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Broadcom today revealed it is adding a raft of additional capabilities to the optional portfolio of services it makes available on top of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), including a module that makes it simpler to deploy databases on top of instances of Kubernetes that are integrated with the VMware virtual machine platform.
Announced at the VMware Explore 2024 Barcelona conference, other additions include support for Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE) as a recovery target for VCF workloads and that the VMware vDefend Advanced Service for VCF now includes a generative artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that can be used to triage threats.
Finally, Broadcom is announcing support for Microsoft Azure AI Video Indexer, a service for running video and audio analysis on instances of VMware Private AI, which is based on VCF platform running on the Microsoft Azure cloud that makes use of the Microsoft Arc management framework.
Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager, VCF Division at Broadcom, said these latest editions to the Advanced Services portfolio for VCF, are part of an ongoing effort to reduce the overall level of complexity that IT organizations are required to manage when they are required to integrate multiple infrastructure technologies themselves.
It’s not clear how much traction Broadcom is gaining with VCF following its acquisition of VMware. The company has been aggressively making a case for a subscription service that provides a much wider range of capabilities at a higher cost. The overall goal is to generate more revenue for virtual storage and networking technologies that VMware developed to extend its reach beyond virtual machines. As part of the effort, Broadcom is now adding a VCF Architect certification that is designed to encourage more IT professionals to acquire VCF skills.
Each IT organization will need to decide for itself to what degree VCF augmented by various optional services makes sense for their organization. Many of them, however, have already invested in rival storage and networking services that they would have to replace to justify investing in VCF. In effect, Broadcom is making a case for deploying VCF across a hybrid cloud computing environment that will be easier to centrally manage. That approach should lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) by relying on a single integrated platform to deploy applications across multiple types of cloud computing environments.
Of course, the biggest challenge Broadcom will in many cases be simple inertia. Even if an IT organization concludes that VCF provides a better alternative, it might take them several years to make a transition.
IT teams are, of course, under pressure to reduce the cost of IT. One way to go about accomplishing that goal is to reduce the number of IT vendors engaged, which in theory should make it simpler to automate more processes. The challenge is that the initial cost of achieving that goal is often higher than many organizations can initially afford, no matter how much they might save later.