Amazon Web Services EMEA Sarl, UK Branch

VMware Cloud on AWS

VMware Cloud on AWS is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering, leveraging VMware Cloud Foundation (vSphere, NSX and vSAN) to deliver software-defined data centres (SDDCs) as a cloud service on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Features

• VMware SDDC delivered as a cloud service on AWS
• On-demand capacity & flexible hourly consumption available globally
• Run on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure
• Operates in multiple Availability Zones within the UK
• Single UI and API for vMotion between on-premises and cloud
• Automated cluster scaling and host remediation
• Direct Connect and L2VPN connectivity and offline data transfer options
• Access AWS services (EBS, RDS, Lambda, etc..) without network charges
• vMotion between on-premises and the cloud

Benefits

• Jointly engineered to deliver the best of VMware and AWS
• Unparalleled security of combined VMware and AWS technologies and operations
• Industry leading portability enables migration to and from the Cloud
• Full operational consistency with onpremise VMware technologies
• Scalable infrastructure available when and where you need it
• Common virtual infrastructure makes hybrid deployments truly possible
• Disaster Recover economics are transformed by the cloud
• Support existing and next-generation applications and containers in one platform

£6.22 an instance an hour

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at aws-ukps-frameworks@amazon.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

239445572606472

Contact

John Davies
02036801685
aws-ukps-frameworks@amazon.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: N/A
• System requirements: N/A

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: VMware Cloud Service Support Policies are published: https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/saas-support.html Critical (SaaS Severity 1) 30 minutes or less: 24x7 Major (SaaS Severity 2) 4 business hours Minor (SaaS Severity 3) 8 business hours Cosmetic (SaaS Severity 4) 12 business hours
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web chat accessibility testing: VMware Cloud on AWS leverages in-product chat from Intercom.com. Details about chat accessibility can be found here. https://www.intercom.com/help/faqs-and-troubleshooting/the-intercommessenger/is-the-intercom-messenger-accessible. Additional details on development and testing for accessibility of the chat interface can be found here: https://www.intercom.com/blog/messenger-accessibility/
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: VMware Cloud on AWS provides 24/7 production level support as part of the service at no additional cost.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: VMware provides a range of resources to help to start using the VMware Cloud on AWS service. These include comprehensive documentation (in multiple formats), introductory videos, hands-on labs, online and in-person training, access to a large ecosystem of partners and support from the Customer Success team and public sector account team.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: HTML
• End-of-contract data extraction: Migration of data to and from VMware Cloud on AWS is fully managed by the customer. Documentation exists along with additional tools and services to facilitate the migration of data. VMware Cloud on AWS natively runs VMware vSphere which stores customer data in an industry accepted virtual machine format and VMware vSphere natively supports the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), making it simple to download, clone, migrate, copy, port or transfer workloads between environments.
• End-of-contract process: If you are using the Service Offering on an on-demand basis, you can cancel at any time by deleting your SDDC, using the VMware Cloud on AWS Console. You will be charged for all usage up to the point of termination. Unless you purchase a new subscription, upon expiration of the Subscription Term all services will continue to operate on an on-demand basis and you will be billed at the then current on-demand rate for those services until you cancel your on-demand use.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: The VMware Cloud on AWS Console enables customers to provision Software Defined Data Centers, Configure Networking, Add/Remove Hosts, Connect to the Virtual Center interface and get support. The Virtual Center Interface enables customers to manage their entire Software Defined Data Center.
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 A
• Web interface accessibility testing: The Virtual Center interface has undergone accessibility testing by an independent third party. Results of all VMware accessibility tests can be found at: https://www.vmware.com/help/accessibility.html
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: After the initial creation of the organisation's account, the service can be configured and operated via the API interface. VMware Cloud on AWS Service APIs, vSphere APIs and NSX API interfaces are all supported.
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • Other
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
• Using the command line interface: Customers have access to all published and documented APIs through a command prompt.

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Customer environments are logically and physically segregated to prevent users and customers from accessing resources not assigned to them. Each customer SDDC runs on dedicated hardware which eliminates the potential for other customers to affect their workloads. VMware and AWS both continuously monitor service usage to project infrastructure needs to support availability commitments/requirement
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • Other

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
  • Other
• Other metrics:
  • VSphere provide comprehensive infrastructure logs
  • Performance logs
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller (no extras)
• Organisation whose services are being resold: VMware

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: None

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
  • Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Account configuration information
  • SDDC Configuration information
• Backup controls: Customers retain control and ownership of their virtual machines and have the ability to use their own backup and recovery solution. VMware Cloud on AWS enables virtual machine images to be replicated by Site Recovery Manager to another Availability Zone or to a datacenter of the customer's choosing, which ensures that workloads would always exist in more than one physical location. There are many companies that offer backup and recovery solutions that are compatible with VMware Cloud on AWS service. A list of vendors can be found here: https://marketplace.vmware.com/
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: VMware will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that each component of the Service Offering ("service component") is “Available” during a given billing month (as defined in the Service Description) equal to the “Availability Commitment” specified in the table below: Service Component Availability Commitment SDDC Infrastructure 99.9% SDDC Management 99.9% VMware Site Recovery - Management 99.9% More information about the SLA can be found at: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/support/vmwcloud-aws-service-level-agreement.pdf
• Approach to resilience: VMware has implemented backup or redundancy mechanisms to ensure compliance with regulatory, statutory and contractual obligations. VMware has a defined Information Security Program that includes Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies for data and hardware redundancy, network configuration redundancy and backups and regular testing exercises. VMware Cloud on AWS uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) geographically resilient data hosting options. Data centers are built in clusters in various global regions. VMware provides customers the flexibility to place instances and store data within multiple geographic regions as well as across multiple Availability Zones within each regions to support their resiliency needs.
• Outage reporting: The real-time status of the VMware Cloud on AWS services along with past incidents is publicly available on https://status.vmware-services.io/.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Management interfaces implement role-based access controls and require members to authenticate against the corporate identity provider. Access is managed through the management gateway which restricts access based on originating IP address and SSL usage. Additional security and authentication mechanisms including the use of time-based credentials are used to secure and monitor access.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 28/02/2020
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: N/A
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: Other
• Other security governance standards: Cyber Essentials Plus
• Information security policies and processes: AWS implements formal, documented policies and procedures that provide guidance for operations and information security within the organisation. Policies address purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities and management commitment. ; ; Employees maintain policies in a centralised and accessible location. AWS Security Assurance is responsible for familiarizing employees with the AWS security policies. ; ; AWS has established information security functions that are aligned with defined structure, reporting lines, and responsibilities. Leadership involvement provides clear direction and visible support for security initiatives. ; ; Policies are approved by AWS leadership at least annually or following a significant change to the AWS environment.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: The VMware Cloud on AWS team has a comprehensive development lifecycle and and change management system in place. Continuous reviews and testing occur on the software development pipelines for individual products and components. VMware generates builds from approved components and runs these through BITs (Basic Integration Tests), PVTs (Product Validation Tests), FSLite (Feature Stress Lite Tests) and continuous Loop tests for Deployment, Upgrade and Cluster expansion/ reduction. Additionally, we run performance tests, feature stress tests, security scans, vulnerability tests and System Tests at scale for every cycle.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: VMware has a comprehensive vulnerability management program in place which includes continuous internal and regular third-party vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. The VMware Security Response Center (VSRC) leads the analysis and remediation of service security issues. VSRC receives reports directly and monitors the ecosystem for relevant security issues and works with VMware Research and Development to develop and resolve issues. VMware Cloud on AWS has the capability to rapidly patch vulnerabilities. Remediation efforts and timelines are prioritized and applied using industry best practices. For further details on the process and our commitment to customers, see the VMware Security Response Policy
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: VMware has a Security Operations Center staffed 24x7 and alerted on security anomalies in the VMware Cloud on AWS environment. VMware Cloud on AWS has several intrusion detection/prevention mechanisms in place and the service continuously collects and monitors the environment logs which are correlated with both public and private threat feeds to spot suspicious and unusual activities. The customer is responsible for the security of the environment over which they have administrative level control.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: The process complies with industry standards for legally admissible chain- of-custody and forensic-data-collection management processes and controls. Response standards, procedures, methods are implemented based on the severity level. If VMware determines that unauthorized access to/use/disclosure of customer content, VMware will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify customers, taking into account any applicable law, regulations, governmental request. VMware will also notify customers of a suspected breach of the infrastructure if that breach occurred on a segment of the platform consumed by a customer, or in the event of Denial of Service attacks. VMware does not monitor guest workloads for such breaches.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: VMware
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: Each VMware Cloud on AWS Software Defined Datacenter (SDDC) is provisioned on dedicated bare-metal hardware within an AWS VPC dedicated to the customer. vSphere is installed on this dedicated hardware and customers are given access to their individual instance of Virtual Center to manage their virtual environment.

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: AWS is committed to running our business in the most environmentally friendly way possible. In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, AWS is focused on efficiency and continuous innovation across our global infrastructure. We are committed to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. You can read more on our website https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/environment/the-cloud?energyType=true

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  AWS is committed to running its business in the most efficient and sustainable way possible, and we are on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of our original target of 2030. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and in October 2021, Amazon’s first UK renewable energy project became operational and started delivering clean energy to the grid. In 2021, AWS joined the data centre industry in Europe to create the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, an industry commitment to proactively lead the transition to a climate neutral economy (https://www.climateneutraldatacentre.net/). ; A study by 451 Research found that AWS infrastructure is five times more energy efficient than the average surveyed European enterprise data centre. The study also found that moving a megawatt of a typical compute workload from a European organisation’s data centre to AWS Cloud could reduce carbon emissions by up to 1,079 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.; AWS achieves lower energy use in its data centres through innovation, such as designing cooling systems that reduce energy and water use (https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/environment/the-cloud/water-stewardship), and using real-time sensor data to adapt to changing weather conditions. AWS’s scale enables high resource usage, and its global cloud infrastructure is built using Amazon’s own custom hardware, purpose-built and optimised for workloads run by AWS customers. ; We will include specific and measurable additional social value commitments as part of contracts procured via G-Cloud for customers that require them. These commitments will align with the scope and scale of each contract and each customer’s priorities. Examples of potential commitments include game days, hackathons, immersion days and well-architected reviews, and providing access to our new Carbon Footprint Tool (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-customer-carbon-footprint-tool/).
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  As part of our response to Covid-19, AWS is providing highly scalable and reliable infrastructure capacity, technical support, and AWS services to help customers with their research, remote work and learning, and other solutions to address their needs and the effects this is having on communities and businesses. Examples include: hosting the AWS Covid-19 data lake, a centralized repository of up-to-date and curated datasets focused on or related to the spread and characteristics of Covid-19; helping the NHS to innovate and experiment quickly by funding proof of concepts; and working with technology consultancy Slalom on an automated service that aimed to reach 1.5 million of the UK’s most vulnerable people and help them register to receive social and medical care, and essential supplies. The service was set up in 48 hours thanks to the flexibility of cloud computing.; We offer a range of initiatives to help with the creation of opportunities for unemployed or underemployed individuals. AWS Academy helps prepare students for careers in the cloud, AWS Educate provides free self-paced training, AWS Training and Certification helps to build and validate cloud skills, and AWS re/Start offers a full-time, classroom-based skills development and training programme preparing individuals for careers in the cloud and connecting them to potential employers. AWS has committed to investing hundreds of millions of pounds to provide free cloud computing skills training for 29 million people by 2025 (https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-to-help-29-million-people-around-the-world-grow-their-tech-skills-with-free-cloud-computing-skills-training-by-2025). ; We will include specific and measurable additional social value commitments as part of contracts procured via G-Cloud for customers that require them. These commitments will align with the scope and scale of each contract and each customer’s priorities. Examples of potential commitments include provision of AWS Training and Certification courses, access to AWS re/Start to support re-skilling and employment, and access to AWS Activate to support local businesses.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  A report (https://aws.amazon.com/executive-insights/ukir/impact-of-aws-in-the-uk/) from independent consultancy Public First, estimates AWS is generating £8.7 billion in economic value for businesses across the country—the equivalent of 0.4% of the UK’s GDP, more value than the Premier League or the music industry. The report also found that if we could increase cloud prevalence in the North East to match that of London, it would boost local productivity and wages by 2.6%, or around £1.4 billion a year.; AWS initiatives to help businesses and individuals access the benefits that cloud services can provide include AWS Activate (https://aws.amazon.com/activate/) which provides benefits including AWS credits and architecture guidance so new businesses can succeed with AWS, the AWS Digital Innovation Program which introduces business leaders to Amazon's peculiar, customer-centric approach to innovation, AWS Skills Guild, a comprehensive skills enablement program that builds cloud fluency across an organisation, and AWS Startup Loft Accelerator, a 10-week, virtual, equity-free acceleration programme for early-stage start-ups in EMEA. ; We provide training and support for educational attainment through schemes including AWS Academy, which helps prepare students for industry-recognized certifications and careers in the cloud, AWS Educate, which provides hundreds of hours of free self-paced training and resources, AWS Training and Certification, which helps to build and validate skills, and AWS re/Start which prepares unemployed and underemployed individuals for cloud careers through classroom-based training.; We will include specific and measurable additional social value commitments as part of contracts procured via G-Cloud for customers that require them. These commitments will be aligned with the scope and scale of each contract and each customer’s priorities. Examples include enabling access to AWS Activate, AWS Academy, and AWS Educate, provision of AWS Training and Certification courses to enable skills development, and hosting a hackathon, game day or immersion day to develop understanding of secure ways of working.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  At AWS, we believe that technology should be built in a way that’s inclusive, diverse, and equitable. We are committed to having a diverse workforce not just because it allows us to continue driving innovation for our customers, but because it’s also the right thing to do for our employees.; We recently announced selection of 12 participants for the first AWS Healthcare Accelerator in the UK, a four-week programme cultivating and promoting innovative start-up solutions, with 50% of the cohort identifying as women-owned or minority-owned start-ups. AWS is also launching a new AWS Impact Accelerator, a programme that supports high-potential, pre-seed start-ups, that commits more than $30 million over the next three years to start-ups led by Black, women, Latino, and LGBTQIA+ founders. ; AWS has invested $50 million to support the creation of STEM-focused programs at AWS and partner organisations and announced our intent to help 29 million people around the world grow their technical skills with free cloud computing training by 2025.; AWS GetIT is an initiative first launched in the UK in 2018 and since rolled out worldwide to introduce students aged 12-13, and in particular girls, to cloud computing and digital skills and challenge long standing gender stereotypes, and AWS re/Start is a full-time, classroom-based skills development and training program focused on unemployed or underemployed individuals, including military veterans, their families, and young people.; We will include specific and measurable social value commitments as part of contracts procured via G-Cloud for customers that require them. These commitments will be aligned with the scope and scale of each contract and each customer’s priorities. Examples of potential commitments include enabling access to AWS GetIT and AWS re/Start, funding for bursaries, or local grants to organisations working to support under-represented groups or provide resources to digitally excluded individuals.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  AWS is committed to providing the support, benefits, and opportunities its employees need to be successful. AWS offers employees access to benefits to support physical and financial well-being, including access to healthcare coverage and long-term savings plans. Additionally, employees around the world and their eligible dependents have access to an Employee Assistance Programme that provides mental health support 24 hours a day.; Our leadership principles describe how Amazon does business and we demonstrate the leadership principles through our actions every day. We recently added two new leadership principles focused on ensuring a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment; and being humble and thoughtful about the effects of our actions on our customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large.; We are constantly evaluating new opportunities to optimise how we build capabilities, and prepare for future challenges. Connections is a real-time employee feedback mechanism delivering questions to every Amazon employee and generating more than 1.2 million responses from employees daily. Connections provides insights to managers and leaders to review and take actions as they uncover issues or see opportunities to improve.; Our global teams work closely with suppliers to communicate our standards and help suppliers build capacity to provide working environments that are safe and respectful of human rights. We routinely evaluate our supply chain to understand the highest risks to workers and prioritize our efforts.; We will include specific and measurable additional social value commitments as part of contracts procured via G-Cloud for customers that require them. These commitments will align with the scope and scale of each contract and each customer’s priorities. Examples of potential social value commitments include hosting immersion days, holding webinars, and providing local grants to organisations focused on promoting health and wellbeing.

Pricing

• Price: £6.22 an instance an hour
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at aws-ukps-frameworks@amazon.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.