VMware Explore 2024 Europe (still in Barcelona) has just finished, but what’s news?

Let’s start from some obvius things… first more Broadcom (and less VMware maybe) as you can see from the titles of the different press releases.

And seems less attendees like the US edition (less than 5000 was an un-official number, that seems very low compared to other edition of this event when was still called VMworld).

But there where also several announces:

• Broadcom Unveils VeloRAIN (Robust AI Networking): architecture that uses AI/ML to improve the performance and security of distributed AI workloads.
• New VeloCloud Edge 4100 and 5100 appliances: high end AI-Ready edge appliances that scale to 100Gbps for large enterprises and complex use cases.
• VMware Live Recovery will support Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE) as a target Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE) for VCF workloads for both cyber and disaster recovery.
• New advancements to VMware vDefend and VMware Avi Load Balancer to strengthen security for east-west traffic and optimize performance with Intel in datacenter, private cloud and Kubernetes environments. 
• VMware Tanzu Data Services: as a new VCF Advanced Services offering, Tanzu Data Services will allow customers to streamline deployment, management and consumption of critical data services and enable faster application delivery, better data security and governance, and operational efficiency. Read the Tanzu Data Services article.
• New VMware Cloud Foundation Architect certification (VMware Certified Professional – VCF Architect certification): specifically designed for individuals who can conceptualize and design VCF solutions that fulfill both business and technical requirements. This certification not only validates an architect’s skills in designing systems with essential characteristics such as availability, manageability, performance, recoverability, and security (AMPRS), but it also emphasizes the importance of capacity planning, disaster recovery, and scalability.

For other recaps, see also:

• https://blogs.vmware.com/explore/2024/11/04/explore-2024-barcelona-day-1-recap/
• https://blogs.vmware.com/explore/2024/11/05/explore-2024-barcelona-day-2-recap/
• https://blogs.vmware.com/explore/2024/11/06/explore-2024-barcelona-day-3-recap/

There was also huge news for the community: Free VCF Licenses through VMUG Advantage for VCF Certified Professionals. In a new exclusive benefit to VMware User Group (VMUG) members, Broadcom will provide VMUG Advantage subscribers a 50% discount on VMware Certified Professional (VCP) and VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) certification exams. Upon successful completion of a VMware Cloud Foundation certification exam (VCP or VCAP), VMUG Advantage members will have access to a free personal use VMware Cloud Foundation license for up to three years.