What’s New in VMware Cloud on AWS? The Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), cloud platform featured prominently at this week’s big VMworld conference. There was new functionality added to the managed service, and a study highlighting enterprise cost savings. The latest release of VMware Cloud is focused on the modernization and migration of workloads, according to the virtualization giant at its San Francisco conference. VMware stated in a statement that a new Cloud Migration experience is now available on VMware Cloud On AWS through the Cloud Console. Over time, other workflows will be available on VMware Cloud On AWS as well. VMware HCX powers the Cloud Migration services. This simplifies the complicated tasks of migrating to the hybrid cloud such as planning, identifying and moving workloads. The new HCX functionality was not the only thing that made this possible. VMware stated that the new VMware HCX capabilities allow push-button migration and interconnectivity among VMware Cloud on AWS SDDCs in different AWS regions. The support for Elastic vSAN further improves storage scaling. Customers can integrate native AWS Services into their applications after they have been migrated. There were also AWS-related news in Disaster Recovery as-a Service (DRaaS), and data protection. VMware and Dell EMC will team up to create new solutions based upon using AWS S3 storage buckets on AWS for VMware Cloud. [Click on the image to see a larger view.] Top Use Cases for VMware Cloud On AWS (source : Faction). VMware also highlighted recent research by Faction, a managed service provider for VMware Cloud On AWS. Sean Charnock, CEO of Faction, stated that a recent research report we published showed that VMware Cloud on AWS usage could increase over the next two-years. The main drivers of VMware Cloud on AWS adoption and interest will be its scaleability, support for strategic initiatives and cost savings. This is consistent with what we’ve seen from our VMware Cloud on AWS customers, who are using our portfolio of value added services, including Hybrid Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service and cloud-attached storage.” Highlights of the survey include:

The top drivers of VMware Cloud on AWS are scalability and strategic IT initiatives, as well as cost savings. More than half (55%) of respondents who have workloads in off-premises …

A Survey Reveals What Makes Cloud Efforts Successful Enterprises might be interested in this new study, which examines what makes cloud deployments successful. CloudHealth Technologies Inc. conducted a survey of 388 senior executives and managers in IT, security, and infrastructure operations to determine the characteristics and best practices that distinguish cloud pioneers from cloud failures. The new Secrets of the Cloud Leaders report is available for free PDF download after registering. CloudHealth identified cloud leaders who achieve a higher ROI from their cloud deployments. It found that these leaders had significant differences in terms their vision, governance, and discipline. CloudHealth’s survey report stated that respondents were asked about the transition from a traditional build approach, where apps are run on datacenter infrastructure, and to a cloud first philosophy, where they deploy production applications to the cloud. “The trailblazers or ‘cloud leaders’ were 10 times more likely to claim that they had a crystal-clear vision of how they would make the transition. One in five companies that did not realize their full cloud potential said they had no idea or only a vague idea of how to do it. To make that vision a reality, you need to have the discipline to create a role for cloud management. Another form of discipline is the commitment to optimize cloud workloads as an ongoing process, rather than a one-time event. CloudHealth stated that trailblazers who follow this model are more likely:

Cloud computing service-level agreements (SLAs), 87-91 percent versus 56-62 percent Monitor and alert for unusual cloud behavior (92 percent versus 63%). A comprehensive and clearly defined strategy to manage cloud …

Survey: Not all organizations are all-in on public cloud Contrary to expectations most organizations surveyed in a recent survey are moving some workloads off-site and back to the public cloud. IDG, a research firm, recently published the results of its online survey “The State of IT Modernization 2020”, which was conducted in late last year. The report highlights that cloud strategy changes last year included adopting multicloud strategies (49%) and initiating cloud-native initiatives (50%). 84% of respondents also reported that they had moved selected workloads from a cloud provider to a non-cloud or alternative location. Database, Web site/Web applications, dev/test, BI/data warehouse/data analysis are the most popular workloads that were moved from public clouds. IDG stated that this is due to the challenges of “determining optimal workload placement within today’s multicloud or hybrid cloud landscapes.” According to IDG, hybrid cloud is again strong in this report. IDG reports that 64 percent of organizations who have completed their initial IT modernization initiatives have changed from an all-private or public cloud strategy to a mixed cloud approach. This highlights the trial-and error that many companies go through to find the best cloud path for them. The report also includes:

In 2020, the top three IT modernization challenges will be establishing governance strategies and procedures, optimizing IT operating models, integrating data centers, and defining and optimizing IT operating model. Public …