Virtually Speaking Podcast

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 is all about making the platform easier to consume and operate at scale. In this episode, Pete and John sit down with Dilpreet, Head of Engineering for VCF, to explore how that vision comes to life. From the introduction of VCF Automation and Kubernetes-based APIs to multi-cluster management and faster deployment models, this conversation focuses on simplifying how infr...

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 brings major updates across compute, storage, and networking, and in this episode, Pete and John sit down with Vijay, product lead for core infrastructure, to break it all down. From smarter memory utilization to native object storage and improved cyber resilience, this conversation focuses on the features that directly impact how customers run and scale their environme...

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 is here, and in this kickoff episode, Pete and John sit down with Paul Turner, VP of Products for VMware Cloud Foundation, to set the stage for what this release really means. From rising hardware costs to the explosion of AI-driven applications, the data center is changing fast. Paul shares how VCF 9.1 is designed to address these shifts, helping organizations build an...

What does it really take to migrate to VMware Cloud Foundation 9? In this episode of Virtually Speaking, we sit down with a real customer to unpack their journey from a global vSphere environment to VMware Cloud Foundation 9. From early planning and architecture decisions to unexpected challenges and lessons learned along the way, this is a candid look at what a large-scale migration actually look...

We’re back with a recap episode from VMUG Connect Minneapolis, and this one is all about what actually matters on the ground. Joined by Brad Tompkins, we break down key takeaways from the event, from rising hardware and memory costs to the real conversations happening between practitioners navigating security challenges and evolving infrastructure decisions. What stood out most? The connection. Un...

In this episode, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sat down with Dilpreet Bindra to break down some of the key announcements from KubeCon and what they mean for platform teams, Kubernetes operators, and the broader cloud native community. The conversation covered Broadcom’s continued investment in upstream Kubernetes, including the contribution of Velero to the CNCF as a sandbox project, and why that...

KubeCon 2026 is underway, and in this episode of Virtually Speaking, Pete Fletcher and Jad Elzein sit down with Himanshu Singh to break down some of the biggest announcements coming out of the show. We cover Broadcom’s contribution of Project Valero to the CNCF Sandbox and why that matters for the future of Kubernetes backup, disaster recovery, and migration. The conversation also explores what it...

KubeCon 2026 is officially underway, and we’re kicking things off in one of the most unique ways we’ve ever done - recording from a boat in the canals of Amsterdam 🇳🇱 In this kickoff episode of our Virtually Speaking KubeCon series, Pete, John, and Jad set the stage for the week ahead. From Platform Engineering Day to AI, GPUs, and Kubernetes at scale, there’s no shortage of innovation, learning,...

Artificial Intelligence is dominating every conversation in tech right now, but how much of it is real progress and how much is hype? In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, we sit down with industry analyst and cloud expert Dave Linthicum to take an honest look at the current state of AI adoption in the enterprise. From failed AI pilots and unrealistic expectations to the infrastructur...

Get ready for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 in Amsterdam with this special preview episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast. Pete Flecha, John Nicholson, Jad El-Zein, and Himanshu Singh break down what to expect from the event, why Broadcom’s presence at KubeCon matters, and how Kubernetes, platform engineering, open source, and AI are continuing to shape the future of infrastructure. In t...

Identity is the new security perimeter. In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson are joined by Lee Howard, Head of IAM Product Management at Broadcom, to break down Identity Security for VMware Cloud Foundation and why IAM, PAM, and zero trust access are critical for modern private cloud environments. As part of our VCF Advanced Services Series, this episod...

Security has changed. It is no longer enough to focus on the perimeter and hope attackers never get inside. Modern threats are designed to move laterally through the environment using common protocols and predictable patterns. That is why security today is less about protecting everything and more about stopping attackers where they move. In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Fle...

Load balancing has been around for decades, but the way applications are built and delivered today has changed the problem entirely. It is no longer just about speeds and feeds. It is about operational scale, automation, and the ability to support modern apps across private clouds, public clouds, and Kubernetes. In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson are...

In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson continue the Advanced Services series with a deep dive into Network Observability. Joined by Broadcom’s Alec Pinkham, the conversation explores how traditional, reactive network monitoring falls short in modern hybrid and cloud-connected environments. The team discusses how network observability combines passive moni...

  In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Advanced Services Series, we take a closer look at Automic Automation and how it helps organizations automate the business processes that run across their private cloud environments. John Nicholson and I are joined by Dave Kellermanns from Broadcom’s Agile Operations division to talk about where Automic fits, the kinds of workflows customers are automati...

In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast Advanced Services Series, we dive into VMware Data Services Manager (DSM) and how it delivers true Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) capabilities for the private cloud. Pete Flecha and co-host Jad El-Zein are joined by Michael Gandy, Product Manager for DSM, to explore how organizations can simplify the deployment and lifecycle management of modern ope...

In this episode of Virtually Speaking, hosts Pete Flecha and John Nicholson continue their Advanced Services series with a deep dive into VMware Advanced Cyber Compliance (ACC)—now generally available for VMware Cloud Foundation customers. Joined by Belu De Arbelaiz and Adam Hawley from VMware’s product management team, the conversation explores why cyber compliance and resilience have become miss...

VMware Cloud Foundation Advanced Services are often misunderstood — or overlooked entirely. In this episode of Virtually Speaking, we kick off a new series focused on how VCF Advanced Services extend the platform beyond core infrastructure to address real-world challenges in cyber resilience, security, application delivery, data services, and operations. Rick Walsworth joins the show to provide a...

In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, hosts Pete Flecha and John Nicholson welcome Vincent Riccio, VMware automation expert, for a deep dive into SaltStack automation and its role inside VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Advanced Services. Vincent explains how SaltStack, delivered through VMware’s Advanced Cyber Compliance (ACC) service, brings powerful configuration management, state enf...

This episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast features hosts Pete Flecha and John Nicholson joined by returning guest Pete Koehler for a deep dive into vSAN and the evolving conversation around application versus infrastructure high availability. Pete Koehler highlights recent updates to vSAN Ready Nodes that significantly reduce hardware requirements, including up to 67% less RAM and 50% fewer C...

The Virtually Speaking Podcast heads to VMware Explore 2025, where Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Dale Hassinger, winner of this year’s VMware Explore Hackathon.   Dale shares the story behind his team’s winning project: a Model Contextual Protocol (MCP) server built in PowerShell that connects to VMware products and leverages AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to automatically generat...

At VMware Explore 2025, hosts Pete Flecha and Dave Linthicum sat down with Paul Lembo, CTO for Strategic Americas at Broadcom, to capture the energy and insights from the event. Paul reflects on conversations with customers, partners, and integrators, highlighting how VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is building trust by delivering on promises made the previous year.   One of the biggest crowd-please...

At VMware Explore 2025, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Chandra Prathuri, Product Management, VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, to dive into the automation capabilities of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0   The conversation kicks off with an analogy of turtles and tunnels, pointing out how slow and fragmented traditional IT operations can feel. Chandra explains how VCF 9 is des...

At VMware Explore 2025 (Day Three), hosts Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Raj Bhat from AMD and Dave Morera from Broadcom to discuss a major announcement: VMware’s support for AMD Instinct MI350 GPUs for Private AI workloads.   Raj dives into the specs of the MI350—288GB of memory and nearly 20 petaflops of performance, packaged in a UBB form factor with eight GPUs connected together—...

The Virtually Speaking Podcast is back from VMware Explore 2025 with an inspiring conversation featuring Nick Kuhn.   Hosts Pete Flecha and John Nicholson dive into Nick’s incredible home lab journey—from starting with a single HPZ 440 workstation to building a massive 16-host environment capable of running large language models.   Nick shares how his passion for vSAN sparked the growth of his lab...