April 25, 2017
In April 2017, VMware announced its intention to purchase Wavefront, a metrics monitoring and streaming analytics platform developer, for an undisclosed sum. Wavefront’s cloud-hosted application will enable VMware to strengthen their application management offering by enabling administrators to draw reports, perform queries, track anomalies, and create charts on their application KPIs. But that’s only the beginning of what Wavefront will bring to VMware.
“VMware set the standard for monitoring virtual environments with VMware vRealize® Operations™, and we will set the standard for cross-cloud and modern application monitoring with Wavefront,” — Ajay Singh, Senior Vice President of the Cloud Management Business Unit
VMware
The First Acquisition in Years
The purchase of Wavefront stands out for VMware because it will help them achieve their goals in a new technology area. But, it also stands out because it is their first acquisition in years. Some technology organizations consistently purchase smaller companies to expand capabilities and capitalize on a successful product, but it has been three years since VMware last made such an acquisition. Though 2010-2014 saw 13 different purchases, there have been none since. This speaks to VMware’s stability in their market and success in actualizing their vision with their existing teams.
The Wavefront acquisition is different, because it rapidly moves the ball forward on cross cloud management.
The Answer is in the Cross Cloud
This move comes at an important time. IT environments of all sizes are finding value in cloud deployments, but a much smaller percentage are migrating completely. It is far more common for IT teams to take advantage of cloud deployments only where it suits them. This creates the common dynamic of hybrid cloud deployments that actually consist of applications housed in multiple different cloud environments. IT administrators need a centralized way to manage these applications. Wavefront will prove a major boon in this area.
In recent years, VMware has committed itself to building a cross cloud strategy and cloud management platform for their customers. Most notably, their vRealize Suite provides a wide array of management efficiencies for hybrid and heterogeneous cloud environments. With vRealize, users enjoy a consolidated and simpler process to automate select IT functions, address performance issues, and manage and analyze logs, but actual cross cloud management platforms are still under development. The purchase of Wavefront will help VMware actualize their cross cloud management ambitions.
Singh summarized the importance of the Wavefront acquisition, when he said,
“It delivers a radically new scope and scale of metrics monitoring and analytics to help developers improve the performance, availability, and customer experience of their digital services. When combined with the vRealize product portfolio, digital enterprises will gain a complete view from network through infrastructure to applications.” — Ajay Singh, Senior Vice President of the Cloud Management Business Unit
VMware
Acquiring Wavefront appears to be a smart move on the part of VMware, and we can look forward to a more robust VMware vRealize product suite as well as cross cloud management platforms in the near future.
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