Cloud Foundry is based on technology gained from VMware’s acquisition of SpringSource, and includes the collaboration of Mark Lucovsky, technical director, and Derek Collison, chief architect of the Cloud Services arm, both of whom VMware recruited from Google.
“Our view is inevitably someone would do something like Cloud Foundry, so rather than wait for it to happen and have to react to it, we’re putting our hat in the ring and pre-emptively offering something there,” said Maritz.
The challenge VMware faces with Cloud Foundry is that, for the most part, its traditional channel doesn’t have in-house development expertise. “The only partners doing Cloud Foundry are super-high-end, and it will take awhile before it gets down to the level where everyone can adopt it,” said one VMware partner, who requested anonymity. “We’re looking for VMware to wean the market and show us how to monetise Cloud Foundry.
“They’re able to explain how it works for them, but so far they’re not able to explain how it’s going to work for me.”
Eschenbach expects Cloud Foundry to appeal to VMware partners with cloud infrastructure expertise that are ready to take the next step into app development.
But he acknowledged that Cloud Foundry will be driven, at least in part, by partners with which VMware hasn’t worked in the past.
In the end, Maritz believes VMware’s track record with virtualisation can help convince customers and partners that despite the uncertainty over moving to the cloud, they won’t regret it.
“This is an issue we increasingly have to come to grips with as we talk to our customers and explain to them there are different ways to think about this.
“My sense is cloud is where virtualisation was four or five years ago. We’re going to see the same cycle play through.”
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