As the last cloud giant: Amazon launches new VMware service

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching the Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS), which enables companies to run VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) directly in their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The ESXi hosts run on EC2 bare-metal instances (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud), with the only i4i.metal deployed to date optimized for storage-intensive workloads. The EVS environment includes a consolidated VCF domain with a vSphere cluster on which the management components run. As always with VCF, existing licenses, tools, and operating models can be moved between cloud and on-premises without having to redesign applications or adapt operating processes.

EVS currently supports version 5.2.1 of VCF. Future updates will add further versions as well as additional license and instance options. AWS advertises that customers can deploy a complete VCF environment in just a few hours. Whether this is connected to an on-premises VCF is up to the customer. In general, they should always be able to retain full control – the VCF environment runs within their VPC, so administrators retain full access. Alternatively, AWS partners can be called in to take over setup and operation. AWS also emphasizes that third-party offerings with more than 200 services – such as databases, analytics services or generative AI – can be integrated directly.

Amazon EVS is now available in several regions, including Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland). Billing is usage-based based on the AWS resources used; there are no minimum terms. Instructions on how to set it up and an overview of the architecture can be found in the EVS documentation. Both AWS and Broadcom are responsible for support, with Amazon calling in the latter for more complex problems.

Not an easy partnership

However, Amazon is merely playing catch-up with its hyperscaler competitors: Microsoft has been offering native integration of the VMware stack with Azure VMware Solution for some time now, as has Google with the Google Cloud VMware Engine. The background to this is the dispute between AWS and Broadcom and the existing VMware Cloud on AWS. This service, which emerged from a strategic alliance between VMware and Amazon, did not fit in with the new license alignment. The cloud giant reacted late and announced a change of course at the end of 2024 with the first EVS preview at the AWS in-house exhibition re:Invent 2024.

(fo)