Equinix and Microsoft® Drive Application Performance via Azure VMware Solution

Virtualization and cloud computing have been a perfect match for years. Running virtual machines (VMs) based workloads in the cloud has given companies in every industry an agile, scalable platform to build their businesses on. As a result, many companies have migrated and shifted their primary compute environment to the cloud.

One challenge to this approach has been the high operational costs for customers in using different virtualization platforms and tools on-premises from those in the cloud. Microsoft’s Azure VMware Solution address this situation by providing a consistent tool set that businesses can leverage on Platform Equinix^®. With Azure VMware Solution, IT organizations can now use the same VMware tools and platform that have been the foundation for their existing data center operations in Azure. This enables them to seamlessly migrate and extend their VMware workloads to the cloud using high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity, which is essential in these hybrid deployments.

As the world’s digital infrastructure company, we are bringing these leaders in virtualization and cloud computing together with our customers to enable seamless integration of their on-premises VMware and cloud-based Azure VMware Solution environments. By building and interconnecting digital infrastructure using Azure VMware Solution with Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric^™, businesses can accelerate their digital transformation and application modernization while leveraging the VMware tools they already use to manage existing environments.

Equinix Fabric and ExpressRoute optimize Azure VMware Solution performance

Accessing Azure VMware Solution with ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric eliminates network latency and bandwidth concerns from hybrid deployments and workload migration scenarios.
A critical component to these scenarios is VMware HCX, an application mobility platform that is required for migrating virtual machines between VMWare environments’ on-premises deployments and Azure. Azure ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric interconnection provide the predictable, consistent, high-performance network experience that is essential for VMware HCX.

Azure VMware Solution is available on Platform Equinix in four global regions today: it can be accessed directly in Azure West U.S. (Silicon Valley), East U.S. (Washington DC), West Europe (Amsterdam) and Australia East (Sydney) via Equinix Fabric. Remote markets can leverage Equinix Fabric for high-speed, low-latency connectivity into these available regions, which creates high-performance global availability to access Azure VMware Solution through Platform Equinix. Microsoft’s roadmap for expansion of Azure VMware solution includes their regions in South Central US (Texas), North Central US (Chicago), Canada Central (Toronto), UK South (London), North Europe (Dublin), Japan East (Tokyo) and Southeast Asia (Singapore).

Equinix is well situated to drive Azure VMware Solution adoption due to our extensive Azure ExpressRoute global presence, network optimization expertise and deep enterprise customer base. As a Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform and Azure Networking MSP Program member, Equinix hosts public Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute nodes in 29 metros globally, as well as seven Azure Government Cloud node locations in the U.S. for a total of 36 deployments worldwide.

How Equinix speeds Azure VMware Solution adoption

Equinix’s deep partnership with Microsoft provides a robust platform for fast and easy customer adoption of Azure VMware Solutions and consumption of Azure services. Businesses on Platform Equinix can bypass the public internet and its security and performance challenges when leveraging the private, fast, low-latency connectivity to Azure enabled by ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric.

Azure VMware Solution is a fast, efficient and cost-effective way for customers to speed their hybrid cloud transformation by shifting their on-premises, legacy VMware-based workloads to Azure. Performing high-speed migrations to Azure using VMware HCX and Azure ExpressRoute via Equinix Fabric software-defined interconnection simplifies the complexity of deploying enterprise hybrid cloud architectures, providing real value to users. For example, by reducing the complexity of slow migration challenges, such as IP spanning/renumbering, you can quickly lift and shift and entire VMware server farms.

Equinix and Microsoft technical sales teams jointly engage to design and implement the projects that deliver against an enterprise or government customer’s digital transformation plan, including the full set of Azure VMware Solution use cases outlined below. Our customer-facing technical teams are engaged with enterprise and government customers in 13 Microsoft areas: the United States, Canada, Latin-America, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Australia, Japan, Greater China, and Asia-Pacific.

Equinix and Microsoft Azure VMware Solution Deployment

Four enterprise scenarios for migrating VMware workloads to Azure

The following enterprise use cases demonstrate the deployment speed and scale that globally consistent, high-speed, low-latency interconnection provides Azure VMware Solution users:

• Scenario 1:  Data Center Migration: Businesses closing or consolidating their data centers can quickly and easily migrate entire VMware server farms and workloads to Azure across Equinix’s global platform. This requires short-term, high bandwidth capacity that leverages the fast, low-latency connectivity that Azure ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric provide between on-premises infrastructures and Azure. You can consolidate distributed IT infrastructure on Platform Equinix with its expansive International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center footprint and seamlessly interconnect locations via Equinix Fabric.
• Scenario 2: Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR): Azure VMware Solution can be leveraged on Platform Equinix as a BC/DR site for on-premises VMware farms. Azure ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric provide robust and reliable long-term connectivity and network optimization between on-premises infrastructure and Azure, enabling a resilient, high-performance BC/DR environment.
• Scenario 3:  App Modernization/Hybrid IT: Existing VMware farms can be replaced with a hybrid IT deployment with Azure VMware Solution and new VMware on-premises offerings resident on hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). Azure ExpressRoute and Equinix Fabric provide the continuous connectivity required for these hybrid deployments between systems and VMs hosted in a customer’s data center, an Equinix IBX data center and/or Azure, depending on application requirements.
• Scenario 4:  Multicloud VMware Instances: Equinix Fabric front-ends, high-speed on-ramps to multiple hyperscale cloud providers, which is highly useful for customers that are consolidating VMware environments to Azure or wish to maintain a hybrid multicloud architecture. This provides a consistent integrated VMware multicloud platform with enhanced portability due to the support for VMware technologies and tools, and hyperscale clouds that enterprises are already using.

Azure VMware Solution with Platform Equinix delivers the speed, scale and simplicity our customers look for from Azure and the consistency and continuity they expect from existing VMware environments. Contact us directly to request a digital edge strategy briefing (DESB) or workshop tailored to your business needs. DESBs are customer-centric technical strategy sessions designed to accelerate your digital transformation. With Azure and VMware business acumen and technical expertise, we help you identify key challenges and show you how next-generation architectures drive competitive advantage at the digital edge.