Strategies to Strengthen Corporate Competitiveness in the Multi-Cloud Era Announced at vFORUM 2016
Introduction to Cross-Cloud Based Solutions for Corporate IT Infrastructure Issues

VMware Korea successfully held its annual virtualization cloud conference, vFORUM 2016, at the COEX Grand Ballroom in Samseong-dong, Seoul.

Held under the theme 'be_Tomorrow,' this event introduced key strategies and related VMware solutions to accelerate business innovation in the rapidly changing digital era. During the keynote speech, Sanjay Poonen, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Business at VMware headquarters, presented on 'Ways to Strengthen Corporate Competitiveness in the Multi-Cloud Era.' Following this, Guido Appenzeller, Chief Strategic Technology Officer for Network and Security at VMware, introduced VMware's cross-cloud architecture.

VMware also released the report 'VMware State of the Cloud 2016' in collaboration with Vanson Bourne, a global market research firm. The survey was conducted on a total of 1,300 people across nine Asia-Pacific countries, including 100 IT executives and decision-makers from mid-sized and larger companies in Korea.

According to the report, 75% of all respondents answered that the purchase and management of applications, hardware, and cloud services have become decentralized over the past three years due to the spread of the cloud. This appears to be because users recognize the need for faster innovation, sales departments using the service can more accurately identify IT requirements, and the decision-making authority of sales staff has increased due to a shortage of IT personnel.

The report also pointed out problems arising from the expansion of existing IT-related tasks into other departments. 84.8% of all respondents stated that their organization's total expenditure had increased, with South Korea, in particular, feeling the issue of spending more seriously at 92%. Furthermore, it was found that the opacity of IT purchasing costs has increased, and the rate of purchasing insecure solutions has also risen.

Accordingly, 78% of all respondents answered that IT departments must proactively innovate workflows and strengthen security environments amidst the current trend of decentralization. Lee Hyo, Managing Director of Technology at VMware Korea, stated, “To enable enterprises to actively adapt to market changes, IT departments need to establish a single operating environment capable of accommodating various clouds,” adding, “At a time when the boundaries between private and public clouds are becoming increasingly blurred, the cross-cloud architecture newly proposed by VMware is the answer.”


According to the 'VMware 2016 State of the Cloud,' 75% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific region stated that IT department tasks are becoming decentralized.

Cross-cloud architecture is the perfect strategy for hybrid clouds, providing each department within an enterprise with the freedom to choose the cloud they want while simultaneously maintaining control. Provided through VMware Cloud Foundation, an integrated SDDC platform available as a service, enterprises can maximize their SDDC capabilities in a hybrid cloud environment.

VMware also mentioned partnerships with various IT companies to support customers in realizing their cross-cloud vision. Earlier this year, VMware announced a partnership with IBM, released IBM Cloud services based on VMware Cloud Foundation in August, and announced a partnership with AWS last month. Customers can experience VMware's Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) on IBM's cloud services or AWS's public cloud. In the future, VMware plans to expand partnerships with various public cloud service providers, such as Microsoft and Google.

Sanjay Poonen, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Business at VMware headquarters, stated, “VMware’s cross-cloud architecture gives meaning to customers’ freedom to choose and control the cloud they want,” adding, “Our partnerships with IBM and AWS are part of our efforts to support our customers’ successful digital transformation, and we will continue to expand our close collaboration with other partners in the future.”

Meanwhile, the vFORUM event, marking its fourth year, has established itself as a leading event for introducing virtualization and cloud trends and the latest solutions. Over 3,000 IT industry professionals and customers pre-registered for this year's event, and more than 20 domestic and international partners attended the exhibition and presentations.