VMware joins Pivotal, Google Cloud for new container service

Cloud infrastructure and business mobility leader VMware on Tuesday announced a partnership with Pivotal and Google for a new product that enables enterprises to deliver enterprise-grade 'Kubernetes' on premise with 'vSphere' and Google Cloud Platform.

Called Pivotal Container Service (PKS), the new offering is expected to become available in the fourth quarter this year as a stand-alone product.

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling and management of containerised applications.

"VMware has partnered with Pivotal and Google to deliver an enterprise-ready Kubernetes solution integrated with VMware's software-defined data center infrastructure," Sanjay Poonen, Chief Operating Officer, Customer Operations, VMware, told reporters here.

"Pivotal Container Service is purpose-built to deliver Kubernetes that is easy to deploy and operate, ready for developer consumption, while addressing the operational needs of IT. This new solution is unique in its ability to enable developers and IT to work as one," Poonen added.

PKS will help operations teams deliver a hardened, maintainable container platform, while giving developers on-demand access to a production-ready environment featuring high availability, security, and multi-tenancy across private and public clouds.

A critical benefit for enterprise customers will be PKS' constant compatibility to Google Container Engine (GKE), which is continuously powered by the latest Kubernetes release.

PKS will be best suited for large- to mid-sized enterprises as well as service providers.

"Pivotal and VMware, in partnership with Google Cloud, bring you Pivotal Container Service, a powerful new way to deploy and operate Kubernetes," said Rob Mee, CEO at Pivotal.

"We see an open hybrid cloud ecosystem forming based on many technologists and providers coming together on Kubernetes, and Pivotal Container Service is a great way to run containers and Kubernetes on premises," added Sam Ramji, Vice President Product Management, Developer Platforms, Google Cloud.

Vmware also unveiled 'Workspace ONE Intelligence' -- the industry's first unified end user experience, management and security solution for all endpoint platforms.

Workspace ONE' is an integrated digital workspace platform, powered by the VMware 'AirWatch Unified Endpoint Management' (UEM) technology, that simply and securely delivers and manages any app on any device.

It provides a user-centric approach to managing all endpoints in an organisation -- from mobile and desktop to Internet of Things (IoT).

Customers will now have the ability to use 'Workspace ONE' as a single solution to enable unified endpoint management (UEM) and unify the end user experience across all endpoint platforms including Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android.

"Workspace ONE Intelligence will give businesses the agility and security that is critical to digital transformation initiatives," said Sumit Dhawan, Senior Vice President and General Manager, End-User Computing, VMware.

'Workspace ONE Intelligence' is expected in be available in the fourth quarter this year.

--IANS

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