With VCF 9.0, VMware isn’t just evolving its flagship cloud platform—it’s redefining what a modern private cloud means: integrated, intelligent, secure, and AI-ready. Released in August 2024, VCF 9 delivers a unified foundation for running traditional workloads, cloud-native apps, and private AI models, all while simplifying lifecycle management and improving security posture across hybrid infrastructure.
🚀 What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9
VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9), released August 2024, is a significant leap over the 4.x/5.x line—bringing smarter operations, elevated security, stronger AI integration, and new deployment flexibility.
✅ 1. Unified, Smart Infrastructure
With VCF 9.0, deployment and operations are more centralized and intelligent:
-
New Cloud Console for global views across infrastructure, licensing, usage, and AI resources.
-
Enhanced SDDC Manager for simplified Day 0–2 operations, patching, and upgrades.
-
Seamless NSX and Avi Load Balancer integration with new automation workflows.
“With VCF 9.0, we’re not just simplifying deployment—we’re enabling real-time agility across virtual, container, and AI platforms.”
🔒 2. Enterprise-Grade Security and Visibility
-
New vDefend™ policy engine: tenant-aware, micro-segmented, and auto-imports existing rules.
-
SecOps dashboard detects lateral threats, vulnerabilities, and configuration drift.
-
TLS 1.3, hardened vSphere stack, and updated compliance baselines out of the box.
🤖 3. AI-Ready by Design
VCF 9 integrates NVIDIA GPU support for on-prem AI/ML workflows.
-
Built-in Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA support.
-
Run LLM inference and GPU-accelerated workloads alongside VMs or containers.
-
Easily deploy Tanzu + AI clusters in isolated zones.
⚙️ 4. Operational and Lifecycle Simplicity
-
New Cloud Builder 9.0 with auto-validation tools.
-
Support for Photon OS 5, Usage Meter 9, and OAuth2 console logins.
-
Preloaded content libraries, templates, and cluster-level rollback points.
📈 Comparison to Previous Versions (4.x/5.x)
| Feature | VCF 4.x / 5.x | VCF 9.0 (New) |
|---|---|---|
| AI/ML Support | Limited or add-on | Built-in via Private AI Foundation |
| Lifecycle Automation | Partial | Full-stack (NSX, vSphere, Tanzu) |
| Security & Segmentation | Basic NSX Policies | vDefend + SecOps + Lateral Analysis |
| Cloud Console & Metering | Fragmented | Unified Cloud Console & Usage Meter 9 |
| Licensing Model | Complex SKU tiers | Simplified per-core, portable licenses |
🛠 Modern Infrastructure Features
- VCF Installer – Day-0 deployment of the full stack—in hours, not weeks.
- Easy Tenant Deployment & Management – Wizard-driven workload domains and tenant policy templates.
- Performant Fleet Management – Roll out patches to thousands of hosts with predictive pre-checks and phased blast-radius controls. Certificate management, configuration drift, live patching, single sign-on. All in one place.
- Enhanced Diagnostic Routines – AI-assisted log correlation pinpoints root causes before tickets escalate.
- Cost / Chargeback / Showback – Real-time cost meters expose resource spend to each line of business.
💵 Licensing & Consumption Models
VMware offers two VCF 9 licensing options—either subscription-like VCF+ or term-based VCF‑S:
| License Type | Deployment | Includes | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| VCF+ | Connected Cloud | vSphere+, vSAN+, NSX+, Aria,
Tanzu, vDefend, AI Foundation |
Pay-as-you-go (per-core metering) |
| VCF-S | On-prem only | Same stack, licensed offline | Term-based (1-3 year subscription) |
🎯 Key Benefits
-
One key activates all components (no individual SKU management).
-
License portability across on-prem, hosted, and cloud environments.
-
Entitlement visibility via Cloud Console, including usage metering and expiry tracking.
🧠 Why VCF 9 is a Game-Changer
With the introduction of VCF 9.0, VMware is no longer just offering a private cloud platform—it’s providing a foundation for future-proof digital infrastructure. Whether you’re running legacy VMs, managing Kubernetes clusters, or deploying LLM-based AI workloads, VCF 9 supports it all, securely and efficiently.
“In short, VCF 9.0 brings AI, security, lifecycle, and hybrid flexibility under one simplified, scalable platform.”