This past Oct 5^th 2021, Amazon announced the general availability of VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts. In case you’re not familiar with AWS Outposts, they have been available since December 2019. AWS Outposts are essentially an Amazon provided hardware platform that runs on-premise and supplies hybrid cloud services.  Amazon provides the hardware and software and they are also responsible for tasks like maintenance, provisioning, patching and backups.

Outposts are connected to the nearest AWS Region. AWS Outposts are managed just like the AWS cloud. VMware Cloud is essentially VMware’s enterprise-class Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) software. In the case of VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts, VMware Cloud is running on dedicated AWS Nitro System-based EC2 bare metal Outposts instances. You use the familiar VMware tools such as VMware Cloud Service Portal, vSphere vMotion, or HCX to migrate, deploy and manage VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts.

Simplify IT operations and assist with data center modernization

VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts is designed to simplify IT operations and assist with data center modernization. AWS delivers and installs the Outpost at your on-premises location. They also take care of all maintenance and replacement of the hardware as well as monitoring and updating the system software. VMware provides continuous lifecycle management for their SDDC services and they are also your first line of support for any problems or issues.

Low-latency and compute heavy workloads

VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts is intended to run low-latency and compute heavy workloads. It provides local on-premise data processing and can handle hundreds of terabytes of data a day. It is also appropriate for workloads with data residency requirements. Some countries and states have requirements that the data and workloads be resident in certain geographic regions, which AWS Outposts can comply with being an on-premise solution. VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts can also be used for IT modernization projects. You can use it to help consolidate multiple data centers or provide a refresh for existing VMware environments.

To get started with VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts, you need to contact AWS sales and they will schedule a site visit to perform site and networking assessment. You can find out more at VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts.