On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by two of our partners from Rackspace: Hannah Duce, Director of Strategic Alliances and Kevin Carter, Product Director. We’re discussing the current state of affairs with the VMware evolution, optimizing VMWare cloud foundations, and much more. 

Rackspace is the multicloud solutions expert. They know what you're up against because they've helped global companies across industries through it—and you can bet they're ready to help. Their team delivers results by listening to their customers’ challenges and building custom cloud services and solutions that support their business to perform better now and in the future.

During our conversation, we discussed the challenges and opportunities arising from the changing landscape and how Rackspace navigates through it. They also discussed the role of partnerships and alliances and the decision-making process for customers considering alternative platforms as it all relates to the VMware cloud foundation. 

Topics covered in this episode:  

●      How the VMware-Broadcom deal has created challenges and opportunities for Rackspace and its customers.

●      Rackspace’s long-standing partnership with VMware and how they’re working closely to navigate the changes.

●      How Rackspace is a trusted advisor for customers who ask questions and consider alternative platforms.

●      Critical strategies for mitigating the impact of the changes.

●      Why Rackspace is focused on providing a simplified and comprehensive solution for customers in the multi-cloud hybrid world.

●      What critical factors—like VMware's maturity level and the presence of mission-critical workloads—should be considered when making decisions about how to proceed?

●      How optimizing VMware Cloud Foundation and leveraging its bundled elements can lead to increased value and speed up modernization efforts.

●      Why tech stack displacement and rationalization may be necessary when transitioning to VMware Cloud Foundation.

●      Why KVM is a mature and viable alternative to VMware, especially for organizations running Windows virtual machines.

ABOUT HANNAH DUCE

Passionate about providing solutions to bring benefit to others, applying concepts in new ways to improve efficiency, and creating meaningful connections between people or ideas. I've leveraged these strengths across multiple industries including IT, Retail, Consumer Products, and Foodservice.

My areas of expertise include identifying needs, developing go to market strategies, product and process development. I bring a personable approach to helping client’s solve problems by offering unique solutions that increase sales, innovation and customer satisfaction. One of my simple joys is teaching and cheering on others to success.

CONTACT HANNAH

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hzduce/

Web. https://www.rackspace.com/

ABOUT KEVIN CARTER

I'm Kevin Carter, a developer and leader with an insatiable appetite for learning, a penchant for tinkering, and a knack for solving the most perplexing problems. Throughout my career, I've honed my expertise in data center operations, gaining hands-on experience in everything from bare metal to networking, virtualization, and containers. I've also had the pleasure of leading successful teams developing innovative solutions for critical infrastructure applications within private clouds.

Now, I'm embarking on an exciting new adventure as a Product Director in open cloud computing, leveraging the power of OpenStack. While I may be new to this role, I'm no stranger to the world of cloud technology. As a leader, I will leverage my extensive background in cloud and systems engineering, and I'm eager to make a substantial impact in shaping the future of open cloud computing.

I've steadfastly advocated for open-source collaboration throughout my journey, contributing to many high-profile projects. My Git archives are a testament to my unyielding drive to innovate and learn from my endeavors. From creating OpenStack-ansible and Turbolift to simplifying TripleO and building Directord, I've consistently tackled the seemingly impossible, rallying like-minded individuals to accomplish ambitious objectives.

If you're interested in delving further into my work and achievements, I invite you to explore my website at https://cloudnull.io or peruse my GitHub repositories at https://github.com/cloudnull and https://github.com/oshied. You can also see my extensive contributions to the open-dev community at http://stackalytics.com/?user_id=kevin-carter. And now, as a Product Director, I look forward to spearheading even more exciting endeavors and (re)shaping the future of open cloud computing.

CONTACT KEVIN

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cloudnull/

Web. https://www.rackspace.com/article-author/kevin-carter

Web. https://www.rackspace.com/