VMware’s close ties to Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to generate new products, with the latest updates targeted at furthering the cost benefit of running VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS. It also expands on an arrangement that is now nearly four years old.

The latest updates include the availability of VMC on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) i3en instances. These are AWS’ latest bare metal platforms that run the second-generation Intel Xeon scalable processors known as Cascade Lake and are designed for storage-dense workloads. The new support drops the cost per gigabyte of raw storage by up to 50%, according to VMware.

David Brown, VP for EC2 at AWS, explained that the VMware Cloud platform runs on top of AWS’ Nitro System, which separates the underlying hardware with a light hypervisor. “This gives VMware access to that underlying physical hardware,” Brown said.

Another cost reduction update is tied to VMC now supporting two-host clusters in its AWS environment. This is one less than the previous three-host cluster minimum and thanks to math equates to a possible 33% cost reduction for customers that need a smaller operating footprint.

Mark Lohmeyer, SVP and GM of VMware’s cloud services business unit, said that this option still supports VMware’s standard “3-9s” service level agreement (SLA) and “should appeal to smaller and mid-sized customers.”

“It really makes it a much more attractive service for them to get started with in those smaller environments,” Lohmeyer said.

VMware also expanded its Cloud Director service into the AWS environment. This service is currently used by many of VMware’s managed service provider and cloud service provider partners on top of their own VMware-based data centers to support multi-tenant services for their end customers.

“And so the real value here is that it enables our MSP and VMware cloud provider partners to provide a service to their end customers in a multi tentative way, which effectively allows them to service many more customers at a lower cost,” Lohmeyer said.

It also allows those partners to offer a customized service with their own branding and service packaging. “This has been something that our partners have been asking for for a while now,” Lohmeyer added.

VMware’s Kubernetes-based Tanzu platform also received updated support. This includes the availability of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid that allows for broader container management. Lohmeyer said the platform can support enterprise-grade Kubernetes runtime and automation out of the box on top of VMware Cloud on AWS.

“And so this gives our customers the ability to have a single environment where they can deploy, manage, and run both VMs as well as containers and Kubernetes clusters,” Lohmeyer said. “And because it's enabled on top of VMC on AWS it also inherits all the elasticity of the AWS public cloud for containerized workloads, and it also gives them a consistent operating environment for a hybrid cloud environment where they might be running those same services on top of vSphere-based environments on prem.”

VMware launched its Tanzu Kubernetes Grid platform earlier this year. It’s designed as a Kubernetes runtime that allows customers to install and run a multi-cluster Kubernetes environment on any infrastructure, including data centers, public and private clouds, and at the edge.

VMware’s Transit Connect is also now in preview on AWS. This is a network hub that enables customers to scale and manage “any-to-any” connectivity between Amazon Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) and their on-premises data centers, as well as between thousands of VPCs within an AWS region. It allows customers to build advanced and scalable networks within AWS and connect with their on-premises locations for what Brown called “edge consolidation.”

VMware’s close cloud ties to AWS began in 2016, when the two announced plans to deliver a joint service that allowed customers to run their VMware vSphere private clouds in AWS’ public cloud. The service officially launched the following year.

The two have since produced regular updates to their partnership. Lohmeyer said that more than 500 partners have achieved VMC on AWS service competency, with Brown adding that VMC was currently available in 17 of AWS’ 24 worldwide regions.

For VMware, that partnership has gradually borne financial fruit. The company’s CFO recently stated that the partnership “had triple-digit revenue growth rates” for its most recent fiscal quarter.

AWS has also seen increased pressure from its rival hyperscalers that have also bolstered their own VMware partnerships.

Microsoft earlier this year updated its Azure VMware Solution that allows users to migrate their existing on-premises VMware applications to Azure without needing to re-architect them first. And Google launched its Google Cloud VMware Engine that provides a fully managed VMware Cloud Foundation stack.