VMware intros flexible pricing for new app platform

VMware has introduced vFabric 5, an integrated application platform for virtual and cloud environments.

The new platform combines VMware’s Spring development framework for Java with the latest generation of the company’s application services platform. It also marks the firm’s introduction of usage-based pricing, allowing enterprises to purchase application infrastructure software based on virtual machines, rather than physical hardware CPUs, and to pay only for the licenses in use.

The model is VMware’s attempt to bring application pricing in line with cloud computing approach that directly link the cost of software with use, consumption and value, according to the company. In a blog post, Rod Johnson, senior vice president in VMware’s application platform division, explains the rationale behind the new approach:

 As applications are increasingly deployed on virtual infrastructure rather than physical hardware, our customers have told us that a virtual machine-based approach to licensing based on average usage–not peak–just makes sense … This approach eliminates the long-standing need to over-provision application infrastructure to accommodate peak workloads and gives customers the ability to reconfigure application infrastructure without complex licensing concerns. This will result in application infrastructure that can evolve with the same sort of agility that your development teams use to build the applications themselves. Performance data from the configured VMs can be used to refine the application infrastructure iteratively and dedicate more computing resources to the layer that requires the most attention.”

VMware also said the new vFabric 5 platform  is optimized for its vSphere virtualization platform and integrates the Elastic Memory for Java capability that allows for management of memory across Java applications.

VMware’s vFabric 5 will be generally available later this summer, and priced at $1200 per virtual machine for the standard version and $1800 per virtual machine for the advanced version.