterprises.
Concurrently, there is a growing need to deliver, operationalise, and manage application sprawl across public and private clouds, or at edge locations to reign in skyrocketing complexity.
With this in mind, VMware has updated its Aria cloud management platform (formerly known as vRealize) to deliver a cloud-smart approach to cloud-native application development, delivery, and management that supports customers at every step of their journey, across any Kubernetes and across any cloud.
The platform to watch
According to Ian Jansen van Rensburg, director of solutions engineering & lead technologist at VMware SSA, Aria is the most significant advancement in terms of VMware entering the multi-cloud world, as it will facilitate integration into all clouds, with any application.
The user doesn't need to be an Azure, AWS, or Google expert to make use of the Aria console.
Ian Jansen van Rensburg, VMware SSA.
“It doesn’t matter if the user is a developer, or an infrastructure person, or a networking professional, they can make use of Aria. When a user logs into the console, Aria will actually ask if they are a developer, for example, and if the user clicks on ‘yes’ it will take them to where they need to go.”
He says Aria, which was rebranded from vRealize, is going to create a hypervisor layer for the cloud, because it is the tool that users can use to log in, go to, and view any application, any container, and any virtual machine, on any cloud and from one single console.
“Users can view their usage, they can manage and control everything from that single cloud console. This is important because a lot of people think cloud is something that is utilised online or via the hyperscalers, but every hyperscaler has a different interface. If a user is logging on to AWS, or Azure, there is a specific graphical user interface.”
He cites the example of one user working on a PC with Azure, and another on a Mac using AWS. “Aria is able to bring up a virtual instance on the PC of the Apple, so if the one user wanted to change their printer, but don't know how Windows works, they could press a button and it would bring up an interface like Apple’s on the PC. Once the printer is added, another press of a button takes the user back to the PC.
Virtualising the cloud
“Aria will be the interface that users understand, recognise and work with on a day-to-day basis,” he says. “Aria shows the user the application, how the application is put together, whether it's a traditional application or a modern application running on any cloud. So the user doesn't need to be an Azure, AWS, or Google expert to make use of the Aria console.”
Jansen van Rensburg says he has always believed that VMware is going to virtualise the cloud, and thought it would with the company’s virtual networking technology, NSX. “It’s not, it’s with Aria. The penny dropped for me. Integration is one of the most important elements within any software company because software needs to integrate into all cloud providers and other systems, and do this in a seamless and simple way.”
And that's exactly what ARIA is going to do for VMware’s customers, he ends.
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