VMware to energize firms' digitalization in Chinese market

VMware Inc, a US-based cloud and virtualization software provider, sees "tremendous" growth opportunity in China and hence is looking to increase its contributions to the country's digitalization campaign, according to its top official.

"China is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of application innovations in many sectors, including financial, retailing and e-commerce," said Sanjay Poonen, chief operating officer of VMware, in an interview with China Daily.

Poonen said in China, companies have an increasing need for "modernizing apps" in order to enhance customer value, manage risk and grow their businesses.

"China has vigorously promoted the construction of digital infrastructure, including the 5G network, since the beginning of this year. This provides a broader development space for the digital transformation of enterprises," he said.

"To support this transformation, VMware will leverage our leading technologies of multi-cloud, modern applications, virtual cloud networks, digital workspace and intrinsic security to help companies build, run, manage, connect and protect their digital applications."

Poonen said VMware's modern app business is going to have a strong influence on its customers and partners in China. Through modern apps, VMware enables companies to build, run and manage their own applications across any cloud computing platform. Its team guides companies along the way.

For instance, Chow Sang Sang, a leading Chinese jewelry retailer, has been integrating IT with its business through VMware's IT infrastructure and application modernization.

In the past, Chow Sang Sang's e-store used to crash on occasions like Singles Day (Nov 11 online shopping festival) due to excess traffic, leading to a gradual loss of customers.

"Our e-commerce system is the lifeblood of our online business," said William Poon, chief information officer of Chow Sang Sang. "Downtime or outages are never an option for us. Thanks to the VMware solution, our e-shop and all online channels can now run seamlessly and consistently with 24/7 availability, stable performance, and automated scalability."

Although some regions are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world as a whole has changed forever, and the remote office might be a future trend, Poonen said.

"We feel we should facilitate people to work from anywhere," he said. "That is where VMware can help as we are the leader in end-user computing and digital workspaces."

Amid current trade uncertainties, VMware's partnerships in China will be critical to offsetting the negative impact, Poonen said.

"We are deeply invested in key open source technologies and in applying a number of those to 5G and digital transformation. We have a strategy to be an active partner here (in China) as we have a good and growing business."