Broadcom just unveiled version 9 of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) at VMware Explore in Las Vegas. With VCF 9, VMware by Broadcom (which we’ll call VMware from here on out) promises to provide all the private cloud benefits, but on a public cloud scale.
Broadcom is positioning VCF as the only unified private cloud platform. The VMware owner cites IDC research that saw a 42 percent cost reduction for VCF customers, aided by a further 61 percent speedup in VM deployment and significant gains in networking and storage.
SVP & GM at Broadcom’s VCF Division Krish Prasad says that VCF 9 can help organizations end the “public cloud sprawl.” Choosing segregated best-of-breed products sounds appealing, but prevents the move to a “modern” solution like VCF, he argues.
Modern or legacy?
Speaking of sprawl, there was regular criticism of the huge variety of VMware solutions. In this new Broadcom era, ushered in November 2023, simplification is the key term everywhere. Dozens of solutions have already become two: VCF and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF).
In the months since November, the rhetoric from VMware competitors has been downright apocalyptic, fueled by legitimate stories from customers about fivefold increases in VMware costs or more. The reality is that Broadcom’s change in direction means a laser focus on the very largest customers, leaving many out in the cold. There’s a clear separation between smaller parties who will feel the need to get rid of legacy infrastructure built on VMware as soon as possible, and those clients that are lucrative to Broadcom and may very well embrace the simplification offered by VCF 9. The latter will still have to be borne out, of course.
VCF 9: simpler deployment
VCF 9 introduces capabilities that make the platform a “single unified and automated system” for the entire IT infrastructure. A self-service cloud portal reduces the number of management consoles from more than ten to two: one for operations, and one for automation. It is also easy to integrate these two domains thanks to workflows that tie them together.
VCF Import has also been expanded. Manual migrations to VCF would thus be a thing of the past. Starting with VCF 9, Broadcom offers the option to integrate NSX, vDefend, Avi Load Balancer and other complex solutions with VCF. The UI for this is very intuitive, if Broadcom is to be believed.
Another extension targets modern workloads for AI, databases and real-time analytics. Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe allows users to have data loaded faster than before, something that is often considered a bottleneck for the aforementioned use cases.
Tip: Google Cloud partners with Broadcom for compelling VMware migration
The public cloud without the public cloud
Other innovations show the overarching intent behind VCF 9 even more clearly, which is to “public cloud”-ify the platform, if you will. Examples include multi-tenancy capabilities to allow different departments to work on one infrastructure with clear segmentation. Native VPC Deployment gets developers to start up their work faster with networking-as-a-service, whereas tools like vDefend can ensure the necessary security and data privacy in such scenarios.
The previously announced Private AI solution in partnership with Nvidia will also be simplified. GenAI deployment will become simpler thanks to visibility into vGPU profiles, GPU reservations, a data indexing and retrieval service and an AI agent builder service. These are things that transfer the features of a public cloud to the private cloud.
On the security front, Broadcom is also chasing public cloud functionality in a private cloud setting. United security management, data protection with snapshots and microsegmentation are all things that assist recovery after or prevention of ransomware attacks. Customers no longer have to rely on public cloud-based ransomware recovery options from VMware, but with vSAN-to-vSAN protection, there is an alternative that can ensure data sovereignty.
Solution with Hitachi Vantara
For admirers of turnkey solutions for the private and hybrid cloud, Broadcom has partnered with Hitachi Vantara. Through this partnership, customers can choose the latter’s Unified Compute Platform (UCP) RS and combine it with VCF as part of the deal.
The challenges this partnership addresses are exponential data growth and the rise of GenAI. According to 63 percent of organizations surveyed, there is still much room for improvement to their enterprise IT infrastructure to take advantage of GenAI.
“As more businesses face the realities of the AI age, they are actively seeking solutions that help them scale and improve data reliability without sacrificing on cost or environmental commitments,” said Octavian Tanase, chief product officer, Hitachi Vantara. “At Hitachi Vantara, we are committed to driving innovation and sustainability in the data infrastructure space. Our enduring collaboration with Broadcom exemplifies our dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions that not only meet the evolving needs of our customers but also contribute to a greener planet.”
Conclusion: a new beginning
We’ve seen up close how the entire VMware customer base was shaken up by the licensing changes early this year. Nine months removed from its acquisition and roughly six months after these licensing changes, Broadcom can finally present the benefits of the revamped VMware offering. Tanzu and edge solutions, previously under the VMware umbrella, are also switching up their product line as separate Broadcom divisions. You can read about those changes in two articles published separately on Techzine.
Read them here:
VMware Tanzu Platform 10 wants AI apps to feel right at home
Broadcom revamps VMware offering with support for Edge AI workloads
Broadcom has long argued that it wanted to simplify, distill and modernize VMware – whatever term you may wish to use, Broadcom has quite obviously cut VMware to the bone over the past few months. Now it is ready to show what that new era of VCF looks like. Incidentally, that will include a unified SDK, as opposed to the jumble of developer toolkits that currently exist. The end result is intended to be a coherent, relatively easy-to-understand set of services aimed at sizable customers. These are organisations looking for a single platform to organize their own private cloud and demanding the same experience as on AWS, Azure or GCP. How successful the implementation will be remains to be seen. Still, the thinking behind it can be fully understood and is now finally augmented with a VCF version that reflects it.
It does appear the wait for VCF 9 will be significant. A large VMware customer told The Register that the launch of this latest version may only take place in the middle of 2025.
Also read our previous live blog on all the changes brought about by Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware: Liveblog Broadcom/VMware: Broadcom backs down from restricting Security Advisory access