We committed to our vCloud Air Network cloud provider ecosystem to update you on our go-forward strategy for a vCloud Director (VCD-SP) UI prior to the end of the year.

Since we stopped development of vCD UI beyond vCD 5.5 and moved towards an API only strategy, we have received many requests from our service provider partners to return to a fully functional VCD UI. In addition to these requests, we have had other requests for a single front-end to all VMware managed cloud environments including not only VCD-SP but also those vCloud Air services managed by partners in the vCloud Air Network Managed Service Provider model as well as managed hosted environments.

In response to these requests we are pleased to announce two recent developments, which we believe, will bring you flexibility and choice for your front-end portal:

As part of VMware’s ongoing commitment to VCD-SP, we plan to restart the VCD UI development and release a limited number of VCD UI features in the next release of VCD-SP scheduled later in 2016. VCD-SP API and UI development will continue with a goal to ensure UI and API parity. After completing an extensive evaluation process this year, we have entered into partnerships with both AirVM and OnApp who bring cloud management platforms for managing all VMware-based cloud environments. Both companies bring products to market to manage VCD-SP, managed vCenter and MSP (vCloud Air) cloud environments in a customizable manner.

AirVM’s AirSembly is a business management platform for VMware cloud providers. Its core features include billing and chargeback including credit card processing, a fully automated self-serve marketplace and multi-tier channel sales support with full white-labeling and branding capabilities. For more details visit http://airvm.com

OnApp provides a robust, intuitive, customizable and extensible self-service portal for vCloud Air Network partners. Proven in thousands of production cloud deployments globally, the OnApp portal cuts cost through automation, improves customer experience through streamlined provisioning and management, and introduces new ways for vCloud Air Network partners to add value to their customers through new features and services. For more details, visit http://onapp.com/vmware

Our partnerships with both companies will include a product management cadence allowing both companies to stay closer to VMware’s vCloud Air Network roadmap thus giving them both the opportunity to bring new features to our service provider community in a timeline more closely mirroring the release of VMware features.

We believe that offering the VCD-SP UI, VCD-SP API’s and two partnerships with leading vendors will bring the options you need to best deliver your cloud services.

Look for further details in Q1’16 on our development and these partnerships on PartnerCentral and VMLive.