During VMware Explore 2024 in Barcelona, we had the privilege of sitting down with Umesh Mahajan, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Application Networking and Security (ANS) Division. Umesh’s passion for the ANS portfolio was palpable as he discussed its mission, the evolving landscape of security challenges, and how Broadcom is positioning VMware's offerings to address them.

We posed five key questions during the interview, each shedding light on Broadcom’s vision and VMware’s approach to innovation in this critical space. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the standout points, but we highly recommend watching the full video for Umesh’s detailed insights. You can find the video embedded below!

Key Takeaways from the Interview

1. The Vision Behind ANS
   Umesh began by outlining ANS’s mission: to provide seamless security and load balancing solutions tightly integrated with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Broadcom is focused on delivering advanced services that are as easy to deploy as they are powerful. In Umesh’s words, VMware aims to create solutions that “just click in” like adding features to a Tesla – simple, intuitive, and ready to use.

2. Industry Trends and Challenges
   From ransomware attacks to increasing complexity in security infrastructure, the stakes for businesses are higher than ever. Umesh highlighted how frequent and sophisticated attacks, particularly on financial institutions, have underscored the need for best-of-breed security and load balancing solutions. VMware’s approach is to make these tools accessible and scalable for businesses of all sizes, providing both protection and recovery capabilities in one unified stack.

3. Key Announcements and Licensing Simplification
   Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has brought significant changes to how ANS products are packaged and licensed. VMware now offers just three key SKUs: one for Avi load balancing and two for security (firewall and advanced threat protection). These SKUs have been streamlined to reduce complexity and ensure seamless integration with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF).

   However, these products are now positioned as add-ons to VCF, meaning they are optional but essential for customers deploying VCF. As Umesh explained, organisations need robust security and load balancing capabilities to complete their VCF deployments, making these Advanced Services critical for operational success. Broadcom’s goal is to simplify the consumption and deployment of these services, ensuring customers can get up and running quickly with minimal friction.

4. Introducing Security Scoring and Co-Pilots
   A standout moment was Umesh’s discussion of security scoring, a feature in development that will help organisations gauge their security posture at a glance. Similar to Microsoft’s approach, the security score will highlight areas of vulnerability, empowering businesses to make informed decisions. Additionally, VMware’s investment in AI-driven Co-Pilots promises to simplify security operations by providing actionable insights in real time.

5. The Road Ahead for ANS
   Broadcom’s focus is clear: delivering scalable, best-of-breed products that integrate seamlessly with VMware’s ecosystem. Whether through automation, AI-driven insights, or enhanced recovery capabilities, ANS is committed to simplifying the way businesses secure and optimise their private cloud environments.

Why Watch the Interview?

For anyone interested in VMware’s evolving approach to networking and security. Umesh not only outlines how ANS is addressing today’s challenges but also shares his vision for a simplified, integrated future. From ransomware protection to AI-powered Co-Pilots, there’s a lot to unpack.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from the leader shaping the future of VMware’s security and networking portfolio. Click below to watch the full interview:

Watch the Interview on YouTube

Final Thoughts: Simplifying Security for a Complex World

As Umesh said, security doesn’t need to be overwhelming. By delivering intuitive solutions and minimising complexity, VMware and Broadcom are equipping businesses to handle today’s challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s. Whether you’re a long-time VMware customer or exploring their solutions for the first time, this interview offers valuable insights into how VMware’s Application Networking and Security Division is leading the way.

What do you think of VMware’s approach to security and networking? Let us know in the comments below!

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Today I attended the virtual vRetreat event with Runecast and 10Zig, above you can see my doodle covering the Runecast presentation by @kev_johnson.

Runecast allows VMware administrators to proactively manage their vSphere patching, security compliance and HCL compatibility. By doing this it is predicted up to 90% of known issues can be prevented.

My doodle from VMworld 2019 in Barcelona can be seen below covering

• Building and managing modern apps

• NSX Intelligence

• Wavefront

• CloudHealth

• and more

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The first general session at VMworld 2018 covered every aspect of VMware’s execution of their vision, from the application to the device on any cloud and most importantly with intrinsic security.

My doodle live from the general session is below  

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You can watch this general session back at the following link => 

https://www.vmworld.com/en/europe/learning/general-sessions.html

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Only half of the day two general session was live streamed, but above is my doodle covering what was featured. Sanjay Poonen VMware COO spoke about the engines that fuel VMware being innovation and the customer, VMware are the only company in NPS to be listed in the top 5 for customer satisfaction five years running. He also spoke about the growth of VMware and how every customer that has deployed VMware technologies has been able in turn been able to reduce costs, reduce complexity and reduce carbon. There were a number of customer references live on stage talking about how they are innovating with VMware tecnologies with a strong focus on the SDDC, VMware Cloud, PKS and NSX.

As ever the first day keynote at VMworld was packed with thought leadership, announcements and demonstrations. VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger took to the stage to discuss the super powers of technology, these were cloud, mobile, AI / ML and Edge / IOT. VMware have been slowly enhancing their long term vision of any device, any app, any cloud with intrinsic security and this years keynote further demonstrated that. 

We saw demonstrations and announcements in all areas with the release of vSphere 6.7 update 1 featuring updates for vSAN and more. We saw further demonstration of VMware's close relationship with AWS with AWS RDS (Relational Database Services) being made available on premises via vSphere in coming months. Close integration with vSphere, NSX and Kurbenetes with vSphere PKS and IoT edge infrastructures being treated as a first class citizenship bringing the IT to IoT with a demonstration of vSphere on ARM allowing for true enterprise class features such as FT, vMotion and HA being made available at the edge. 

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VMware CTO for EMEA Joe Baguley delivered the general session at VMware Empower in Vienna, he spoke about the need for change, VMware Cloud on AWS, edge computing, NSX, everything aaS and much more. 

The doodle below is from the Transforming networking and security session by VMware’s Piotr Jablonski

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