What is VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud?

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is an integrated cloud offering jointly developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and VMware. VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) provides a seamless hybrid cloud by extending the organization’s on-premises vSphere environment to the AWS Cloud.

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is a jointly engineered secure, scalable cloud service that brings VMware’s rich Software-Defined Data Center software to the AWS GovCloud (US) Region. VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) integrates VMware’s compute, storage, and network virtualization products (VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN, and VMware NSX) along with VMware vCenter Server management, optimized to run on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. With the same architecture and operational experience on-premises and in the cloud, IT teams can now quickly derive instant business value from the use of the AWS and VMware hybrid cloud experience

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is available to United States Government customers, organizations in government-regulated industries, and other private entities that meet AWS GovCloud (US) requirements. This service gives United States government customers and partners the ability to run production vSphere workloads and host sensitive Controlled Unclassified Information, or CUI, and all types of regulated workloads.

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is designed with multiple layers of protection. The service inherits the physical and network security controls from the AWS GovCloud infrastructure and adds dedicated compute and storage along with the security capabilities derived from vSphere, vSAN, and NSX. The VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) infrastructure is monitored 24×7 and regularly tested for security vulnerabilities and hardened to enhance security.

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) meets security compliance standards across the industry. For partners who are working with government agencies where currently VMware in use, AWS GovCloud (US) could be a good solution for them. VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud regions is operated by VMware employees who are U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is only accessible to U.S. entities and root account holders who pass a screening process. Customers must confirm that they will only use a U.S. person (green card holder or citizen as defined by the U.S. Department of State) to manage and access root account keys to these regions.

VMware Cloud on AWS Benefits

VMware Cloud on AWS has many benefits three primary customer benefits are below

• Simple and consistent operations
• Stringent security and privacy controls
• Enterprise-grade capabilities
• Flexibility and innovation opportunities

Simple and consistent operations

• Continue to use established on-premises governance and operational policies and extend that with the cloud security and availability that AWS GovCloud (US) brings
• Accelerate cloud migrations from months and years to weeks and days by eliminating the rework associated with re-architecting production applications with consistent infrastructure across vSphere-based infrastructure and the AWS GovCloud (US)
• Eradicate re-training by using existing and familiar skills, tools, and processes for managing cloud environments with consistent operations for improved productivity, and reduced costs
• Take advantage of VMware’s world-class U.S. Federal Technical Support team for all your support needs

Stringent security and privacy controls

• Leverages the extensive certifications of VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US)
• VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) provides dedicated, elastic bare-metal Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) infrastructure
• Utilizes FIPS 140.2 compliant cryptographic modules for encryption of data at rest and in transit
  On path to achieve FedRAMP High authority to operate (ATO)
• VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) is Operated by VMware employees who are U.S. citizens on U.S. soil
• AWS GovCloud (US) is managed by Amazon employees who are U.S. citizens on U.S. soil

Enterprise-grade capabilities

• Organizations can run, manage, and protect production applications in a seamlessly integrated hybrid IT environment delivering:
  • Predictable, high-performance computing with VMware vSphere running on bare-metal AWS EC2 infrastructure
  • Enterprise-class storage with VMware vSAN delivered on NVMe Flash storage, local to the cluster
  • Advanced networking & security services with VMware NSX-T, including domains integration, micro-segmentation, and distributed firewalls
• Innovate and respond to changing agency demands with the rich capabilities of VMware SDDC for any application, coupled with the elastic infrastructure of the AWS GovCloud (US), and the breadth and depth of AWS services
• Availability and resource management features such as VMware vSphere High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and Elastic DRS are enabled out of the box
• Achieve Zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO) high availability across Availability Zones with Stretched Clusters
• Moving workloads bi-directionally between vSphere-based infrastructure and AWS GovCloud (US) seamlessly

Flexibility and innovation opportunities

• Deliver agility and rapid time to value with the ability to spin up an entire VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) in the AWS GovCloud (US) region in under two hours and scale host capacity in minutes
• Align costs to your business needs with flexible consumption options and investment protection
• Consume on-demand hourly, or take advantage of one-year and three-year reserved models for deeper discounts

VMware Cloud on AWS Benefits Use Cases

In addition to the three primary customer benefits, VMware Cloud on AWS has five primary customer use cases, which are:

• Cloud migration
• Datacenter expansion
• Disaster recovery
• Modernize your applications
• Virtual Desktops

Cloud migration

Rapidly and seamlessly migrate enterprise applications and vSphere-based workloads to the cloud without complex conversions in an operationally consistent way, leveraging the same skills and toolsets you already used.

Datacenter expansion

Extend your VMware vSphere environments to the AWS Cloud and meet on-demand capacity needs in minutes, allowing for fast and cost-effective business growth. And On-demand expansion of the data center capacity to the VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) with no impact on application uptime or disruption to end-users

Disaster recovery

Increase business resiliency by protecting your sites with elastic capacity in VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US). Extending the on-premises networks to VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) and using these networks as recovery networks will help to bring the services fast.

Modernize your applications

Deliver VMware SDDC-consistent dev/ test environments that can integrate with modern automation tools and can fully integrate with all native AWS services for developing next-gen applications.

Virtual Desktops

Extend on-premises Horizon VDI environment for virtual desktops and published apps to consistent on-demand, agile VDI environment in AWS GovCloud (US). Manage on-premises and AWS GovCloud (US) VDI environments in an architecturally, and operationally consistent way by reusing existing on-premises tools, processes, and governance in AWS GovCloud (US).

VMware Cloud on AWS GovCloud (US) Host Specifications

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