On August 15th, vCloud, the cloud computing initiative from VMware announced to offer a vCloud Service Evaluation which allows customers to “test-drive” a cloud built on the VMware platform.
The idea of VMware is that the vCloud Service Evaluation would give to potential VMware customers the chances to “test drive” a cloud built on the VMware vCloud platform and to existing clients to evaluate vCloud features, as well as support for apps and virtual machines that VMware customers already have.
VMware strategy is to attract more potential customers giving them a free try and allowing systems admins to learn about the capabilities of vCloud. Obviously this approach to intrigue possible new purchasers was approved by VMware services providers such as AT&T and Attenda.
The vCloud Service Evaluation gives customers the opportunity to add an enterprise cloud to their infrastructure and migrate workloads between existing private cloud, the vCloud Service Evaluation, and VMware’s extensive ecosystem of service providers.
Customers can register for VMware vCloud Service Evaluation, and beta invites will be sent out starting August 27, 2012, besides VMware will offer to try directly the service at the cloud services pod, within the VMware booth, at the VMworld in San Francisco.
As Mathew Lodge, Vice President, Cloud Services at VMware said in the press release:
VMware and its vCloud service providers have created a broad ecosystem of cloud services to meet the needs of any business, and now we’re going to give customers an easy way to see the power of a vCloud for themselves. With the VMware vCloud Service Evaluation, customers will have a quick, simple and low-cost way to evaluate a vCloud so they can understand the value of working with a vCloud service provider and be prepared to make an informed decision on which public cloud best suits them.