VMware Explore 2026 begins on August 31, which means it is just days away. The annual cloud and virtualization conference is a major checkpoint for VMware’s enterprise strategy and this year’s event will undoubtedly focus on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and where it is headed. 

Geared Towards AI Delivery

Nearly every IT conference today is going to at least somewhat feature AI, and VMware Explore will be no exception. Broadcom will be presenting VCF’s roadmap that is centered on becoming the most cost-effective and secure platform for production AI. Beginning with VCF 9.1, AI is no longer treated as a separate, specialized environment that requires its own infrastructure stack. Instead, AI becomes another workload running natively on VCF. In turn, it benefits from the same lifecycle management, security posture, automation framework, and operational tooling that enterprises already rely on for their mission-critical applications. The following examples highlight how AI workloads can leverage the new VCF:

• AI workloads can run directly on VCF, without needing separate clusters or extra AI platforms.
• Administrators can now manage AI infrastructure with the same tools and processes used for VMs, containers, and Kubernetes.
• Lower cost per workload is achieved through memory tiering, denser consolidation, and optimized GPU scheduling.
• Lower cost per workload is achieved through memory tiering, denser consolidation, and optimized GPU scheduling.
• Stronger governance and security ensure AI workloads inherit VCF’s compliance, patching cadence, and isolation capabilities.

To put it simply, VCF is becoming an AI-ready private cloud, where modern applications and AI workloads coexist under a single operational model. 

Automation, Monitoring and Value

VCF isn’t about just providing core infrastructure anymore. The new VCF includes a broad set of built-in capabilities designed to simplify your expansive IT operations, automate lifecycle management, and enhance cloud/virtualization visibility. That includes features such as centralized lifecycle management, automated patching and upgrades, policy-based operations, and integrated monitoring. 

VCF 9 also gives admins better visibility into system health, capacity, performance, and possible issues before users are affected. Built-in logging and monitoring help teams find problems faster and keep services running smoothly. 

Organizations can also extend VCF with a growing ecosystem of add-on services such as:

• Advanced automation and self-service capabilities for developers
• Enhanced security and compliance tools
• Disaster recovery and cyber resilience solutions

The culmination provides a more cloud-like experience for both infrastructure and development teams. Together, these built-in and optional capabilities reinforce Broadcom’s vision of VCF as a complete private cloud platform.

Practical Spending Strategies

With VMware’s core-based licensing model, proper sizing has become more important than ever. Simply renewing existing infrastructure without evaluating resource utilization can result in unnecessary licensing costs.

Several strategic measures can help optimize licensing costs:

• Conduct utilization assessments before renewal or migration
• Identify underutilized hosts and clusters
• Consolidate workloads wherever appropriate
• Retire legacy systems that no longer provide business value
• Align CPU core counts with actual workload requirements

Within the past year, WEI has achieved the Pinnacle Partner Tier as a Broadcom reseller for VMware solutions. This means the WEI team is capable of delivering each of the bulleted strategies above when executing a VMware optimization assessment. 

A well-conducted assessment can uncover dormant virtual machines, oversized clusters, excess CPU capacity, and legacy applications that no longer justify the infrastructure resources they consume. By identifying these inefficiencies, organizations can make better decisions and avoid paying for capacity they don’t need.

Make Sure VCF is Aligned for Your Business

We can spend a lot of time outlining all the enhanced features and future capabilities that VCF 9.1 delivers. Just because you can implement all these wonderful things doesn’t mean you should, however, because consuming them costs money. 

That’s why WEI enforces a business-first approach to its customers. Implementing new technology just for the sake of new technology will often not deliver the business results you need. That’s why WEI takes the time to understand both your technology environment as well as your business to ensure that the business objectives guide the implementation. 

How WEI Can Assist You

VMware Cloud Foundation utilizes private cloud architecture, but clouds come in all sizes and architectures. That’s why WEI focuses on building right-sized VCF solutions. Our aim is to help our customers maximize the value of their VMware investment while preparing for the next generation of private cloud operations. 

At WEI, we like to say that before you can determine where you’re going, you need a clear understanding of where you’re starting from. If you are considering leveraging VCF 9.1 for your business, then contact WEI today. We can outline the entire journey from your existing infrastructure footprint to the destination that makes the most sense for your business.

Next Steps: As a Broadcom-certified VMware partner with deep expertise across regulated, hybrid, and enterprise environments, WEI helps IT leaders translate bundled capabilities into real business outcomes quickly and measurably. Download our tech brief to understand how to move from entitlement to enablement in 4–8 weeks. Get on the fast track with WEI.

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