VMWARE CLOUD INDEX REVEALS CLOUD COMPUTING AS COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATOR FOR MALAYSIAN ENTERPRISES IN 2013

• Enhanced business outlook in 2013 fast-tracks cloud adoption 
• One in two respondents that do not currently have cloud initiatives in place say they plan to implement it within the next 18 months
• More than 70% of respondents say cloud computing has made their job less complex
• Skills development and training remains a cloudy but critical issue

MALAYSIA – November 6, 2012 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, announced the Malaysian results of its 3rd annual VMware Cloud Index, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting and ITR. The results were presented at the annual VMware Solutions Symposium (VSS) in Kuala Lumpur recently and a summary of the study is available for download at www.vmware.com/ap/cloudindex.

The index revealed that the majority of respondents based in Malaysia (72%) will grow and/or expand their businesses in 2013, and more than half (54%) agree that if their company does not pursue cloud initiatives, they risk falling behind their competitors.

“In this tough economic environment, organizations have to grapple with declining budgets and IT is expected to do more with less. We believe cloud computing can play a strategic role in enabling their organizations to stay competitive, enter new markets, and make a growing base of mobile and demanding employees more productive,” said Laurence Si, country manager, VMware Malaysia.

Next Wave of Cloud Adoption Ahead
Virtualization is reaching critical mass in the region and 94% of respondents say they adopted or plan to adopt virtualization within their organization. 77% also strongly agreed that that virtualization is critical to enabling cloud computing – compared to 73% in 2011.

Top enablers of cloud computing revealed by the VMware Cloud Index 2012 are: the ability to support a more mobile and flexible workforce; the demand to optimize their existing IT management and automation capabilities; and the desire to empower the business by simplifying access to IT resources. In fact, one in two (50%) respondents that do not currently have cloud initiatives in place said they plan to implement it within the next 18 months.

“VMware believes that cloud computing has brought a new responsibility for IT. Instead of being solely a builder of services, IT organizations that migrate to a software-defined infrastructure model have the opportunity to act as a broker of services that centrally controls and manages the delivery of applications across the business,” added Si.

VMware has recently made announcements to support the software-defined datacenter at VMworld® 2012 in San Francisco and Barcelona, and announced products such as the VMware vCloud® Suite 5.1 (now generally available) and new management solutions.
Service Providers Can Enable Customers to Overcome Cloud Barriers
The VMware Cloud Index 2012 revealed the top three barriers to cloud adoption in Malaysia are: data privacy, residency, ‘loss of control’ (71%); security (67%); and access to reliable and affordable broadband (64%).

“The VMware Service Provider Partner Program (VSPP) can help companies overcome the perceived barriers to cloud computing. By leveraging VMware solutions on a subscription basis from our telco and service provider partners such JARING and VADS Berhad, customers can be assured that their data resides in Singapore, and only pay for the services that they consume. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) also assures customers of predictable performance and high availability,” said Kevin Pratesa, director, Service Providers and Public Cloud, VMware ASEAN.
“In this way, they can connect and manage all virtual and cloud environments, gain deep visibility into their virtual resource allocation and consumption, and be assured of high availability with service level agreements in place,” Pratesa added.

Gaps in Skills and Development Training
Only 56% of respondents agree that their IT organization has the skills and infrastructure necessary to create and manage a private cloud. Likewise, only 53% of respondents agreed that their organization is increasing spending on cloud training for employees.

“Organizations need to be agile not only with technology, but with its people. As customers leverage cloud computing to fuel their growth, IT needs to be equipped to plan, develop and deploy cloud solutions that are aligned to organization’s needs,” said Si. “That is why VMware organizes enablement platforms throughout the year to help customers stay at the forefront of the latest industry developments. VMware Professional Services works closely with customers to architect and successfully implement their cloud infrastructure, and VMware’s Cloud Ops intellectual property addresses how customers can build, operate, staff and measure a cloud environment to maximize business innovation and efficiency.”