VMware has expanded its vision for modern IT infrastructures and announced six new products and services that help enterprises and service providers achieve the benefits of cloud computing while maintaining the control and freedom of choice they require.

IT as a Service is the transformation of IT to a more business-centric approach, focusing on outcomes such as operational efficiency, competitiveness and rapid response. This means IT shifts from producing IT services to optimizing production and consumption of those services in ways consistent with business requirements. This changes the role of IT from a cost center to a center of strategic value.

"Enterprises are embracing a new model of infrastructure to deliver IT as a Service through hybrid cloud computing," said Raghu Raghuram, senior vice president and general manager, virtualization and cloud platforms, VMware. "The products and services we are launching today provide a comprehensive enterprise architecture that will deliver the agility and economics of the cloud with the security and quality of service our enterprise customers need."

Building on the VMware vSphere foundation, VMware's new cloud infrastructure products and services introduce a hybrid cloud model that seamlessly bridges private and public clouds:

• VMware vCloud Director: A new model for delivering and consuming infrastructure services
  VMware vCloud Director changes the way IT delivers infrastructure services and the way users access and consume them. By extending the resource pooling capabilities of VMware vSphere, VMware vCloud Director enables IT to create "virtual data centers" (VDCs) -- logical pools of compute, network and storage resources with defined management policies, SLAs and pricing. IT organizations can offer these VDCs - along with catalogs of other infrastructure and application services such as virtual appliances, VMs, and OS images - to users through fully automated self-service access.
• The VMware vShield product family: Better-than-physical security for VMware-virtualized and cloud environments
  Today, VMware is introducing three new products that deliver a security model designed specifically for virtual and cloud environments. Traditional enterprise security depends on agents, dedicated hardware and brittle configurations. The dynamic nature of cloud environments, where applications and services are mobile and leverage shared infrastructure, requires a new approach.

• VMware vCloud Datacenter Services: Secure, interoperable enterprise-class hybrid clouds delivered by leading service providers
  While public cloud services have created an alternative for delivering compute capacity in a self-service, pay-per-use model, security concerns, uncertain SLAs, lack of compliance and fears of lock-in have limited enterprise adoption. VMware vCloud Datacenter Services provide a way for enterprises to extend their datacenters to external clouds, while preserving security, compliance and quality of service. Delivered by some of the world's leading service providers, including Bluelock, Colt, SingTel, Terremark and Verizon, VMware vCloud Datacenter Services will use globally consistent infrastructure, management and security models to make it possible for enterprise customers to move computing workloads from internal virtualized infrastructure to an external cloud and back.

• VMware vCloud Consulting Services
  To help customers accelerate their journeys to the cloud, VMware's vCloud Consulting Services include a complete portfolio of professional service offerings. Based on VMware's experience helping enterprises and service providers build cloud architectures, VMware vCloud Consulting Services provide assessment, planning, design, and deployment services for IT infrastructure transformation. Leveraged by enterprises and vCloud service providers, vCloud Consulting Services provide a common blueprint for next-generation infrastructure.
  Learn more about VMware's vCloud Consulting Services