Broadcom has introduced VMware Cloud Foundation 9, designed to accelerate the shift to a cohesive private cloud platform.
Broadcom has introduced VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9, the next generation of VCF designed to accelerate the shift from isolated IT infrastructures to a cohesive private cloud platform. This advancement aims to simplify the deployment, consumption, and management of secure and cost-effective private clouds, reducing customers’ costs and risks.
VMware Cloud Foundation is regarded as the first private cloud platform in the industry to combine the scale and agility of public clouds with the security, resilience, and performance of private clouds. It provides a unified cloud experience that boosts digital innovation, speeds up infrastructure modernization, and enhances cyber resiliency and platform security while keeping the total cost of ownership low.
An IDC Business Value study found that organizations using VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) built secure, agile, cost-effective private and hybrid cloud infrastructures. According to the IDC study, VCF optimizes infrastructure costs, reduces staff time, and enhances business outcomes by improving application development and allowing security teams to focus on strengthening security. Customers reported a 34% reduction in infrastructure costs, over 50% efficiency gains in infrastructure and security teams, and a 42% reduction in overall operational costs. Additionally, VM deployment was 61% faster, network capacity increased by 50%, and storage by 32%, resulting in a 564% three-year ROI and a 10-month payback period.
Krish Prasad, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the VCF Division at Broadcom, stated that customers are transitioning from siloed architectures to modern private cloud platforms to break down infrastructure silos, regain control of public cloud sprawl, and seize AI opportunities within enterprises. VMware Cloud Foundation 9 is set to redefine the private cloud landscape by delivering a modern, integrated platform that unifies operations and automation, enabling businesses to become more innovative, efficient, resilient, and secure.
Simplifying Deployment and Operations of Modern Infrastructure
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 modernizes infrastructure by unifying and automating operations. It helps customers meet modern application demands and integrate advanced VMware capabilities into their private cloud platforms. Highlights include:
- Unified Operations and Automation: The new release will feature a self-service cloud portal for service provisioning and reduce the number of management consoles from over a dozen to a single console each for operations and automation.
- Expanded VCF Import: VCF Import simplifies the transition to a modern infrastructure by reducing the complexity and downtime of migrating existing environments into the VCF platform. VMware Cloud Foundation 9 will support importing VMware NSX, VMware vDefend, VMware Avi Load Balancer, and more complex storage topologies into existing VCF environments.
- Advanced Memory Tiering with NVMe: This will significantly boost data-intensive applications, such as AI, databases, and real-time analytics, by reducing latency and increasing data throughput through NVMe-based memory tiering.
Frictionless Resource Consumption
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 enables seamless deployment of any VM-based or containerized application by offering easy-to-consume infrastructure services. Those services include:
- Integrated VCF Multi-Tenancy: VCF 9 incorporates multi-tenant capabilities, previously available only through VMware Cloud Director, directly into the VCF platform. This allows enterprise IT teams to support various organizations, business groups, or development teams on shared infrastructure while permitting application owners to segment their infrastructure based on specific access, workload management, security, and privacy requirements.
- Native VPC Deployment: Introducing native VPCs as part of the networking-as-a-service experience enhances developer productivity, reduces IT’s operational burden, and accelerates workload and application provisioning.
- Accelerated Adoption of VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA: For enterprises wanting to leverage AI while maintaining private cloud benefits, VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA provides a comprehensive solution for securely deploying, managing, and scaling AI-driven applications on VCF-based private clouds. Ensuring Uninterrupted Operations, Cyber Resilience, and Compliance
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 will enhance fleet-level operations and centralized security and compliance management, providing uninterrupted operations and proactive risk mitigation.
VCF 9 offers native capabilities for Security Operations (SecOps) to enhance security while maintaining operational efficiency across global VCF deployments. A centralized hub provides timely and accurate security data, and a comprehensive security view offers visibility into various security aspects. Configuration drift detection will help identify and address inconsistencies in system configurations across the VCF fleet.
vSAN remote snapshot replication will improve data resilience by offering a deep history of immutable snapshots, reducing downtime through enterprise-grade disaster recovery orchestration, and simplifying management with a unified appliance.
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 expands vDefend capabilities to include distributed firewall rule impact analysis, enhanced distributed intrusion detection and prevention (IDPS), rapid threat assessment, and on-premises malware prevention for regulated environments. Project Cypress introduces GenAI-based intelligent assistance to help IT security teams proactively address sophisticated threat campaigns.
VCF 9 Advanced Services
Broadcom was not finished with the enhancement to VCF 9. They also launched VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Advanced Services, a catalog of ready-to-deploy solutions to accelerate innovation within private cloud environments. These solutions come with the same tools and technologies available in public clouds. Each solution is thoroughly vetted by Broadcom, with prescriptive architectural guidance to expedite deployment and time to value.
Broadcom’s Modernization For Private Cloud Investment
Recognizing the complexity of implementing a private cloud, Broadcom is heavily investing in initiatives to guide and support customers throughout their cloud journey. The initiatives include:
- Private Cloud Maturity Model: This model is designed to help customers assess their private and hybrid cloud capabilities across operations, processes, and technology. It includes a Private Cloud Framework, an assessment that results in a Private Cloud Maturity Index Score, and prescriptive guidance from Broadcom in place to help customers plan their ideal private cloud.
- Jumpstart Program: The Jumpstart Program offers workshops for customers to help align their private cloud goals with their current cloud maturity level. These workshops evaluate current architectures against private cloud objectives and provide tailored adoption plans to achieve those goals. With the Private Cloud Maturity Model assessment, customers can maximize their technology investments more quickly by identifying areas for improvement and developing actionable recommendations.
- New VMware Cloud Foundation Certification: Broadcom’s new VMware Cloud Foundation certification exam allows IT teams to acquire in-demand skills aligned with current technology trends. This certification helps teams transition to private clouds, reduce cloud costs, optimize resource usage, and maximize their VMware Cloud Foundation investment.
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