VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 isn’t just a product update; it’s a defining leap forward.
What started as a bundled stack is now a full-spectrum private cloud platform, built for traditional workloads, modern apps, and enterprise AI. With cost-saving innovations, native automation, and built-in AI support, VCF 9.0 sets a new bar for private cloud agility and scale.
​
This is the most significant release in VCF’s history, and here’s why.

For years, VMware customers juggled multiple management planes across vSphere, vSAN, NSX, Aria, and Kubernetes tooling. VCF 9.0 eliminates that sprawl by bringing everything into two unified consoles:

• VCF Operations Console: Lifecycle, identity, configuration, logging, fleet visibility
• VCF Automation Console: Self-service provisioning, IaC, cost control, Kubernetes services

Benefit: You save time, reduce human error, and boost team efficiency by managing everything—from deployment to decommission—through a single, cohesive interface.​

The energy at Dell Technologies World 2025 was electric—fitting, considering the opening keynote made one thing unmistakably clear: AI is now the world’s most powerful utility. Dell is not just embracing the AI revolution—they’re enabling it, scaling it, and humanizing it.
​
Held at what Dell calls “Dell Technologies Way”, the keynote welcomed us into a vision of interconnected innovation, where data becomes action and AI becomes accessible to all.

Dell emphasized that 75% of enterprise data will soon be created and processed outside traditional data centers. This shift makes edge computing—real-time processing at or near the source--essential for delivering low-latency, high-impact AI insights.

From smart cities to retail floors, Dell’s rugged servers and edge-optimized AI PCs are transforming how decisions are made. Lowe’s, for example, is deploying AI-infused micro data centers inside stores to power computer vision and real-time customer assistance.
​
The edge isn’t a buzzword anymore—it’s where AI lives and breathes.

As more of my customers embrace the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, the demand for robust, secure, and scalable AI infrastructure has surged. Nutanix has taken a pivotal role in addressing these needs with its GPT-in-a-Box 2.0 solution, an enterprise-ready, full-stack AI platform tailored for organizations that require secure, on-premises AI deployments. This offering streamlines AI adoption by providing a comprehensive ecosystem, optimized infrastructure, and extensive partner support, allowing businesses to deploy and manage AI applications at scale.

Nutanix’s GPT-in-a-Box simplifies the deployment, operation, and scaling of AI workloads. With its 2.0 iteration, the solution includes an integrated inference endpoint and end-to-end features, such as GPU and CPU certification, high-performance storage, Kubernetes management, and in-depth telemetry. This design allows organizations to leverage generative AI (GenAI) models like LLMs on-premises, providing control over data security and operational flexibility.
​
GPT-in-a-Box is particularly beneficial for industries with stringent data regulations, such as government and finance, where public cloud alternatives may not meet compliance requirements. By extending Nutanix’s hybrid infrastructure strengths to AI, organizations can now manage AI applications with the same control and resilience they expect from their existing IT environments.

As my customers continue to embrace hybrid cloud environments, the need for efficient and flexible cloud management solutions becomes more critical. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.2 introduces several enhancements designed to address these needs, focusing on improving lifecycle management, scalability, security, and flexibility. Let's dive into the key features and updates in VCF 5.2 and see how they can benefit your cloud strategy.

​One of the standout features of VCF 5.2 is the ability to import existing vSphere infrastructure into Cloud Foundation. This capability extends the SDDC Manager's inventory and lifecycle management to your current infrastructure, making the transition smoother and less disruptive. There are two primary use cases:

​VCF 5.2 offers a range of edge architecture options to cater to various deployment scenarios:

In the current landscape shaped by Broadcom's influence on VMware's trajectory, organizations considering staying with VMware might find it prudent to explore transitioning to a hybrid cloud setup. Opting for the right infrastructure becomes paramount to ensure optimal performance and scalability. Among the offerings in the revamped portfolio, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) emerges as a favored option, thanks to its robust software-defined data center (SDDC) capabilities.

Amid Broadcom's streamlined portfolio, featuring VMware vSphere Foundation and VMware Cloud Foundation, loyal VMware customers have a compelling incentive to opt for a dedicated solution. Combining VCF with Dell VxRail presents an attractive proposition. Not only is VxRail custom-built for VCF, but it also offers the flexibility to integrate third-party storage alongside VMware vSAN. This is important for customers who have investments that are already made in existing external storage systems or have a use case in which external storage systems are required. This combination sets itself apart with its seamless integration, streamlined management, and enhanced performance. Consequently, deploying VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail emerges as the prime selection.

I have heard many different customer issues regarding Citrix as of late. They are wondering what is happening with the direction of Citrix these days. Citrix has made some announcements and directional changes that are affecting their customers and not always in a positive way. So, I thought I would give my two cents on comparing the two platforms and, for those looking to make a move, discuss what a migration strategy should outline.

As virtualization technology, VMware Horizon and Citrix are two of the most popular solutions available on the market today. While both platforms have similar functionality, some key differences make VMware Horizon a better choice for businesses looking to streamline their virtualization processes. 

​One of the most significant differences between VMware Horizon and Citrix is their approach to VDI technology. While Citrix offers a VDI solution, VMware Horizon has developed a more cutting-edge integrated technology solution. It provides a more flexible, scalable, and secure approach to desktop virtualization, making it a superior choice for businesses that manage many virtual desktops. With Horizon, users can access their virtual desktops from any device, anywhere, and anytime, without compromising security.

Another area where VMware Horizon outperforms Citrix is in its integration capabilities. VMware has developed a robust ecosystem of solutions that can be seamlessly integrated with Horizon. These include cloud management platforms like VMware Aria Suite and VMware Cloud Director, VMware Workspace One and network virtualization solutions like NSX. These integrations enable businesses to create a more comprehensive and cohesive virtualization strategy that meets their unique needs.
​
On the other hand, Citrix relies on a more fragmented approach to integration, often requiring businesses to use multiple solutions from different vendors to achieve the same functionality. This can lead to increased complexity, cost, and potential compatibility issues.

VMware Cloud on AWS is a jointly engineered and integrated cloud offering developed by VMware and AWS. Through this hybrid-cloud service, organizations can deliver a stable and secure solution to migrate and extend their on-premises VMware vSphere-based environments to the AWS cloud running on bare metal Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) infrastructure.

VMware Cloud on AWS has several use case buckets that most customers find themselves falling into some overlap. The first of these use cases is for organizations looking to migrate their on-premises vSphere-based workloads and to extend their capacities to the cloud with the data center extension use case.

The next, is for organizations looking to modernize their recovery options, new disaster recovery implementations, or organizations looking to replace existing DR infrastructure.

The last one that I will mention, is for organizations looking to evacuate their data centers or consolidate data centers through cloud-migrations. This is great for organizations looking at data center refreshes.

VMware Cloud on AWS is delivered, sold, and supported by VMware and its partners like Sirius Computer Solutions, a Managed Service Partner. Available in many AWS Regions which can be found here and growing.

Through this offering organizations can build their hybrid solutions based on the same underlying infrastructure that runs on VMware Cloud on AWS, VMware Cloud Foundations. ​

Day 1 began with the general session, which was a lot different than the previous year where the VMware Executives laid out their vision for the partner community. This general session was focused more correctly on the audience in attendance.

Day 1 began with the general session, where VMware Executives presented to the partner community and reinforced the importance of the partner as the unsung heroes helping to drive the  VMware business and most importantly driving value for their customers.

VMware announced VMware Cloud Foundation back in the general session of VMworld 2016. Cloud Foundation is a unified platform for private and public clouds.

Let's start with defining the term "Clouds". This term has been thrown around a lot and some take this term as "In the Cloud" off premises platforms, but some use the term more all inclusive which includes both "On-Prem" and "Off-Prem" platforms. Wikipedia defines this term as "computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand".  For this blog I am using the definition of cloud as the latter. I think of cloud as all inclusive of both off and on-prem platforms for providing resources. I know some feel as though cloud was meant to replace the "on-prem" private cloud and yes, that will ultimately be the direction in years to come, but for now we live in a world of hybrid-cloud and that is what Cloud Foundation is here to assist us with.

Now that we have cleared that up, let's move on to Cloud Foundation from VMware. Cloud Foundation brings together, VMware's vision for SDDC where compute, storage, and networking services are decoupled from the underlying hardware and abstracted into software as pools of resources allowing for IT to become more flexible and agile while also allowing for better management, into an integrated stack for cloud. This is done by defining a platform common to both private and public clouds.