VCF + Tanzu Platform = The Private Cloud Enterprises Actually Needs VMUG 2026-06-29 | VMware Cloud Foundation 9 brings modern infrastructure to your private cloud. Tanzu Platform layers on as the application platform layer - giving developers PaaS simplicity for modernization and AI workloads, all within the built-in multi-tenancy structure of your private cloud. Crucially, Tanzu Data Intelligence seamlessly delivers the compliant databases and messaging essential for bringing those AI models to life. Same stack. Same compliance posture. Faster innovation. See it running live.Speakers:Oren PensoGlobal field CTO - UKBroadcomMichael CoteTechnology Product ManagementBroadcom
AI Security, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly VMUG 2026-09-18 | Whether your company has AI or not officially it’s still being used and used without any controls. Each AI Model has its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to security and now there are a lot of Security related products for AI that are advertised.Through real-world customer examples, including Broadcom's transformation of customer support operations, the session demonstrates how enterprise AI agents can improve user experiences, reduce operational costs, and accelerate business outcomes. Participants will gain practical insights into validated deployment architectures, AI infrastructure best practices, and strategies for scaling production-ready AI agents for customer support, knowledge management, troubleshooting, and other mission-critical enterprise use cases.Speaker:Patrick Coble, VMUG MVP and Security Architect at VDISEC
Amazon EVS Deep Dive: Choice, Flexibility, and Control for VMware on AWS VMUG 2026-09-18 | Discover how Amazon Elastic VMware Service (EVS) modernizes your VMware workloads with cloud-scale and unlock the benefits of AWS AI solutions. This session covers EVS fundamentals, architecture deep-dive, and live demonstrations, followed by insights on high-performance storage with FSx for NetApp ONTAP and how consolidating your VMware infrastructure on AWS unlocks massive-scale AI and machine learning by co-locating data with GPU compute and services like Bedrock, eliminating the network bottlenecks that constrain on-premises AI initiatives.Speaker:Ron Waddell, Senior Solutions Architect at AWS
Stop Designing VCF from the Hypervisor Up VMUG 2026-09-18 | VCF becomes truly powerful when its architecture reflects business goals, security standards, operational models, and long-term strategy. Not when it is built feature first or infrastructure first.In this session, you will learn a practical, repeatable approach to design VCF from the business downward. We walk through how to capture the right inputs from stakeholders, translate them into clear architectural requirements, and shape conceptual, logical, and physical VCF designs that deliver real organizational value.You’ll leave with a blueprint for:• Identifying the business drivers that shape VCF architecture• Turning requirements, constraints, and policies into design decisions• Aligning platform capabilities with governance, security, and operations• Turn VCF in a business enabler. Not just a technical platformIf you want your VMware platform to matter to the business, the architecture must start with the business.Speaker:Wesley van Groen, Broadcom Knight and Solutions Architect at Conscia Netherlands
Scaling Your VCF 9 Journey: Real World Lessons in NSX, Integrations, and Operational Transformation VMUG 2026-09-18 | Every VCF journey looks straightforward on paper until integration dependencies, operational processes, and platform scale enter the conversation.Join this practitioner-led session as we walk through a real VMware Cloud Foundation 9 transformation, highlighting the technical and organizational challenges that shaped our deployment strategy. We'll discuss key NSX design decisions, integration validation, upgrade planning, governance standards, and the blockers that commonly derail modernization efforts.The session concludes with a detailed examination of how we executed the migration, modernized our monitoring architecture, improved operational visibility, and increased customer trust through better reliability, performance insights, and platform transparency. Whether you're planning a new VCF deployment or scaling an existing environment, you'll gain practical guidance and proven approaches you can apply immediately.Speaker:Alan Harrington, VMware vExpert and Principal Cloud Architect at VCF 9
VMUG Town Hall: September 2026 VMUG 2026-09-16 | An exclusive VMUG Town Hall with VMUG Executive Director, Brad Tompkins! This is your chance to stay informed on the latest developments and discover what they mean for VMUG members.For more information about VMUG, check out our website at vmug.com.
Visionary Voices: Raakhee Mistry VMUG 2026-09-09 | In this episode of Visionary Voices, Raakhee Mistry, Senior Director of VCF Marketing, VCF Division for Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to unpack findings from Broadcom’s latest Private Cloud Outlook research and what they mean for infrastructure professionals.From the growing role of private cloud in production AI to rising concerns around cost, security, data sovereignty, and workload placement, Raakhee shares what the research reveals about where enterprise infrastructure is headed. She also explores the growing connection between infrastructure and platform engineering teams, the skills IT professionals will need in the AI era, and how VMUG members can use their existing expertise to help shape cloud and AI strategy inside their organizations.Review the outlook here: vmware.com/docs/private-cloud-outlook-2026
Mastering VCF 9: Unified Management Meets Everpure Performance VMUG 2026-08-27 | VMware Cloud Foundation 9 is here. Learn how Everpure FlashArray delivers the ideal storage foundation for greenfield and existing VCF environments, with best-practice guidance to simplify management, automation, and operations.Hosted by:Alex Carver, Senior Technical Product Specialist, EverpureMatt Webb, Consulting Field Solutions Architect, Everpure
Stopping the Fairlife Playbook — Inside the Anubis Attack on Virtual Infrastructure VMUG 2026-08-27 | On July 16, Coca-Cola disclosed unauthorized access to Fairlife's systems, including production environments, forcing a suspension of US operations. Days later, the Anubis ransomware group listed Fairlife on its leak site, claiming it had encrypted the company's Nutanix hypervisor infrastructure and exfiltrated a terabyte of data. This session breaks down who Anubis is and how the attack actually worked, stage by stage — from gaining administrative access to the hypervisor host, to shutting down VMs and encrypting the datastore, an attack path that can also happen on ESXi. Join Vali Cyber as we cover:- Anubis's background and where they fit in the current ransomware landscape- How the attack unfolded, from initial access to encryptionWhy the hypervisor was the target, and why the same approach works against VMware ESXi as easily as Nutanix- How preemptive security at the hypervisor layer can stop this exact attack chain before impact- Whether you're running VMware, Nutanix, or another hypervisor platform, this session will give you a clear picture of how this attack worked, where the exposure is, and how you can stay secure.Hosted by:Nathan Montierth, Threat Intelligence Lead and Solutions Engineer, Vali Cyber
Build Private AI on VCF with Intel® Xeon® 6 VMUG 2026-08-19 | Enterprises want the productivity of chatbots—without sending sensitive prompts, documents, or results outside the corporate network. In this 1 hour webinar, Intel and VMware will walk through a live Private AI demo running on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) powered by Intel® Xeon® 6 with Intel® Advanced Matrix Extensions (Intel® AMX) to accelerate CPU-based inference. You’ll see how to run a chatbot entirely inside a private environment, helping address concerns about data exposure and unauthorized access through external LLM services. We’ll also teach you how to recreate a similar demo in a small home lab environment equipped with AMX—so you can learn, iterate, and validate the approach hands-on. Attendees will be entered into a drawing to win a home lab to experience it firsthand.Speaker:Kannan ManiGlobal Technologist at Intel Corporation
August Event: Your Kubernetes Platform, Reconsidered Migrating to VKS & Why It Changes the Equation VMUG 2026-08-06 | Many organizations running OpenShift, Rancher, or other third-party Kubernetes platforms on top of vSphere are paying twice for overlapping capabilities. This session cuts through the complexity and shows you exactly how to move to VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) on VMware Cloud Foundation. We walk through proven migration patterns — Velero-based lift-and-shift for low-automation environments, pipeline retargeting for mature CI/CD shops, and blue/green redeployment for stateful workloads — and give you the decision framework to know which approach fits your situation. You leave with a concrete migration playbook, not a roadmap.SpeakerRonak Mukhopadhyay, Principal Solutions Architect, Broadcom
August Event: The Evolution to Platform Engineering 2.0 VMUG 2026-08-06 | Platform engineering is universal — but 1.0 is hitting its ceiling. AI and agents need an AI-native platform. Current architecture remains AI blind. Golden paths have become golden cages. Security remains bolted on. FinOps is reactive. And platforms still serve only one persona in a multi-persona enterprise.This deck introduces Platform Engineering 2.0: a strategic framework built on five pillars — an AI-Native Platform supporting AI workloads and agentic ops; a Multi-Persona Experience for developers, data scientists, security, FinOps, and AI agents; Embedded FinOps that moves cost control to pre-deployment; Security Shifted Down into the platform fabric; and a Composable Architecture built on API-first, independently evolvable layers.SpeakerPankaj Gupta, Senior Director of Private Cloud Solutions, Broadcom
August Event: Kubernetes Security Without the Guesswork Hardening Clusters and Managing at Scale VMUG 2026-08-06 | Security in Kubernetes is not a configuration you set once — it is an operational discipline. This session goes deep on the controls that matter most in VKS: RBAC scoping, namespace isolation, NSX-backed network policy enforcement, and automated secret injection that reduces credential exposure without adding overhead. We also cover how VKS upgrade pre-checks surface configuration conflicts before a maintenance window begins, not during one. Attendees walk away with a hardening checklist and the patterns needed to manage secrets consistently across multi-cluster environments.SpeakersWilliam Arroyo, Principal Solutions Architect, BroadcomRonak Mukhopadhyay, Principal Solutions Architect, Broadcom
August Event: GitOps in Depth Building a Declarative Operations Model on VKS VMUG 2026-08-06 | GitOps is well understood in theory — operationalizing it across enterprise Kubernetes infrastructure is where most teams stall. This session builds a GitOps operating model on VKS from the ground up: repository structure, declarative cluster bootstrapping, and reconciliation across multi-cluster environments using Flux or ArgoCD. We address the hard questions practitioners face — secrets management in a GitOps workflow, repository design at scale, and how declarative operations integrates with VCF Supervisor and vSphere Namespace management. You leave with a reference architecture you can adapt directly.SpeakerWilliam Arroyo, Principal Solutions Architect, Broadcom
The Evolution to Platform Engineering 2.0 VMUG 2026-08-04 | Platform Engineering (PE) has reached an inflection point. While the first wave—characterized by golden paths, self-service IDPs, and standardized toolchains—delivered significant developer velocity, the landscape is shifting. AI workloads, autonomous agents, increasing security and governance pressures, and cloud cost volatility are placing structural demands on platforms built for a previous era. Simply put, PE 1.0 is hitting its ceiling. This session introduces Platform Engineering 2.0, a deliberate evolution co-developed with the 280,000-strong practitioner community at PlatformEngineering.org. We will unpack the five pillars of PE 2.0—AI-Native Platform, Multi-Persona Experience, Embedded FinOps, Security Shifts Down, and Composable Architecture—and examine the infrastructure modernization required to make each pillar actionable. Attendees will receive a clear diagnostic framework to identify where their current platforms are falling short and a concrete roadmap for their evolution.Hosted by:Pankaj Gupta, BroadcomSam Barlien, PlatformEngineering.org
Better Together: Extending VCF Security with ZeroLock VMUG 2026-07-30 | VMware Cloud Foundation gives organizations a powerful security foundation for workloads and network traffic. ZeroLock builds on that foundation, extending modern security principles down to the hypervisor—the privileged control layer beneath every virtual machine, and an increasingly common target as ransomware against hypervisors surged roughly 700% in the second half of 2025. In this session, Nathan Montierth, Solution Engineer & Threat Intelligence Lead at Vali Cyber, walks through how VCF's security capabilities protect workloads and the network, and how ZeroLock complements them with preemptive, runtime protection for the hypervisor itself. As the only Broadcom-certified hypervisor security solution, ZeroLock stops threats in real time—including fileless and living-off-the-land attacks—before they reach the workloads beneath, adding MFA across SSH, the dCUI, and the CLI; AI-driven behavioral detection and lockdown rules; and automated remediation that restores workloads in seconds. Paired with VCF's workload and network defenses, these hypervisor-layer protections close the loop on a layered, defense-in-depth strategy—better together, across the full stack. What you'll learn:- Why the hypervisor is a critical layer to secure, and how attackers target it- Where workload- and network-level controls leave the hypervisor exposed- How ZeroLock complements VCF with preemptive protection at runtime- What a layered VCF + ZeroLock architecture looks like across the full stack
VMUG Town Hall: July 2026 VMUG 2026-07-30 | An exclusive VMUG Town Hall with VMUG Executive Director, Brad Tompkins! This is your chance to stay informed on the latest developments and discover what they mean for VMUG members.Critical Patch Update impacting multiple VMware products: support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/38017 Agenda, pricing updates, and more for VMUG Connect Orlando are live: connect.vmug.com/orlando/2026Complete our Annual Member Survey: share.hsforms.com/2vY3fx81RQxu1idw-u-qq2gqmt3kStay up to date with everything VMUG at VMware Explore: vmug.com/vmware-exploreSpeaking at Explore? Let us know! qmt3k.share.hsforms.com/2bsnyQ3z3StKIwVBnNT-kfgFor more information about VMUG, check out our website at vmug.com.
Career Growth Opportunities in AI and Kubernetes | Visionary Voices: Krish Prasad VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to talk career growth for IT professionals. Krish lays out how VI admins can champion cloud modernization, lead AI workload adoption, and build Kubernetes expertise, and points to Broadcom's training and account team support for building the business case internally.
VCF Is the New vSphere: From Server Admin to Cloud Platform | Visionary Voices: Krish Prasad VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to trace the shift from vSphere-era server virtualization to VCF as a full cloud platform. Krish explains why infrastructure-as-code and API-driven developer access have replaced ticket-based IT, why the decision now reaches the CIO instead of staying in the data center, and why offering a cloud-like experience has become a survival issue for IT departments competing with public cloud.
The 3-Part VCF Roadmap: Performance, Operations, and Adoption | Visionary Voices: Krish Prasad VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to break down Broadcom's three-part roadmap for VCF: running every application, including containers, VMs, and AI workloads, natively on one platform with bare-metal performance; simplifying operations for customers running millions of cores; and guiding customers through their private cloud adoption journey. Krish also talks about the memory tiering solution pairing DRAM with NVMe to cut costs as memory prices climb.
Two Tailwinds Driving Private Clouds Future | Visionary Voices: Krish Prasad VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to look at where the private cloud market is headed. Krish points to two key tailwinds accelerating momentum: enterprises moving AI inferencing on-prem closer to their data, and growing global demand for sovereign infrastructure.
Why the Pendulum Swung Back to Private Cloud | Visionary Voices: Krish Prasad VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Krish Prasad, SVP and General Manager of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to trace how both "public cloud first" and DIY software-defined infrastructure fell short for enterprises. Krish shares data from a recent global survey showing a majority of customers are now moving workloads from public back to private cloud, and for the first time targeting new cloud-native applications for on-prem instead of public cloud. He explains why VCF 9 was built to deliver public cloud-like experience with on-prem economics.
Why Kubernetes on Virtualized Infrastructure Beats Bare Metal | Visionary Voices: Paul Turner VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to explain why running Kubernetes on a virtualized environment outperforms bare metal. Paul shares internal benchmark data showing roughly 1.5x better pod density on virtualized infrastructure, plus the added security isolation VMs provide on top of container isolation. He also looks ahead to confidential and trusted compute becoming standard across environments in the next five to six years.
Avoiding Vendor Lock-In with Open-Source Kubernetes | Visionary Voices: Paul Turner VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to address concerns about vendor lock-in. Paul explains why VCF is built on open, CNCF-compliant Kubernetes standards, so the application runtime and delivery pipelines stay portable across VCF, AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, even though the underlying clouds themselves are proprietary. He also highlights Broadcom's standing as a top contributor to the open-source ecosystem.
The DevOps Dial Tone: Why IT Ops and DevOps Teams Should Converge | Visionary Voices: Paul Turner VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to make the case for merging IT ops and DevOps teams into one. Paul explains how VCF delivers a "DevOps dial tone," giving developers a self-service runtime environment while IT keeps control of cost optimization, memory tiering, and security on the back end. He also covers native VPCs, multi-version Kubernetes, and the new Canonical Ubuntu partnership bringing the world's most widely used Kubernetes runtime into the platform.
Why Companies Are Moving Back to Private Cloud | Visionary Voices: Paul Turner VMUG 2026-07-26 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to discuss why the "cloud first" mindset is shifting. Paul explains how private cloud platforms now deliver the same infrastructure-as-code agility that drove companies to public cloud in the first place, and breaks down the two biggest drivers pulling workloads back on-prem: cost and margin economics versus public cloud, and growing concerns around security and sovereignty, especially outside the US.
Skip the Line at VMUG Connect Orlando 2026 VMUG 2026-07-22 | Skip the wait.Head straight to two days of technical learning, community, and conversations with VMware and infrastructure professionals from around the world.📍 October 21–22, 2026Register today:connect.vmug.com/orlando/2026#VMUG #VMware #CloudInfrastructure #PrivateCloud #TechConference
VMUG Connect Orlando 2026 | The Final Stop of the Tour VMUG 2026-07-22 | The final stop of the 2026 VMUG Connect Tour is Orlando.Join VMware and cloud infrastructure professionals for technical sessions, hands-on learning, expert speakers, and conversations with peers tackling the same challenges you are.Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills, see what's next for VMware and the broader infrastructure ecosystem, or connect with the community, Orlando is where the tour wraps up.📍 October 21–22, 2026Register today: connect.vmug.com/orlando/2026#VMUG #VMware #PrivateCloud #CloudInfrastructure #ITCommunity
Get Certified: VCP, VCAP, and VCDX for the Platform Era | Visionary Voices: Prashanth Shenoy VMUG 2026-07-20 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP of Marketing for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to walk through VMUG's revamped certification program. Prashanth breaks down the VCP for VCF as a modern private cloud platform, the new VCAP tracks (including one dedicated to VKS for both VI admins and platform engineers), and VCDX for those aiming to become distinguished private cloud experts. He encourages members to get certified and position themselves as platform experts in their organizations.
Reskilling for the Platform Mentality: VMUG Advantage & VCF 9 | Visionary Voices: Prashanth Shenoy VMUG 2026-07-20 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP of Marketing for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to discuss why VI admins need to shift from a VM mindset to a platform mentality as Kubernetes becomes the default for modern applications. Brad highlights how VMUG Advantage gives members hands-on access to a 128-core VCF 9.0 environment, complete with VKS and Private AI, to build and test in a home lab before bringing it into their organization.
How VCF 9 Is Tackling Infrastructure and Security in 2026 | VMUG Visionary Voices: Prashanth Shenoy VMUG 2026-07-20 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP of Marketing for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to break down how VCF 9 is meeting the challenges of 2026. Prashanth covers fleet and identity management for scaling private cloud, infrastructure optimization for GenAI workloads including vGPU visibility and NVMe memory tiering, VCF as a unified platform for VMs and Kubernetes with VKS built in, and the new advanced cyber compliance SKU for continuous compliance and drift remediation.
The Shift to Platform Engineering in 2026 | VMUG Visionary Voices with Prashanth Shenoy VMUG 2026-07-20 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP of Marketing for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to discuss the mindset shift happening in IT organizations. Since the launch of VCF 9, more organizations are adopting a platform and cloud operating mindset, driving a rise in platform engineers and platform teams. Prashanth explains why VMUG members are well positioned to reskill, retrain, and lead AI adoption in their organizations.
3 Trends Shaping Private Cloud in 2026 | VMUG Visionary Voices with Prashanth Shenoy VMUG 2026-07-20 | In this clip from Visionary Voices, Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP of Marketing for VCF at Broadcom, joins VMUG Executive Director Brad Tompkins to break down the three trends shaping private cloud in 2026: infrastructure modernization for AI, the shift to AI-native applications, and security by default. Prashanth explains why organizations are repatriating workloads from public cloud and how VCF is helping IT teams do more with less through automation.
Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 Inside the ESXi VM Escape VMUG 2026-07-17 | At Pwn2Own Berlin 2026, researchers from STARLabs SG demonstrated a working memory-corruption flaw in VMware ESXi that enabled a full VM escape and cross-tenant code execution—an attacker with admin access inside a guest VM breaking the isolation boundary to run code on the host and reach other tenants' VMs. As of today, there's no CVE assigned, no patch available, and technical details remain embargoed under Pwn2Own disclosure rules. The exploit is real, and the disclosure clock has started. In this session, Joseph Comps, Solution Engineer & Threat Intelligence Analyst at Vali Cyber, breaks down what we know so far, what we expect when the embargo lifts, and the broader patterns we're tracking in hypervisor-targeted attacks. Drawing on the 2025 precedent—where ESXi escape exploits demonstrated in May were patched in July—we'll talk through the realistic exposure window between public disclosure and a qualified patch, and what teams running multi-tenant infrastructure can do to stay protected in the meantime. We'll also cover why VM escapes are a uniquely impactful bug class, and how preemptive controls at the VMX choke point can address the whole category—not just a single signature—so hosts are defended before a patch exists. As this situation is still developing, we'll update the session accordingly if and when more information is released. What you'll learn:What was demonstrated at Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 and why VM escapes are significantWhat to expect on CVE assignment, patch timing, and the disclosure-to-patch windowThe hypervisor attack patterns we're seeing across recent campaignsHow preemptive, mitigating controls keep hosts protected before a fix is availableHosted by:Joseph Comps, Solution Engineer & Threat Intelligence Analyst, Vali Cyber
Your VMware Bill Is High? Good. It Means You’re Finally Seeing the Problem VMUG 2026-07-09 | Everyone complains about rising VMware costs. Almost nobody looks at what’s actually driving them.Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your bill didn’t go up because of licensing—it went up because your environment was never designed to be efficient in the first place.In this session, we rip through real-world environments and show where costs actually hide: over-provisioned clusters, unused cores, bad workload placement, and zero visibility into what matters. You’ll see how to correlate application behavior with infrastructure consumption and where the biggest waste typically sits.No theory, no “best practice” slides. Just practical patterns you can apply immediately to stop burning cores and start making smarter decisions.Speaker:Yves SandfortCEO, Partner, and Founder of comdivision
Doing VMware Cloud Foundation Right – Ask the Right Questions VMUG 2026-07-09 | Too many VMware Cloud Foundation deployments run into delays, redesigns, or unexpected constraints, often because the wrong questions were asked at the start, or the right ones weren’t asked at all. Successful VCF projects aren’t defined by the installer or the hardware, but they’re defined by a solid conceptual design that captures business intent, operational boundaries, and architectural requirements before deployment begins.In this session, we’ll walk through the key questions every architect must clarify upfront to accelerate design and avoid costly surprises. From workload domain strategy, networking and storage decisions, licensing boundaries, lifecycle constraints, security and isolation models, to operational roles and Day-2 expectations. This session gives you a practical checklist to ensure your VCF deployment is built right the first time. Perfect for architects, consultants, and operators who want to streamline delivery and get predictable outcomes with VCF.Speaker:Fabian LenzBroadcom Knight, vExpert, President & Partnercomdivision
Platform Engineering 2.0 for the AI Era VMUG 2026-07-09 | Platform Engineering (PE) has reached an inflection point. While the first wave—characterized by golden paths, self-service IDPs, and standardized toolchains—delivered significant developer velocity, the landscape is shifting. AI workloads, autonomous agents, increasing security and governance pressures, and cloud cost volatility are placing structural demands on platforms built for a previous era. Simply put, PE 1.0 is hitting its ceiling.This session introduces Platform Engineering 2.0, a deliberate evolution co-developed with the 280,000-strong practitioner community at PlatformEngineering.org. We will unpack the five pillars of PE 2.0—AI-Native Platform, Multi-Persona Experience, Embedded FinOps, Security Shifts Down, and Composable Architecture—and examine the infrastructure modernization required to make each pillar actionable. Attendees will receive a clear diagnostic framework to identify where their current platforms are falling short and a concrete roadmap for their evolution.Speaker:Pankaj GuptaSenior Director of Private Cloud SolutionsBroadcom
Active Directory Security Basics: Are you doing them? VMUG 2026-07-09 | This is not your normal user group topic, but Windows secures Windows well, and AD is part of that process. This session will cover the basic things you must worry about if you have a Windows Active Directory. It will also include practical tips and steps to secure your deployment further and reduce the risk of attacks. Many best practices in this session will help you navigate the madness of securing Active Directory.Speaker:Patrick CoblevExpert, Security NerdVDISEC
VMUG MET Webinar: Upgrade Pathways to VCF 9.1 VMUG 2026-07-02 | Upgrade Pathways to VCF 9.1. Designed by practitioners, for practitioners, this session will give you actionable insights into the newest VCF 9.1 upgrade paths, common migration scenarios, and how to use the VCF Upgrade Planner.
VMware Hands-On Lab HOL-2703-01: More Density, Less Cost Hands on with VCF 9.1 Memory Tiering VMUG 2026-06-30 | Unlock greater efficiency and reduce hardware spend with Memory Tiering, a standout feature in VMware Cloud Foundation. This lab demonstrates how to leverage NVMe SSDs as a high-performance secondary memory tier for your ESXi hosts.Speakers:Randy Jones, Cloud Infrastructure Architect, BroadcomSajal Debnath, Broadcom
VMware Hands-On Lab HOL-2702-01: vSphere Kubernetes Service Updates & Capabilities in VCF 9.1 VMUG 2026-06-30 | Step into the future of VMware Cloud Foundation. This hands-on workshop explores the latest enhancements in VKS 3.6 and VCF 9.1, giving VI Admins the tools to bridge the gap between VMs and containers.Speakers:Michael Fleisher, Solutions Architect, BroadcomVijay Appani, Broadcom
VMware Hands-On Lab HOL-2701-01: Whats New in VCF 9.1 VMUG 2026-06-30 | Get hands-on with the GA release of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1. This workshop provides a high-level exploration of the most significant updates across the entire VCF stack, from UX enhancements to advanced infrastructure automation.Speaker:Shelva Jaganathan, Architect, BSG, Broadcom
Modernizing Private Cloud App Security and Load Balancing in VCF 9.1 VMUG 2026-06-30 | Traditional hardware load balancers create bottlenecks and tromboning that hinder the agility and integration required by modern private clouds. This session explores how the VMware Avi Load Balancer’s software-defined architecture decouples control and data planes to deliver true elasticity, resilience, and native integration with VCF 9.1. Speaker:Nathan McMahon Technology Product ManagementBroadcom
Elevating private cloud security against Advanced Malware and AI driven attacks VMUG 2026-06-30 | As private cloud environments face emerging threats, including attacks on management domains (BRICKSTORM) and AI-driven exploits, a robust security posture is critical. This session will outline a prescriptive approach to achieving it in your private cloud. Attendees will learn how VMware vDefend accelerates the Zero Trust journey by delivering lateral security and advanced threat prevention across VM and VKS environments. The session will also highlight how vDefend simplifies deployment with a prescriptive workflow.Speaker: Chris McCainGlobal Field CTO, Application Networking and SecurityBroadcom
Security Hardening and Compliance in VCF 9 VMUG 2026-06-30 | Come join us as we answer the question of what it takes to have secure, compliant, and resilient infrastructure. We'll talk about threats and trust, tools and guidance, and design aspects to make your infrastructure defensible and available.Speaker:Bob PlankersProduct Marketing Engineer, VCFBroadcom
Confidently Manage Your VCF Fleet with VCF Operations VMUG 2026-06-30 | VCF Operations is structured around four essential management pillars: Build, Manage, Operate, and Protect; which together support the full lifecycle of your cloud environment. This session focuses on VCF Operations 9.1, highlighting the new features designed to simplify daily interactions with your VCF private cloud. Speaker:Abhijit TimbleProduct Marketing Engineer, VCFBroadcom
Orlando Is Calling | VMUG Connect 2026 VMUG 2026-06-29 | Orlando is more than the destination. It's where the VMUG community comes together to learn, connect, and grow.VMUG Connect Orlando features expert-led technical sessions, hands-on learning, community networking, and opportunities to explore what's next across VMware, private cloud, and modern infrastructure.Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills, expand your network, or bring back practical ideas for your team, Orlando is the place to be.📍 October 21–22, 2026Register today:connect.vmug.com/orlando/2026#VMUG #VMware #PrivateCloud #CloudInfrastructure #TechConference
Modernization Is a Journey, Not a Rip and Replace: Building Operational Resilience VMUG 2026-06-29 | Most VMware conversations over the past two years started with a licensing renewal.The real question organizations are asking is much bigger:What should our infrastructure strategy look like for the next five years?In this session, Jacki Duffy shares a practical approach to modernization focused on operational resilience, recovery readiness, security, and simplification. Rather than rebuilding everything, organizations can strengthen what already works, address real gaps, and modernize on their own timeline.Through real-world examples and a proven modernization framework, attendees will learn how to assess risk, improve operational stability, reduce complexity, and build a roadmap that supports future growth while maximizing existing investments.Learning Objectives• Understand why modernization does not have to be a rip-and-replace initiative• Learn a practical framework to assess, stabilize, optimize, and modernize VMware environments• Identify opportunities to improve operational resilience, simplify operations, and reduce infrastructure risk• Explore how hybrid cloud and VMware Cloud Foundation can support long-term infrastructure strategiesSpeaker:Jacki DuffyDirector, Global Strategic AlliancesLightedge
Making VMware Cloud Foundation More Predictable with Everpure VMUG 2026-06-29 | VMware Cloud Foundation gives organizations more flexibility than many teams assume, but the storage architecture underneath it has a direct impact on how easy the environment is to deploy, operate, protect, and evolve over time. In this session, we will show how Everpure complements VMware Cloud Foundation by helping simplify storage choices across greenfield and brownfield deployments while improving operational consistency through vCenter integration, automation, and day-2 visibility. We will also cover how Everpure helps strengthen resilience for VMware environments with VAAI for NFS, transparent failover design, and ActiveCluster for File to support zero-RPO, non-disruptive operations for critical workloads. Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of how to align storage decisions to operational outcomes and make VMware Cloud Foundation easier to run in real-world environments.Key Session Takeaways1. How VMware Cloud Foundation supports flexible deployment models and storage choices across both greenfield and brownfield environments.2. How Everpure helps simplify VCF operations through vCenter integration, automation, and improved day-2 visibility.3. How capabilities such as VAAI for NFS and resilient storage design can help improve operational consistency and availability for VMware environments.Speakers:Matt WebbField Solutions ArchitectEverpureJason LangerSenior Technical EvangelistEverpure
What You Can Learn From a Minimum Resources 2 Node VCF 9 Lab: Deployment to a Real Scenario VMUG 2026-06-29 | Building a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environment can seem daunting, especially when resources are limited. In this session, we’ll explore how a minimal 2-node VCF 9 lab can provide the foundational knowledge you need to design and deploy a full-scale production environment.We’ll walk through the essentials—from networking and hardware considerations to deployment and upgrade best practices—showing how a lean lab setup can accelerate your learning curve. Then, we’ll bridge the gap between lab and reality by sharing insights gained from designing and implementing a real-world VCF 9 environment.Speaker:Ward VissersSenior Technical Manager
Platform Engineering 2.0 for the AI era VMUG 2026-06-29 | Platform Engineering (PE) has reached an inflection point. While the first wave—characterized by golden paths, self-service IDPs, and standardized toolchains—delivered significant developer velocity, the landscape is shifting. AI workloads, autonomous agents, increasing security and governance pressures, and cloud cost volatility are placing structural demands on platforms built for a previous era. Simply put, PE 1.0 is hitting its ceiling.This session introduces Platform Engineering 2.0, a deliberate evolution co-developed with the 280,000-strong practitioner community at PlatformEngineering.org. We will unpack the five pillars of PE 2.0—AI-Native Platform, Multi-Persona Experience, Embedded FinOps, Security Shifts Down, and Composable Architecture—and examine the infrastructure modernization required to make each pillar actionable. Attendees will receive a clear diagnostic framework to identify where their current platforms are falling short and a concrete roadmap for their evolution.Speakers:Pankaj GuptaSenior Director of Private Cloud SolutionsBroadcomSam BarlienHead of EcosystemPlatform Engineering
