VMware (by Broadcom) Cloud Foundation 9.0 is now generally available! This release is a significant step forward improving the overall platform (not just single-product), with an emphasis on operations / useability / observability, performance and efficiency, and integrated tooling that securely supports modern workloads. This release reflects a unified experience across infrastructure, exceptional performance / TCO, and security / governance unlike any other platform (as we would expect from VMware!). https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/06/17/whats-new-in-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/
Unified Operations and Consumption
Operators, developers, and automation tools now work from the same policy model, API, and lifecycle framework.
- One console for patching, health checks, and compliance
- Central API with native support for Terraform, REST, and blueprints
- Mixed workload support for VMs, containers, and AI services
- Cluster-level geo-fencing and data residency tagging
- Built-in chargeback and showback tied to consumption
Platform Efficiency
NVMe Memory Tiering: Flash can now be used as a secondary memory tier, reducing reliance on DRAM while maintaining performance. Ideal for analytics-heavy and memory-bound workloads.
vSAN Global Deduplication: Block deduplication works across clusters, saving flash capacity without the usual performance hit.
Optimized Data Paths and DPU Support: East-west latency is reduced with kernel improvements and optional offload. This helps maintain responsiveness for inference pipelines and service-heavy architectures.
Infrastructure Deployment and Management
- Full-stack VCF deployment completes in hours
- Tenant and workload domain setup guided through reusable templates
- Patching, certificate rotation, and configuration are managed centrally
- AI-enhanced diagnostics highlight root causes early
- Cost tracking is tied directly to workload usage and business units
These updates simplify operations without limiting feature-set.
Integrated Security and Compliance
- Security dashboard combines live threat visibility with compliance scoring
- Always-on configuration scanning compares settings to CIS and NIST baselines
- Policy-aligned auto-remediation closes gaps where approved
- Identity federation and certificate management are embedded and automated
Security is handled as part of the platform, not bolted on after the fact.
Final Thoughts
VCF 9.0 does not try to reinvent the private cloud. It improves it with meaningful upgrades that reflect how organizations scale, secure, and govern infrastructure. If you already run VCF, the improvements are tangible. If you are evaluating it, this is the most complete and operationally sound release yet.
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About the Author: Matthew Kozloski
