The VMware vCloud® Architecture Toolkit™ for Service Providers (vCAT-SP) is a set of reference documents that are designed to help VMware Cloud Providers within the VMware Cloud Provider™ Program define, design, implement, and operate their VMware powered cloud platforms and services.

vCAT-SP is completely hardware vendor agnostic, although some vendors are mentioned in the implementation examples because the examples are based on implementations that VMware has performed with customers in the field.

The design guidelines and considerations highlighted in the vCAT-SP documentation are based on real-world use cases and implementation experience gained from the field. The consumer (architect) will have the opportunity to choose design considerations that are important to the success of the cloud platform, and to consider interrelated design options holistically. For example, a requirement for higher performance might influence management and operations.