At VMware Explore, Broadcom announced that VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) will soon be “AI native.”
The update shows Broadcom wants to keep pace with the industry’s rush into large language models (LLMs). Yet, the announcement came while VMware still faces criticism after its 2023 acquisition.
Since the takeover, Broadcom has ended VMware’s free tier and pushed harder on subscriptions. Several lawsuits over old perpetual licenses also surfaced. These moves caused frustration, driving some customers toward rivals like Nutanix, SUSE, and IBM.
Still, many companies remain tied to VMware. Their systems are complex, and moving workloads elsewhere is expensive and risky. For most, it’s safer to stay than migrate.
AI Additions to VMware
Broadcom’s first step is not a full rebuild. Instead, it wants to make AI deployment easier inside existing VMware setups.
From next year, VCF 9 subscribers will gain access to VMware Private AI Services, which will include:
- A store for AI models, including smaller open-source ones
- Indexing and vector databases
- A framework to build agents
- An API gateway for model-to-model communication
Broadcom argued that AI will soon be part of every enterprise platform. So, it says, VMware must include AI features. Still, the new tools are more a signal of intent than a breakthrough.
Other updates include changes to the VMware Tanzu Platform, such as easier MCP server publishing and a new Tanzu Data Intelligence lakehouse.
A quick win is Intelligent Assist for VCF, a chatbot linked to VMware’s knowledge base. It can handle common issues and delay the need for human support.
The Bigger Picture
Containers once seemed ready to replace virtualization. Cloud services were also predicted to end on-premises databases. Neither shift wiped out the old tech.
The same is true here. VMware remains critical because enterprises rely on legacy systems built on it.
Broadcom may talk up AI, but its steady income still depends on customers locked into its platform.
Resources:
https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/
https://knowledgenexuses.com/
