VMware continues to drive full steam ahead toward leading the multicloud and modern application markets, which include incorporating its NSX SDN, Carbon Black security platforms, and its secure access service edge (SASE) services into its broader multicloud strategy.

“The SDN is the bridge for how a customer can truly embrace a multicloud environment,” Tom Gillis, SVP and GM of VMware's networking and advanced security business group, told SDxCentral. “It's absolutely essential in a multicloud world.”

SDN allows a fast data center migration from private to public cloud and splits the workload among multiple cloud providers, Gillis noted. 

VMware partners with cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft to run its NSX platform on top of that infrastructure. “So the customers running a VMware workload on Amazon will get that same security that they would get in their private cloud,” he added. “And this is very much a focus of our multicloud strategy where we deliver this SDN-based security on every cloud.”

NSX is part of VMware’s infrastructure services for core compute, networking, and connectivity. The platform along with the vendor’s vSphere platform and Cloud Foundation can be provisioned across any cloud, VMware CTO Kit Colbert said. 

VMware is the dominant vendor for the SDN software market with nearly 65% market share last year, according to Brad Casemore, research VP at IDC. The vendor earlier this year reorganized its networking and security business group to add its Carbon Black business under Gillis to form the Networking and Advanced Security business group.

VMware acquired Carbon Black for more than $2 billion in it in 2019. The platform offers endpoint, container, and workload security with capabilities including threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and incident response, Colbert noted. 

Those security services are not tied to a specific cloud, “so that's exactly the direction that we're going — to support customers wherever they're at,” he said. “That's the foundation of this multicloud approach.”

Colbert also pointed out that SASE and zero-trust network access (ZTNA) are core to its multicloud strategy.

“The modern world was very much a zero-trust world,” Colbert said. “You've now got stuff everywhere and you’ve got to minimize the circle of trust to as small as possible. And then you need secure connectivity between them. SASE fits in perfectly there, so we see those as being hugely complementary.”

The vendor’s SASE platform is built around a network of more than 150 points of presence (PoPs) acquired from SD-WAN vendor VeloCloud in 2017. These PoPs form the service edge from which its SD-WAN and security functionality — in collaboration with Menlo Security — are delivered.

VeloCloud’s control plane runs in multiple clouds and it also can manage across all those clouds, Colbert explained. 

Global chip giant Broadcom in May announced plans to acquire VMware for approximately $61 billion in cash and stock

“The acquisition process is ongoing. ” Colbert said. “We're continuing to focus on execution … full steam ahead.” 

Gillis expects the merger would enhance VMware’s SDN and security capabilities.  

“Broadcom understands networking,” he said. “The network interface card, the silicon, the powers, and NIC is going to be very disruptive and very important in cloud architectures going forward. And so working with silicon vendors like Broadcom to accelerate our SDN, to accelerate the security capabilities, that's extremely interesting.”