The News: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 offers enhancements that simplify operations, boost innovation, and strengthen security in private cloud environments. It features unified management, streamlined VCF migration, and advanced memory tiering with NVMe for better performance. The platform also integrates multi-tenancy, supports AI adoption, and enhances security with unified management and advanced threat prevention. Additionally, Broadcom’s investments in training and support underline a commitment to helping organizations accelerate their digital transformation with VMware Cloud Foundation 9.
VMware Cloud Foundation 9: Streamlined Management, Performance, and Security for Modern Cloud Transformation
Analyst Take: Since Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, much of the conversation has centered on concerns about price increases and shifts in go-to-market (GTM) strategies. This focus on financial and operational aspects has overshadowed discussions about VMware’s core product innovation, raising questions about the long-term impact on its technology portfolio. What has been less discussed is how VMware intends to maintain or enhance its technical leadership amid these changes.
The upcoming release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 could serve as a critical indicator of VMware’s commitment to innovation under Broadcom’s ownership. This release will be closely watched to see if it signals continued investment in the technological evolution of VMware’s offerings, countering the narrative that the acquisition might sideline product development in favor of commercial gains.
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 introduces a range of features aimed at simplifying operations, enhancing performance, and improving security in private cloud environments. Key enhancements include the consolidation of management consoles, expanded import capabilities for VMware environments, advanced memory tiering with NVMe for data-intensive applications, and integrated multi-tenancy and native VPC deployment for easier infrastructure management. Additionally, the platform accelerates AI adoption with VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA, and strengthens security through centralized management and advanced threat prevention. The introduction of ready-to-deploy Advanced Services further enables organizations to innovate rapidly.
Broadcom demonstrates its commitment to customer success with investments in a Private Cloud Maturity Model, a Jumpstart Program, and new certifications and training. These initiatives are designed to guide organizations through their cloud journeys, helping them assess and enhance their private and hybrid cloud capabilities. VMware Cloud Foundation 9 stands out as a leading private cloud platform, empowering organizations to accelerate digital transformation by modernizing infrastructure and meeting the demands of modern applications with advanced technologies and robust security measures.
Key Takeaways:
- Unified Operations and Automation: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 significantly streamlines management by reducing the number of required consoles from over a dozen to just two: one for operations and one for automation. This consolidation is achieved through a new self-service cloud portal and integrated workflows, simplifying the transition between tasks. Additionally, enhanced insights and analytics enable more proactive management.
- Enhanced VCF Import: The VCF Import feature has been expanded to include the ability to import VMware NSX, VMware vDefend, VMware Avi Load Balancer, and more complex storage topologies into existing VCF environments. This simplifies migration and reduces downtime associated with manual processes. A new intuitive user interface further streamlines management and deployment.
- Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe: This new capability significantly enhances the performance of data-intensive applications, such as AI, databases, and real-time analytics. By utilizing NVMe-based storage for frequently accessed data, VMware Cloud Foundation 9 reduces latency and accelerates data throughput. This is particularly crucial for AI workloads that involve large datasets and complex models, as it enables faster training and inference times.
- Delivering a Cloud Experience: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 exposes easy-to-consume infrastructure services that enable developers and application owners to deploy any application (VM or containerized) without friction.
- Integrated VCF Multi-Tenancy: Previously provided separately by VMware Cloud Director, multi-tenancy capabilities are now integrated into VCF. This allows enterprise IT teams to support different organizations, business groups, or development teams on the same shared infrastructure while providing application owners and development teams with the ability to segment their infrastructure based on their specific requirements for access, workload management, security, and privacy.
- Native VPC Deployment: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 introduces a new networking-as-a-service experience for VCF customers. Native VPCs simplify networking by enabling users to access self-service isolated connectivity without the complexities of VLANs and allow for seamless integration with existing networks. Advanced Services such as VMware vDefend and VMware Avi Load Balancer can be further enhanced with native VPCs to enable security groups and one-click deployment of load balancing.
- Accelerated AI Adoption: VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA offers a comprehensive solution for enterprises looking to harness the power of AI while maintaining the benefits of a private cloud. With VMware Cloud Foundation 9, Broadcom is delivering new capabilities that further simplify GenAI deployments, including vGPU profile visibility, GPU reservations, data indexing and retrieval services, and an AI agent builder service.
- Enhanced Security and Compliance: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 enables fleet-level operations and centralized security and compliance management to deliver uninterrupted operations and more proactive risk mitigation.
- Unified VCF Security Management: Native capabilities for Security Operations (SecOps) in VCF allow customers to enhance overall security posture while maintaining operational efficiency. A centralized information hub provides timely and accurate security data, and a new comprehensive security view offers visibility into multiple facets of security. Configuration drift detection helps proactively identify inconsistencies in system configurations across an entire VCF fleet.
- Native vSAN-to-vSAN Data Protection with Deep Snapshots: vSAN remote snapshot replication strengthens data resilience with a deep history of immutable snapshots, reduces downtime with enterprise-grade DR orchestration, and simplifies management with a unified appliance. It also supports vSAN disaggregated storage for increased scalability and storage efficiency.
- Advanced Cyber Threat Prevention: vDefend expands to deliver new capabilities such as distributed firewall rule impact analysis, distributed intrusion detection and prevention (IDPS) enhancements, rapid threat assessment, and on-premises malware prevention. Project Cypress leverages GenAI to provide intelligent assistance to IT security teams, helping them proactively triage sophisticated threat campaigns and recommend remediation options.
- VMware Cloud Foundation Advanced Services: Broadcom is introducing a robust catalog of ready-to-deploy solutions, enabling customers to accelerate innovation in their private cloud environments. These VCF Advanced Services offer a diverse library of private cloud solutions similar to what enterprises expect in the public cloud, allowing them to access the tools and technologies needed to address a variety of use cases and business opportunities.
- Broadcom’s Commitment: Broadcom is investing in a Private Cloud Maturity Model, Jumpstart Program, certification, and training to guide and support customers through their cloud journey. The Private Cloud Maturity Model helps customers assess their private and hybrid cloud capabilities and provides prescriptive guidance. The Jumpstart Program offers workshops to help customers review their private cloud goals and develop tailored adoption plans. Broadcom is also introducing a new VMware Cloud Foundation certification exam and providing free digital learning and instructor-led training to upskill and reskill teams.
Overall Assessment
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 represents a significant advancement in modernizing infrastructure. By simplifying operations, enhancing capabilities, and providing a robust cloud experience, VMware is empowering organizations to accelerate their digital transformation and meet the evolving demands of modern applications. The integration of advanced technologies like AI and the focus on security and compliance further solidify VCF’s position as a leading private cloud platform.
Since acquiring CA Technologies, Broadcom has defied expectations by investing in and enhancing the mainframe software portfolio, rather than merely extracting value from existing assets as many had predicted, and we can draw the same parallels here. In the mainframe space, Broadcom’s approach has included modernizing core offerings and introducing new features to address evolving customer needs, demonstrating a long-term commitment to the mainframe market.
This strategy provides a relevant comparison to Broadcom’s recent acquisition of VMware. While concerns about potential price hikes and changes in go-to-market strategies have dominated discussions, Broadcom’s track record with CA suggests that VMware may also see continued investment in its core products. The focus could shift from short-term gains to sustained innovation, with VMware potentially benefiting from similar long-term strategic investments.
Read more on Broadcom’s website.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
At The Futurum Group, Paul Nashawaty, Practice Leader and Lead Principal Analyst, specializes in application modernization across build, release and operations. With a wealth of expertise in digital transformation initiatives spanning front-end and back-end systems, he also possesses comprehensive knowledge of the underlying infrastructure ecosystem crucial for supporting modernization endeavors. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a proven track record in implementing effective go-to-market strategies, including the identification of new market channels, the growth and cultivation of partner ecosystems, and the successful execution of strategic plans resulting in positive business outcomes for his clients.
Regarded as a luminary at the intersection of technology and business transformation, Steven Dickens is the Vice President and Practice Leader for Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, and Operations at The Futurum Group. With a distinguished track record as a Forbes contributor and a ranking among the Top 10 Analysts by ARInsights, Steven's unique vantage point enables him to chart the nexus between emergent technologies and disruptive innovation, offering unparalleled insights for global enterprises.
Steven's expertise spans a broad spectrum of technologies that drive modern enterprises. Notable among these are open source, hybrid cloud, mission-critical infrastructure, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and FinTech innovation. His work is foundational in aligning the strategic imperatives of C-suite executives with the practical needs of end users and technology practitioners, serving as a catalyst for optimizing the return on technology investments.
Over the years, Steven has been an integral part of industry behemoths including Broadcom, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and IBM. His exceptional ability to pioneer multi-hundred-million-dollar products and to lead global sales teams with revenues in the same echelon has consistently demonstrated his capability for high-impact leadership.
Steven serves as a thought leader in various technology consortiums. He was a founding board member and former Chairperson of the Open Mainframe Project, under the aegis of the Linux Foundation. His role as a Board Advisor continues to shape the advocacy for open source implementations of mainframe technologies.
