62,000 Virtual Machines. 53,000 CPU Cores. Five VCAP Exams. And VMware’s Evolution Under Broadcom.
🚀 62,000 virtual machines. 53,000 CPU cores. Five VCAP exams. And one big question about VMware’s future.
🎙️ The Architect’s Edge LIVE — VMware Explore 2026
What happens when you step away from the keynotes, skip the marketing slides, and start having conversations with the people actually building, operating, and advancing the technology?
You get some pretty extraordinary insights.
While at VMware Explore 2026 in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to sit down with three incredible members of our technology community for a series of unscripted conversations.
And we’re bringing those conversations directly to you.
🎬 Three interviews. Three perspectives. One community.
🔥 1️⃣ VMware After Broadcom: What’s Really Changed?
🎤 Pete Flecha — Virtually Speaking Podcast
VMware has undergone one of the most significant transformations in its history. But behind the headlines, what’s actually happening with the technology, engineering, and customer experience?
Pete and I get into:
- 🔹 Broadcom’s engineering investments and the evolution of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.
- 🔹 Why customer-requested features and real-world engineering feedback matter.
- 🔹 How VMware Explore has evolved into a more practitioner-focused event.
- 🔹 AI Factory, Agent Minder, and the growing challenges of governing autonomous AI agents.
- 🔹 The evolution of the Virtually Speaking Podcast and the community that continues to make VMware special.
We even get into the importance of learning from the IT disasters that nobody wants to experience twice.
💡 The takeaway: The story isn’t simply about who owns VMware. It’s about what’s being built, who’s building it, and how that technology translates into real value.
🏆 2️⃣ What Does It Really Take to Become a Broadcom Knight?
🎤 Jonathan Copeland — SHI International | Broadcom Knight
You’ve earned your VCP. Maybe your VCAP. Perhaps you’re working toward your VCDX.
But does passing an exam prove you can deliver real-world enterprise solutions?
Jonathan and I explore a recognition program that goes beyond technical exams: Broadcom Knights.
- ⚔️ How the Knights program combines professional certifications with validated technical experience.
- ⚔️ The architecture, implementation, and support paths.
- ⚔️ Why continued education and community advocacy matter.
- ⚔️ How certification feedback helps improve the exams themselves.
And then Jonathan drops his personal challenge…
Attempting FIVE VCAP exams during VMware Explore.
His philosophy is worth remembering:
Don’t avoid taking an exam just because you might fail. Even an unsuccessful attempt can reveal where you need to grow.
💡 The takeaway: Certifications validate knowledge. Demonstrated experience proves you can apply it. True technical excellence demands both.
🖥️ 3️⃣ 62,000 VMs?! Inside the VMware Explore Hands-on Labs Command Center
🎤 Jon Schulz — VMware Hands-on Labs | jonschulz.com
Ever wondered what the infrastructure behind VMware Explore’s Hands-on Labs actually looks like?
We went straight to the command center.
And the numbers displayed on those dashboards were remarkable.
- ⚡ 62,000 Virtual Machines
- ⚡ 53,000 CPU Cores
- ⚡ 1,300 CPU Sockets
- ⚡ 40 Clusters
- ⚡ Approximately 870 TB of Memory
All visualized through VMware Cloud Foundation Operations.
But the conversation goes well beyond big numbers.
Jon walks us through the custom operational dashboards, infrastructure heatmaps, application visibility, network flows, and the technology supporting VMware’s Hands-on Labs.
We also explore one of the more fascinating architectural developments in VCF 9.x: NVMe Memory Tiering.
Imagine an example configuration with 1.5 TB of DRAM and an additional 1.5 TB NVMe-backed memory tier.
That’s 3 TB of combined tier capacity, with important performance and workload considerations, and a very different conversation about infrastructure economics.
💡 The takeaway: Infrastructure observability isn’t about making dashboards look impressive. It’s about understanding what your infrastructure is doing and making better architectural decisions with that information.
💡 The Architect’s Edge Perspective
After decades in this industry, one thing continues to stand out to me.
Technology changes. Platforms evolve. Organizations transform. The architectural challenges become increasingly complex.
But the real magic has always been the people.
The engineers who build it.
The architects who design it.
The practitioners who operate it.
And the community willing to share what works, what doesn’t, and what we can all learn along the way.
That’s what The Architect’s Edge LIVE is about.
No scripts. No corporate talking points. Just conversations with passionate technologists about the things that actually matter.
🙏 A huge thank you to Pete Flecha, Jonathan Copeland, and Jon Schulz for taking time out of their incredibly busy VMware Explore schedules to share their insights, experiences, and perspectives.
And to the VMware community: thank you for continuing to make these conversations worth having.
💬 Now I’m Curious…
Which of these topics resonates most with you?
- 🔹 VMware’s evolution under Broadcom and the engineering behind VCF 9?
- 🔹 Technical certifications, Broadcom Knights, and proving real-world expertise?
- 🔹 The extraordinary scale of VMware Hands-on Labs and the future of infrastructure operations?
Drop your thoughts below. I’d love to hear your perspective.
And if you find these conversations valuable, share them with another architect, engineer, or technologist who might appreciate them.
There’s more coming from The Architect’s Edge LIVE.
Stay curious. Keep building. Never stop learning.
Originally shared as a LinkedIn article. This WordPress edition preserves the narrative from the Architect’s Edge LIVE article draft and includes embedded interviews.
