VCF 9.0 is now generally available (GA) today, June 17, 2025. This is the latest version of VMware ‘s unified private cloud platform, combining vSphere, vSAN, NSX, Kubernetes, and a suite of advanced services in a single solution.
Users with a VMware vSphere Foundation subscription also have access to this version at no additional cost.
- Modern Private Cloud Experience
Single interface: Operations, security, compliance, cost and lifecycle management in a single console – via the VCF Operations Console.
Quick Start Installer: Speeds up Day-0 installations with GUI/API-based, pre-validated workflows
Fleet Management: You can manage multiple clusters, firmware, patching, and certification jobs in a scalable manner.
- Infrastructure and Resource Efficiency
NVMe Memory Tiering: NVMe can be used as DRAM, increasing memory efficiency (~38% TCO gain)
vSAN Global Deduplication: Data across the entire cluster is compressed at the correct rate; ~34% reduction in storage costs
Kernel optimizations & DPU offload: East-west traffic performance is emphasized; integrated security with NSX (vDefend, micro-segmentation) is provided.
- Security, Compliance & Disaster Recovery
SecOps Dashboard: Real-time penetration surface map and compliance scores can be observed
Continuous compliance: CIS, NIST, and customized policies automatically scan and remediate; certificate and identity management automatically.
Application micro-segmentation, WAF, GSLB, immutable snapshot, and automatic disaster recovery are supported with advanced services such as Live Recovery, vDefend, Avi Load Balancer
- Cloud-like Experience & Cost Management
Self-service IaaS: Fast resource consumption via terraform/design templates for architects and developers.
Kubernetes (VKS): Managed Kubernetes clusters on vSphere infrastructure; 3 major version support, autoscaling, multi-zone configuration and FIPS mode.
FinOps & Chargeback/Showback: Budget management becomes easier with cost transparency, real-time billing, and predictive models.
Usage Scenario Explanation
* On-Prem & Edge Provides local private cloud infrastructure for remote sites and regulated institutions .
* Modernization Projects It provides a fast platform for transitions from physical/monolithic structures to Kubernetes & VM mix.
* Security/Sovereignty Requirements Data residency & automatic compliance advantage in government, finance and healthcare.
* AI & Big Data GPU-as-a-Service, Private AI Foundation, NVMe tiering, encrypted memory, and high-performance infrastructure.
