Over the last few months, I have been working on a new VMware Cloud Matrix in conjunction with WhatMatrix
The initial scope was to analyse VMware cloud offerings from the following providers:
- VMware (VMware Cloud on AWS)
- Rackspace (Rackspace Private Cloud)
- IBM (VMware Cloud Foundation on IBM)
I decided to take on this challenge because firstly it looked like an interesting project and I was already following VMConAWS and VCF so it made sense to get the information I knew out into the public domain in this comparison format.
Challenges
One of the main challenging aspects of putting this matrix together was locating reliable and validated information. All providers have online documentation portals but the information required for the matrix was not easy to find or sometimes non-existent. This may have impacted the score assigned to the solution as the information may have been limited. What I liked about WhatMatrix though was their feedback system, anyone can provide feedback on a score and it will be reviewed for the next update of the matrix.
Back to the comparison
Now, VMware Cloud on AWS is unique in that it hosted on highly scalable AWS infrastructure and the other solutions are built on top of VMware’s Cloud Foundation solution and hosted on VMware Partner’s infrastructure.
The main distinctions between VMware’s offering and other providers are the deployment times and the support and 3rd party integration. VMware’s solution has fully automated deployment options too so you don’t need to speak to anyone to setup a full SDDC, however, there is no option to add custom support options such as Virtual Machine or application management (The SDDC is fully supported though, of course). The latter limitation of VMConAWS is where VCF solutions differentiate themselves in a positive way.
The Matrix
Take a look at the matrix over at WhatMatrix. Please feel free to provide feedback via the Matrix or to me directly, I will do my best to incorporate the feedback into the next update. Also check out the features such as:
- Creating a downloadable report
- Filtering on sections you care about
- Searching for a particular feature
To learn how to use these features, select the question mark icon at the top center of the webpage for a guided tour of the matrix features.
WhatMatrix’s VMware Cloud Offerings Matrix
