VMware, leader in the market for virtualization products, announced the next steps in its strategy of enabling cloud-based delivery of IT services on the first day of VMworld 2010, the company’s yearly conference in San Francisco.

 

The strategy includes improvements in each basic layer of today’s IT architecture: infrastructure, applications and end-user access. The goal is a new infrastructure that will enable delivery of IT services based on a self-service model, which includes consistent policies and business contracts that match resources to business needs. 

 

VMware President and CEO Paul Maritz said the strategy unveiled on Monday was a continuation of the vision of data center modernization and IT transformation the company set out two years ago. “This week we are taking significant steps forward to bring this new world of IT as a service and hybrid cloud computing to reality,” Maritz said in a statement.

 

The business-centric approach to delivering IT services means a shift in focus for IT departments to optimization of production and consumption of their services that is consistent with business requirements. According to VMware, this IT-as-a-service model changes the role of IT “from a cost center to a center of strategic value.” 

 

The enabler of this model is shared infrastructure, comprised of pools of resources that combine enterprise data center capacity with resources provided by public cloud companies. The model results in “near-infinite” resources available to the consumer on demand, with cost structures and performance levels aligned with business priorities. 

 

A key part of this model is the cloud application platform, which combines an application framework that ensures application portability with integrated platform services that speed and optimize application deployment. Modern applications built on such a platform will be able to move across heterogeneous cloud environments and share information with the underlying infrastructure to maximize performance, quality of service and infrastructure utilization. 

 

Another key part of VMware’s strategy is protecting existing infrastructure investment, building on existing resources instead of pushing for wholesale replacement of hardware and software. 

 

The end-user side of VMware’s cloud strategy is a focus on ensuring secure access to applications and data from any device, at any time and from any place. 

 

Finally, the strategy supports an “open ecosystem,” whereby customers have a choice of infrastructure partners and service providers in addition to an open platform that ensures choice of cloud providers and application portability.