Dive Brief:

• Dell EMC subsidiary VMware unveiled yet another hybrid cloud approach to storing data with IBM's public cloud, according to an announcement. The collaboration will move 1,400 enterprise users with VMware on-premise workloads, including Honeywell and Vodafone, to the global IBM Cloud.
• The launch allows organizations migrating to IBM Cloud to use a network of applications available through the platform. The partnership includes the integration of SAP-approved IBM Cloud infrastructure for VMware platforms and VMware HCX Technology, its Software as a Service model for the protection of hybrid data storage.
• The cloud adoption is an extension of VMware and IBM’s initial 2016 hybrid cloud partnership which enabled customers to run VMware software on the IBM Cloud. This partnership eases the transition of on-premise data to cloud services. 

Dive Insight:

IBM currently has 60 cloud data centers that extend to six continents, and VMware is a reputable enterprise software provider. VMware's partnerships with public cloud providers in the enterprise has served the company well in maintaining customer loyalty and expanding its base.

Following last year’s IBM Cloud partnership, VMware established another hybrid cloud collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that became available in August. In July, VMware and AWS expanded their partnership to create software in enterprise data centers. Although AWS is currently the top cloud provider, its presence in the hybrid market was minimal before the agreement.

As a software provider for the majority of Fortune 100 companies, VMWare is focusing its attention where its customers need it most: cloud migration. 60% of current IT spending goes to onsite IT infrastructure, but VMware projects half of data and workloads will be stored on public clouds by 2030.

VMware’s push to transition customers to hybrid cloud services is not new, and other companies are taking advantage of cloud alliances designed to move onsite data to cloud-based data. VMware, focused on further cloud partnerships, is capitalizing on a market of enterprises struggling with data and software cloud migrations.