VMware is extending a hand to cloud service providers with its introduction of vCloud Integration Manager, a solution designed to automate delivery and operations for VMware vCloud Director-based clouds. And as an added bonus, VMware has announced significant momentum in its VMware vCloud Powered service provider program, with more than 90 certified partners signed up.

Okay, let’s break these down one by one. VMware vCloud Integration Manager is designed to speed up time-to-revenue for service providers while also boosting scalability and flexibility by way of the aforementioned automation features. It uses a REST-based API to integrate with the service provider’s back-office solutions (CRM, billing, etc.), while deeply hooking into VMware vCloud Director and the rest of VMware’s vSphere and other cloud platform foundations, according to the press release.

The new product also includes a web interface for customer lifecycle management, granting a single control panel that handles every aspect of the customer relationship from sign-up to decommissioning.

Mathew Lodge, VMware senior director of cloud services, noted VMware vCloud Integration Manager is designed to simplify the lives of service providers while eliminating the need for outside cloud automation solutions:

The VMware vCloud Powered program, meanwhile, “requires VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) partners to offer services based on VMware vSphere and vCloud Director while exposing the vCloud API and supporting the Open Virtualization Format (OVF),” according to the company. That’s a fairly demanding set of cloud criteria, and 90 qualifying partners is a solid number.