Broadcom today extended VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to provide templates that promise to make it simpler for DevOps teams to provide self-service catalogs to developers building applications on top of the private cloud based on an integrated compute, storage and networking platform.
In addition, Version 5.2 of VCF adds support for live patching of the various components, an ability to independently upgrade any Kubernetes cluster that is connected to the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid service, an instance of VCF optimized to be deployed in an edge computing environment. These tools simplify migrations from standalone VMware platforms such as vSAN and support for dual data processing units (DPUs) to increase resiliency.
At the same time, Broadcom announced that VMware vSphere is being superseded by VMware vSphere Foundation, an update that adds many of the same capabilities to a platform designed to deploy self-service capabilities along with support for live patching
VCF is at the core of an ongoing effort originally launched by VMware, prior to being acquired by Broadcom, that made it simpler to acquire, install, and manage the entire stack of VMware software. VMware vSphere Foundation, in contrast, provides a less comprehensive suite of software for creating a virtual IT environment.
Prashanth Shenoy, vice president of product marketing for the VCF Division of Broadcom, said VCF consolidates 168 products, bundles and editions that were previously offered via more than 9,000 configurations into a subscription service that reduces total cost of ownership by 40% to 50% when compared to a public cloud or a three-tier infrastructure platform. The prices of VCF have been cut in half to make that approach more attractive to customers, noted Shenoy.
Broadcom is looking to counter a perception that the company raised pricing when it eliminated perpetual licenses for VMware software. In reality, VMware was the last major provider of software to still make a perpetual license available, so in that context, the company is now in line with every other provider of software, said Shenoy.
In addition, pricing for VMware software is now more consistent across multiple platforms, he added. Previously, VMware pricing tended to vary widely depending on what platform it was running on, noted Shenoy. Now organizations can more easily port licenses across multiple platforms as they best see fit, he added.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide platform engineers and application developers with a frictionless experience, said Shenoy.
It’s not clear how many organizations today are running VCF compared to VMware vSphere, but regardless of the platform selected Broadcom continues to invest in research and development. Broadcom is reinvesting 15% of the $34 billion in revenue that VMware generated last year in research and development, said Shenoy.
Each organization will need to determine for itself to what degree to continue to rely on the VMware portfolio, but migrating away from any platform is always an expensive proposition. The issue IT teams need to determine is to what degree to make that transition versus alternatively opting to simply build new applications on a rival platform. Regardless of approach, the total cost of IT tends to increase the more platforms an organization needs to support.
