Broadcom Expands VMware Portfolio with AI Deployment Tools and Low-Cost Virtualization Platform vSphere Express

U.S.-based semiconductor and infrastructure software company Broadcom Inc. has announced an expansion of its VMware portfolio, focusing on simplifying artificial intelligence workload deployment, strengthening infrastructure security, and offering lower-cost virtualization options. The updates span the flagship private cloud platform, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), and a new product aimed at smaller customers, vSphere Express.

Regarding AI deployment, Broadcom introduced "AI Infrastructure Quickstart," an automated capability that consolidates vCenter cluster deployment, vSphere Supervisor activation, and VMware Kubernetes Service cluster provisioning into a single workflow. According to Prashanth Shenoy, Broadcom’s vice president of marketing for cloud platform, infrastructure, and solutions, this change allows users to complete initial configurations in minutes, replacing previously manual processes. Additionally, multitenant model sharing, already available in VCF 9.1.1, enables different business units to use centrally deployed AI models while maintaining separate security boundaries, thereby reducing GPU requirements and total cost of ownership (TCO).

To broaden its market reach, Broadcom also released vSphere Express, a low-cost virtualization platform based on vSphere 9 designed for environments with up to 128 processor cores. The product includes essential features like live virtual machine migration, high availability, and distributed networking but omits the complex components of larger private cloud platforms. Shenoy stated that many customers need only basic virtualization without purchasing expensive comprehensive platforms, and vSphere Express provides an upgrade path as their requirements grow. While specific pricing was not disclosed, officials indicated it would be substantially less expensive than higher-end offerings.