VMWare’s vCloud Connector Now Free
VMWare has released the 2.6 version of their popular vCloud Connector product and this release stands out from previous releases due to one gleaming factor: the connector is now being offered for free. If you aren’t familiar with the vCloud Connector, you might be thinking, “What does this application do?”
The vCloud Connector does exactly what the title says it does; it connects public and private clouds with one another. The assumption is that each cloud is a vSphere cloud. You could have multiple private clouds that you decide you’d like to connect or you could connect your private cloud with a vSphere public cloud and have control over both environments in one console.
Leading up to today’s announcement, the vCloud Connector was available in 2 versions. The core version was free but it contained less functionality when compared to the full-fledged vCloud Connector suite which was a paid-for solution. vCloud Connector now has both roles available however the full-fledged suite is now free. Although the full version is now free, cloud architects must have vSphere and vCloud Director in order for the connector to function.
What does this mean for the public and private cloud industries? It means that companies are starting to get competitive with each other when it comes to private and hybrid cloud offerings. While many experts have commented on the pricing war going on in the public cloud marketplace, the private cloud market share is seeing its own set of markdowns and price reductions. This indicates that there is healthy competition in the private and hybrid cloud markets.
Look for vendors such as Microsoft, VMWare and others to begin offering free perks and software add-ons that will entice decision makers to only choose one vendor for their hybrid cloud solutions. When press releases like these are made, competitors such as Microsoft, Amazon and Citrix tend to retaliate by releasing datacenter products that are also free. It will be interesting to see how VMWare’s competitors respond to this release.
