VMware launches open-source platform-as-a-service

VMware has introduced its Cloud Foundry solution as a cloud-based platform-as-a-service, designed to be delivered as a service from data centers and cloud service providers.

Cloud Foundry is designed to help developers create more applications and make them more scalable in the cloud, as well as to give cloud service providers more flexible ways of delivering those applications to enterprise IT users. Essentially, VMware is opening its development environment to provide more ways to create and administer cloud-based applications, offering far more options for developers when it comes to variables like programming and storage.

Within that more open environment, Cloud Foundry is designed to help developers sort through many application services and applications built in multiple frameworks, help them automate the deployment of those applications and deploy them out to a broad array of diverse cloud infrastructures. The service lets developers pick and choose the framework, type of cloud and application services they want for their applications. It also helps developers avoid “lock-in”—getting stuck in certain programming environments because diversifying means making extensive modifications to an application.

What that all means for IT professionals, should developers choose to embrace VMware’s new open approach and choose to create their solutions in the company’s environment, is more choice. The openness of the platform ultimately should translate to more cloud-based applications, and thus more availability and variety from cloud service providers.