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Is VMware on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure a True Disruptor?

The answer is Yes. So you can move on to the next article!

No, but seriously. There are some true tidal shifts of the traditional “VMware on “X” Cloud” solutions in the space, and the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) version of events is quite a bit different than some of the other players in the space, so much so that it ought to be looked at when considering your choice of “VMware Cloud on x.cloud”.

WHY ARE YOU SAYING THESE THINGS?!?

That’s a great question! I’m fortunate to have participated in the recent “A Comparison of the VMware Cloud Solutions” with the amazing Keith Townsend, @ctoadvisor and the rest of the team and we all came to be a part of the experience, as well as providing feedback into a solution that will provide a fundamental differentiator in the VMware Cloud on ‘x’ solution space. The team at Build Day Live have put together a series of videos that really take you into the day to day, from your Day 0 to Day 2 and beyond kind of experiences, so I will do the best thing I can do, is link to them here so you can go enjoy and learn about it through all of their hard work and effort!

Be sure to visit the article, “A Comparison of the VMware Cloud Solutions” so you can gain access to the full published report! I could link it here directly myself, I just would rather they get the clicks vs bypassing through me, I hope you understand!

Is there anything you CAN tell us?!

Yes… Yes I probably can, at least I owe you that! While I know the team who have been investing in the original creation of the VMware Cloud on Oracle solution have done great things in order to launch this solution and get it ready for market and especially in time for VMworld so everyone will have the opportunity to learn more about it. It’s the decisions the executive team have made following these concrete decisions. And that is in the continued and future support of this platform.

The User experience of actually working with the platform is fundamentally different from how many of the other VMware Cloud on X solutions do work, and far closer to “How a native admin will do things”. Things definitely fit very well into, “How do I do this? I used to do it this way?” with an answer, “You do it the way you always did it”. Having worked with numerous platforms, solutions and so forth, including VMware Cloud versions, the answer is rarely straightforward, and often involves a lot of unnecessary heavy lifting, or even being impossible to accomplish.

Secondly, the Support Experience of when you’re doing something and have difficultly and you reach out to support to get it resolved, is pleasantly a straight-forward experience. I personally hate contacting support, but this kind of experience makes me NOT hate it so much. And this is something worth calling out explicitly because… Support is something so many of us dread, so knowing the experience is pleasant is fundamentally valuable!

And lastly, and this one is kind of special, secret and even unknown. This is the one I teased with a little above. The executive team has been making some AMAZING hires for the team who will operate, support and run the OCI for VMware business. I personally know many of those who are responsible and in charge, and it makes me feel proud to know their involvement in this product! Some of you may not find that as remarkable as I do… but to snatch up a number of industry veterans to join Oracle to be a part of this team; that’s some pull right there and people don’t move around for an inferior product!

Anything else you want to share?

Yes. I do. I’m sorry if I keep telling you to look elsewhere, though I’m very excited to share all of the work everyone else who was a part of this, and I’ll be including additional links down below so you can learn more about things from their own respective blogs! But the one most important piece I would like to share is…

If you’re familiar with my adage, “Excel > Emotions” which is akin to the model that, if you think you will like something or do not like something, however this is for BUSINESS and FINANCIALS are at stake… Take the data, take the facts… Load it into Excel and see how it pencils out. Because if you really want something but the $ isn’t there, it’s a lot more honest than making decisions because things ‘feel good’.

Why I mention this… is because there are some VERY compelling financials in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure solution, around Ingress and Egress, around the ‘native’ state and access to the infrastructure, around the ease and scale of the throughput/bandwidth, around the L2 nature of things, and if you’re an active Oracle platform user today, the exponential benefits you’ll have from the adjacency and access to those platforms and services. These few pieces alone will want you to dust off Excel and start to look at whether things looks like the right solution for you!

Some additional resources:

I hope you guys enjoy this, and don’t forget to check on some of the VMware on Oracle Cloud sessions at VMworld tomorrow!