Essential Guide

Browse Sections

Editor's note

2019 was a big year for VMware. The virtualization vendor has branched into new market areas -- such as security, cloud management and application development -- with several key acquisitions it made over the course of the year.

VMware also introduced several new products to the market. Such products include NSX Intelligence, a networking analytics product which won the Best of VMworld Judges' Choice Disruptive Technology award at VMworld 2019, and Managed Desktops, a new DaaS product built for VMware Cloud on AWS.

VMware improved upon several of its existing and established offerings with key updates as well in 2019. Updates to vSphere include enhanced vMotion compatibility and architectural enhancements to vCenter, and enhancements to NSX-T made it the predominant version of NSX over the older NSX-V.

Take a look back at VMware acquisitions and product developments over the past year, and look ahead to what could be up next for the company in 2020.

1VMware acquisitions in 2019

VMware made multiple key acquisitions in 2019, as it attempts to expand into new market spaces and make a reputation for itself beyond simply virtualization. With its Carbon Black acquisition, VMware hopes to expand into the security market, and with its acquisition of Bitnami, it hopes to move into the application development market as well. Other acquisitions help fill crucial gaps in its extant product line -- such as Avi, which brings load balancing services to NSX. Take a look at some of the biggest purchases VMware made this year and what they mean for the vendor moving forward.

2Announcements and new products

VMware released several new products and features in 2019. Some products, such as NSX Intelligence, bring new capabilities to established VMware offerings. Others, such Tanzu Mission Control -- which has only been released as a technical preview -- bring new capabilities altogether, such as the ability to manage Kubernetes clusters from a single pane of glass. Look back at some of the major new offerings VMware brought to the table in 2019.

3Major updates to existing products

VMware continued growing and improving its central offerings in 2019. This includes major updates to vSphere 6.7 -- such as an HTML5 interface that now has feature parity with the older Flash-based vSphere web client -- and updates to the vRealize suite that enable better cloud management. Explore the crucial updates VMware made to its established portfolio over this past year.

4Initiatives for 2020

Looking ahead to 2020, VMware has several plans already in the works for the coming year. From finalizing its acquisition of Pivotal to expanding vSAN adoption, take a look at what's up next for VMware. VMware's 2020 will see the vendor continue to expand into new market niches and work to incorporate Kubernetes management capabilities into its product line.