Raghu Raghuram (Photo: Business Wire)

VMware has unveiled VMware Cross-Cloud services as part of its strategy to help customers navigate the multi-cloud era.

Announced at VMworld this week, this group of integrated services aims to deliver a faster and smarter path to cloud for digital businesses, giving customers the ability to build, run and better secure apps across any cloud with freedom and flexibility.

According to the company, Cross-Cloud services will deliver three key advantages: an accelerated journey to the cloud, cost efficiency, and flexibility and control across any cloud. In addition, they will expand the capabilities of the company’s product portfolio for a multi-cloud world and will enabe customers to pick and choose the services needed on the desired cloud.

VMware Cross-Cloud is comprised of five core building blocks: a platform for building and deploying cloud-native apps; cloud infrastructure for operating and running enterprise apps; cloud management for monitoring and managing the performance and cost of apps across different clouds; security and networking that spans across entire multi-cloud operations to connect and better secure all apps; and a digital workspace to empower the distributed workforce along with edge solutions to deploy and manage edge-native apps.

VMware says the average organisation is currently running roughly 500 applications to drive their business, and these apps are distributed across several clouds. In addition, it says 75% of its customers are relying on two or more public clouds, and 40% are using three or more, and this multi-cloud approach increases app velocity and innovation and enables businesses to be far more agile and resilient.

On the flip side, however, a multi-cloud environment is far more diverse, complex, and distributed than anything companies have managed in the past, and this complexity often forces trade-offs between moving fast and managing risk, resulting in slower execution and higher costs.

Raghu Raghuram, CEO of VMware, says multi-cloud is the digital business model for the next two decades, as entire industries reinvent themselves.

“It’s no longer about a ‘cloud-first’ approach, it’s about being ‘cloud-smart’. Organisations should have the freedom to choose the ’right’ cloud, based on their strategic business goals. With our cloud-agnostic approach, we are positioned to meet our customers where they are and take them where they want to go.”

Richard Villars, group VP at the IDC, says over the last year, companies have totally embraced digital transformation as they responded to many dramatic changes, accelerating their innovation timelines at record paces.

“Organisations rely heavily on cloud technologies to evolve and scale as they pivot to competing in a digital-first economy. VMware’s multi-cloud-focused strategy puts it in a strong position to help enterprises take full advantage of multiple clouds and their resources in their own data centres," says Villars.