Two years into Broadcom ownership, VMware is settling into its new normal — with the VMware Explore event bringing forth the first reported results on executing on a seemingly harsh but clearly stated strategy. If you are a Global 2000 company, VMware wants your business — from the rest, not so much. On the tech front, in 2024, VMware announced that its future was private cloud and that it would be focused on improving the VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF) package value through inter-product integrations. VMware has positioned VCF 9.0 highly, and VMware Explore 2025 is the first major conference to present those developments. VMware came powered with numbers of “committed” customers and comments about $30 billion VCF total contract value across a three-year period, with 80 million cores of VCF entitlements. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan rightly acknowledged that the next challenge is implementing what was sold fast enough. VMware demonstrated the following:
VCF 9.0 is here, now with Kubernetes and Data Services capabilities baked in. Broadcom announced VCF 9.0 last year at Explore, and the platform update went live in June of 2025. VMware detailed its functionality at VMware Explore 2025, which unifies the experience across compute, storage, networking, and security. vSphere Kubernetes Service, earlier part of Tanzu’s business, is now a part of the VCF package, as well as the ability to build data services using enterprise-vetted versions of common database software. Kubernetes adoption and data services enablement may be confusing at first (especially the Supervisor controller), but for the most part, VCF 9 represents a more abstracted infrastructure stack designed to operate much like the public cloud for developers and business units that consume the underlying services.
VMware is looking to fast-track AI workloads through the Canonical partnership. Broadcom expanded its partnership with Canonical, offering Ubuntu Pro with enterprise support as well as Chiseled Ubuntu to address both enterprise Linux and container needs in VCF. Part of the deal is expedited support and security patch management. VMware will also benefit from prepackaged drivers for vGPUs, allowing for faster AI infrastructure adoption, and a well-established ecosystem of AI workload support due to Canonical’s tight relationship with NVIDIA. The goal is to optimize VCF for modern container and AI workloads, capitalizing on Ubuntu’s success and addressing common challenges for developers and IT teams. The side benefit is a shot across the bow for Red Hat, which changed its enterprise licensing and OS packaging model in 2023, causing many vendors to compete for the role of the de facto enterprise Linux distributor.
Private AI capabilities are being added on to VCF. This is a significant announcement. VMware plans to embed Private AI as a standard no-additional-cost component of VCF subscription. This will support next-generation GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD. It is aimed at improving GPU utilization and simplifying management.
Adoption incentives are a lure for future value. Broadcom has clearly stated that its future success depends on how well customers adopt the VCF package. As a result, the execs are tasked with driving programs for higher adoption. One notable incentive for customers is complimentary pro services worth 10% of a VCF license. Broadcom will seed that money into its partner network as its commitment to both partner success and customer success.
Pricing And Packaging Changes Loom Over The Announcements
VMware has a clear and simple message: “Meet with your rep and go through your situation.” VMware’s new pricing and packaging strategy has major implications for its clients. VMware’s strategy pushes them to either go all in or look elsewhere — for clients and partners alike.
Interestingly, during the mainstage presentation, VMware spotlighted a smaller company, Grinnell Mutual. The team spoke candidly about Grinnell Mutual’s pricing journey, which worked out in its favor when it chose to fully commit to VMware. The VMware team runs pricing models to help clients understand the financial impact and explore scenarios. It even suggests ways to replace competitors to justify the price increases and provide exportable materials for C-level execs. VMware clients report delayed responses, however, even when proactively seeking clarity, noting that responses are only timely when they’re close to a renewal date. Is this due to limited resources at a newly slimmed organization? Or is it a sales tactic to give clients no other option but to renew with short timelines?
Answers To Your (And Our) Big Questions
What about its partner program? VMware significantly shrunk its reseller and implementation partner network, limiting the availability of certified partners for clients to engage with. Now it is mandating that these partners develop deep technical knowledge and presale and implementation capabilities. It has raised the bar on commitment and training to be a partner while incentivizing those partners to deepen usage of the full VCF package to make for easier renewals. Customers still find it challenging to find the right partner to engage with.
What remains of Tanzu? Cloud Foundry app/dev services remain in the Tanzu business unit — positioned as Cloud Run/PaaS for private cloud (with multicloud support if requested) — and are now branded as Tanzu Platform, layered atop VCF. Tanzu also launched Tanzu Data Intelligence, combining Snowflake-like and data lakehouse capabilities for private cloud. Both are sold separately and target existing VCF customers. A key demo showed integration via MCP with IDEs to ingest code for modernization opportunities — first announced in June. Tanzu Spring now includes Spring AI, a vendor-neutral LLM interface (akin to Amazon Bedrock but BYOAI), and introduces AI governance via quotas and webhooks. A new AI starter kit aims to simplify AI-infused app development for Tanzu Platform users. Spring One was folded into Explore this year. Despite Spring’s strong enterprise Java following, it was largely overshadowed by VCF in the keynotes.
What about CloudHealth? CloudHealth is the last module the Tanzu business unit delivers (exclusively sold through Arrow Electronics). Much of its product development focused on updates to modernize the UI, NLP capabilities, and delivering some MSP-focused features for when the solution is white-labeled. This remains the odd duck in VMware’s portfolio. It prompts the question of whether this product is biding its time for divestiture down the road or if new features will pivot to support the private AI or shift-left vision to solve for a small piece of the dev/ops friction.
Tech Leaders Have A Big Fish To Fry
At the end of the day, VMware customers face a choice. Go all in and face steep price hikes, or work on a few/several parallel arduous migrations. And even if you decide to go, will your employees stay? VMware love runs deep among the sysadmins who built their career around these products, and the proposed “all-in” model only increases their remit in the organization. If you opt out, they might opt in at a company that also opted in.
For customers that go all in, the three big questions are:
Which products in the VCF package are essential to justify the package?
If you decide to use all products, the question is: Can you do so, and how easily?
If you sign up now, do you foresee renewing next time around?
If you’re a Forrester client, request an inquiry or guidance session with us to review your current state, the future, and your overall VMware strategy.
