VMware is discontinuing sales of its distributed firewall for SmartNICs. The virtualization specialist had intended to shift networking and security tasks from the server processor to specialized network cards, but customers showed little interest in the technology.
This is evident from remarks made by Umesh Mahajan, vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Application Networking and Security division, during VMware Explore. According to The Register, Mahajan acknowledged there that VMware has withdrawn from this segment of the SmartNIC market. “Customers kept talking, but not buying,” he said, describing customer interest.
Just a few years ago, VMware had actually made a strong push into SmartNICs, also known as Data Processing Units (DPUs). These network cards have their own processor, so networking, security, and other infrastructure tasks don’t have to run on the server’s main CPU.
In 2022, VMware announced DPU-based Acceleration for NSX as an offshoot of Project Monterey. At the time, the company stated that moving NSX networking and security services to a DPU would free up server capacity for applications while simultaneously improving network performance and security. The initial implementation supported SmartNICs from Nvidia and AMD Pensando.
In doing so, VMware was essentially attempting to bring an approach from hyperscale cloud environments to private clouds. Major cloud providers use such specialized network hardware to decouple infrastructure tasks from the processors on which customer workloads run.
Demand has lagged
That approach proved less popular among VMware customers. Mahajan says that VMware got its software working on AMD and Nvidia SmartNICs, but that support for Intel hardware presented more challenges. The development required microcode-level work, among other things. At the same time, traditional network cards became faster, reducing SmartNICs’ advantage for this application, according to The Register.
Signs of this shift had already emerged earlier. In the release notes for NSX 4.2.3 from July 2025, the firewall engine on the DPU was already marked as deprecated. It was thus already clear at that time that VMware did not intend to invest further in this specific application of DPUs.
SmartNIC remains part of VMware
However, VMware is not completely abandoning SmartNICs. The Distributed Services Engine, which allows VMware Cloud Foundation to offload infrastructure tasks to a DPU, remains part of the platform and is supported. VMware Cloud Foundation 9 now serves as the central infrastructure layer upon which Broadcom is building its private cloud strategy.
VMware is also working on another form of direct offloading for Nvidia ConnectX-7 network hardware. This accelerates network traffic without using the Distributed Services Engine.
The change in direction therefore primarily concerns the distributed firewall that runs directly on the DPU. The broader capability to use specialized network hardware in VMware Cloud Foundation remains in place.