In 2015, VMware, a pioneer in server and network virtualization and a member of parent company EMC's "federation" of companies, had set its sights on becoming a leading public cloud provider. Two years prior, VMware first entered the public cloud market with its vCloud Air offering. In order to gain market share and compete with major cloud providers Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, what strategy should VMware pursue? Should the company try to partner with an established cloud player, or build out its public cloud offering through its own internal investments and acquisitions?