Fujitsu and VMware extend global partnership

Fujitsu Limited and VMware have announced an expansion of their global partnership in the cloud, as the two companies seek to bolster their enterprise digital transformation market presence.

Fujitsu will deliver VMware cloud solutions as a service on Fujitsu's K5 cloud service, which is currently deployed in 9 regions and combines Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings for customers.

The VMware cloud infrastructure platform provides a set of software-defined compute (VMware vSphere), storage (VMware vSAN), network and security services (VMware NSX) in a single, integrated stack.

VMware's platform is designed for ease of use by utilising built-in lifecycle management automation (VMware SDDC Manager), making it ready for traditional and cloud native applications.

Fujitsu says its collaboration with VMware will empower mutual customers operating VMware software on-premises to create an optimal hybrid environment centred on K5, while limiting the risks associated with changes in system environments.

Masahiro Ota, Fujitsu head of the digital business platform unit says the partnership is extremely meaningful, as K5 integration with VMware is essential for mutual customers to achieve a successful digital transformation.

"Customers will be able to migrate their on-premises VMware environment to cloud services quickly with minimal risk and at reduced cost," he says.

"I believe that customers can add value to their business by converting cloud applications into native cloud services as necessary, or make them more sophisticated by combining them with other cloud services.

These cloud services will be offered as part of K5's offering, enabling customers to make use of the wider K5 portfolio, such as OpenStack based IaaS, Cloud Foundry based PaaS, IoT platform and an AI service platform.

On top of this, Fujitsu will offer services that comprehensively support customers using VMware virtualization technology in everything from validating a system environment to migrating systems to K5. Ajay Patel, VMware senior vice president of the cloud provider software business unit says, "Fujitsu and VMware share a common vision for accelerating digital transformations for our mutual customers.

This collaboration with Fujitsu has been very successful, and we're pleased to expand our relationship so organizations will be able to quickly deploy VMware software-defined solutions to Fujitsu K5 Cloud.

Fujitsu is commencing a worldwide rollout of the solution in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2017.