Broadcom today at the VMware Explore 2025 conference unfurled a set of developer services for the instance of Kubernetes it has embedded into its VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform that includes the Argo continuous delivery (CD) platform.

At the same time, Broadcom expanded its alliance with Canonical to include enterprise-grade support for instances of VCF running on top of the Ubuntu OS platform.

The instance of Kubernetes that is embedded into VCF will also now support Chiseled Ubuntu containers, which minimize footprints by removing unnecessary packages, utilities, and libraries to enable faster download times, reduced storage costs, and faster startup.

Finally, Broadcom is working with Canonical to enable faster deployments for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads using precompiled drivers for graphical processor units (GPUs) to both consume infrastructure more efficiently and reduce dependencies on external repositories to download drivers.

Broadcom, in the wake of acquiring VMware, has shifted its platform strategy to place more emphasis on running containerized applications on an instance of Kubernetes that is embedded in VCF. The VMware Tanzu platform, in contrast, is now based on an instance of the Cloud Foundry platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environment rather than an instance of Kubernetes.

In furtherance of that strategy, Broadcom is now adding a set of developer services to vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) that, in addition to Argo, add support for the Istio service mesh, Postgres and MySQL database and, via a VCF Advanced Cyber Compliance service add-on, support for hardened containers.

Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager for the VCF division of Broadcom, said developer services will make it possible for organizations that have adopted VCF to more easily support application developers without needing to set up separate teams for managing virtual machine and container environments. As Kubernetes and containers become more widely deployed, there is a clear need for operational efficiencies that also address compliance and security concerns, he added.

IT teams will be able to use best GitOps practices using Argo CD, while still being able to apply the controls that IT teams require to centrally manage IT infrastructure. Broadcom is also previewing access to a technical preview of an artificial intelligence (AI) agent it has trained to automate IT operations tasks and workflows.

In general, Broadcom is clearly making an effort to unify DevOps workflows and IT infrastructure management that within many enterprise IT organizations are typically managed by administrators rather than software engineers. That effort aligns with the rise of platform engineering as a methodology for managing application environments at scale that Broadcom is positioning VCF to address.

It’s not clear to what degree enterprise IT organizations are standardizing on VCF but for its second fiscal quarter Broadcom reported $6.6 billion in infrastructure software revenues, up 25% year over year. Third-quarter fiscal 2025 infrastructure software revenues projected at $6.7 billion, representing a 16% year-over-year increase. Broadcom also announced today that Walmart has agreed to standardize the management of virtual infrastructure on VCF, including providing its developers with access to Kubernetes clusters via VKS.

Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, said those results show that despite recent controversies involving changes to the VMware licensing program, most customers are continuing to rely on VMware to manage their IT environments. While there may have been some defections, even many smaller organizations are opting to stay with VMware, he added.

It may be a while before IT organizations unify the management of IT environments. Many DevOps teams were created to provide a more agile approach to building and deploying applications that didn’t rely on a highly centralized IT team. However, many of those same DevOps teams are now spending more time managing IT infrastructure than they are writing code. As such, there is now a clear need to strike a balance between DevOps freedom and the need to optimally manage IT infrastructure.