There has been considerable discussion about when VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 will be released and what new features it will include. Well, wait no more as it’s here. It was highly anticipated due to its promise to bring about a significant change, rather than just another release, and I think it fits the brief.
vExperts received early access to what’s coming. And there’s plenty to talk about – particularly if you’re looking to simplify cloud operations, boost efficiency, and modernise your infrastructure at scale.
In this post, I’ll summarise the key updates in VCF 9.0 that stood out to me, which I hope will provide enough information for you to select the updates you would like to explore in more detail. Roger did say that he hopes to have more sessions in the coming weeks to dive deeper into each of these, so I’ll look forward to attending those sessions and bringing you that detail.
A truly unified user experience
VMware Cloud Foundation has been around for several years now and has powered both customer-managed and provider-managed deployments during that time. However, it didn’t feel like a truly integrated environment, and it was a work in progress to consolidate the “technical zoo of different products” (as Sabina Anja calls it 😊).
VCF 9.0 is the result of those efforts and is built around the idea of delivering a true private cloud experience, offering a single interface for both operations and consumption. It’s one interface if you’re dealing with VMs, Kubernetes workloads, or Private AI use cases; the platform now enables seamless management across all of them.
Innovation and Efficiency in the Core Platform
There are several improvements of note that have been made to the core infrastructure that VMware promises efficiency gains in:
- vMotion for AI workloads
AI workloads can now benefit from optimised vGPU vMotion, with zero downtime. - Memory Tiering with NVMe
These enhancements improve throughput and cost efficiency, with Broadcom estimating a 38% reduction in memory/server TCO. - vSAN ESA with Global Deduplication
This feature enables intelligent deduplication across the stack, potentially saving customers millions. According to Broadcom, this could result in a $10 million savings over three years compared to traditional storage. - Enhanced Data Path with NSX
There are up to three times switching performance gains, improved CPU usage, and reduced latency, which are critical for data-heavy applications.
As always, there are some considerations, some of which are outlined at the bottom right of the included slide.
Secure and Resilient Infrastructure by default
VCF 9.0 features security and resilience as embedded components, providing comprehensive coverage at every layer.
- Security Operations Dashboard provides a unified pane of glass for tracking compliance and detecting vulnerabilities. It constantly tracks and updates CVE lists, which means a speedy response to any compliance issues.
- Configuration Compliance and Monitoring helps enforce a consistent state across your environment. It proactively monitors and automatically detects any deviations from the desired state, alerting the relevant teams accordingly.
- Application Insights and Troubleshooting provide insights that help with guided and automated troubleshooting, making applications more resilient in the face of failure and enabling faster recovery.
Simplified Operations
The VCF Operations Console and the new installer introduce a guided, simplified deployment experience. So much so that there were a couple of customer quotes shown, and here’s the one that really shows what a difference the improvements have made:
“Once all information was fed into the UI, the deployment was seamless and quite slick. Enabling other components like VCF, VC, and NSX for SSO was very intuitive and simple.”
Fear not, the spreadsheet method and automation remain, but the wizard-based approach offers an option for those who prefer a manual and more straightforward approach.
Other key updates and services of note include:
- An Easy VPC Experience, which provides automation around easy deployment and isolation via native multi-tenancy and cloud-type capabilities
- Cost, chargeback, and showback visibility provide charges and budget compliance, which can be displayed on a departmental basis – something that we know every customer has requested in the past.
Upgrade Considerations
So, should one upgrade to it straight away? Well, VMware would say yes, and if you’re already on VCF 5.x with updated components (such as vSphere, vSAN, Aria 8.x, and NSX 4.x), you’re good to go. But anything earlier than that (especially 3.x and early 4.x) will require an upgrade path to reach VCF 9.0.
Also note:
- Some legacy Intel processor families like Broadwell, Kabylake, and Skylake are no longer supported.
- Dell VxRail brownfield environments require caution.
- vCloud Director isn’t supported in VCF 9.0.
I am including the “Ecosystem Checklist” for reference, as it also includes a few other items.
Seriously speaking, like most of you, I’d wait a little before committing to the upgrade. As always, time spent on extensive planning pays dividends in terms of the success of an upgrade.
Final Thoughts
What’s clear to me is that it’s not just a cosmetic refresh. From improved TCO and deeper AI integrations to intuitive cloud operations and security-by-default, VCF 9.0 feels like it has matured into a genuine private cloud platform rather than just a bundled stack. There are many things to discuss, and I couldn’t include them all in this post, but keep tuned in as more will come in the near future – I am sure!
There’s always room for improvement – say, for newer features like multi-tenancy – but this release lays a solid foundation (no pun intended) for what comes next and for that reason, VCF 9.0 is definitely worth evaluating.
Leave A Comment