Are you planning to attend VMware Explore 2024 in Barcelona and wondering what you might expect? Having recently returned from VMware Explore in Las Vegas, we thought you might like to know how we found this first large scale gathering of VMware customers and partners from around the world since VMware was acquired by Broadcom. In this blog you’ll find a number of key takeaways from the event and, with our own experiences and that of our customers in mind, some of our own reflections on what we saw and heard.
VMware by Broadcom – where simplicity rules
Right from the offset, Hock Tan, CEO, delivered a keynote centred around a strong and very clear message – VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is and will remain the flagship product. Underpinning and reinforcing this strategy, the event was not going to be about announcing bright new shiny things, it was about providing the functionality that customers need to deliver private cloud in their own data centres. What may have been previously enabled through different products and services developed to independent timelines, now fit to a single architecture which can be deployed and adopted incrementally to a customer’s own timeline and priorities.
The core services, made up of traditional VMware strengths – compute, storage, networking security and management – provide pathways into container services, data services and private AI. Automation, scripting and integration to DevOps all sit alongside and are configurable for self-service, which in turn supports cost allocation and billing. Templates and best practices help to standardise and accelerate adoption.
There is far more to be found when digging below the surface, but the message is clear. VMware has moved beyond the notion that private cloud was just vSphere with automation and self-service. To truly compete with public cloud requires access to the adjacent services equivalent and competitive to those offered by the hyperscalers.
Private AI is the other area worth a quick mention. While many customers are exploring various AI concepts and models, carrying out multiple pilots on a hyperscaler means paying consumption costs for every trial, driving up costs. With private AI on VCF, once the GPU and licensing are deployed, the costs of subsequent runs reduce massively allowing for wider exploration and higher risk concepts to be developed further.
Driving full value from this integrated and feature-rich platform will require wider skills and focus, not just at the point of purchase and deployment, but over the full lifecycle. The need for a path to support these needs has led to Broadcom extending its partner programs to include recognition of the highest capability services partners. The introduction of Expert and Expert Plus certifications sets a high bar based on demonstrated skills in the delivery of VMware Cloud Foundation and recognises that, in many cases, the traditional license reseller network does not have the breadth of advanced capabilities necessary to support customers in delivering expected outcomes.
The period since the acquisition has undoubtedly been one of uncertainty for many customers. Whether it be product availability changing at short notice, unclear benefits of new features, or a deep-seated concern over the potential for increased pricing, there are few who won’t have had a cause to lean into their reseller, services partner or Broadcom Account Manager to clarify understanding. While Explore 2024 won’t yet have addressed all these concerns, Broadcom has begun to provide a clarity of direction and, through recent actions and delivery, demonstrated its commitment to deliver on it.
For more information and to find VMware services partners on the Broadcom Expert Partner Program visit https://expert.broadcom.com/?expertise=VMware+Cloud+Foundation+%28VCF%29
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