In-Depth

Broadcom VMware Explore 2025: The Last Day of VMware Explore?

• By Tom Fenton
• 09/11/2025

I hate titling an article with a question, but in this case, I felt it was necessary, as one of the questions I often heard at VMware Explore 2025 is whether there would be another Explore or if this was the last one. I will explain why so many people were asking this at the end of this article. So, before getting into that, I want to cover a couple of outstanding sessions that I attended, what I learned from them, and why you may want to watch them online, which can be accessed via the ID number in their titles.

The Sessions
One of the sessions that I attended, which was also the best-attended, was "Deploying Minimal VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Lab" [CLOB1201LV] by William Lam and Alan Renouf, both standout VMware employees and excellent resources in the VMware Community, who discussed what it takes to create a VCF 9 lab.

They did a great job of describing the hardware requirements for creating home labs capable of running VCF 9, as well as some of the workarounds they used to circumvent certain official requirements, thereby creating an inexpensive yet unofficial and non-production-ready VCF 9 lab. If you are considering building a VDF 9 home lab, you will want to watch this session and follow their blogs. However, using their bill of materials, the cost will be approximately $3,000.

As I was curious about the changes in vSAN, especially about the introduction of S3-based object storage, I attended First-Class Storage: Unleashing vSAN Innovations in VMware Cloud Foundation [CLOB1058LV].

Not only did I find that vSAN supports S3, but it has also made some significant improvements in vSAN"s performance and compression.

One of the sessions that I couldn't attend but couldn't due to a scheduling conflict was VMware Cloud Foundation on Arm: Where We Are and Where We"re Headed [VBT2885LV], which I hope was recorded so I can watch, as there was some controversy about ARM support on VCF.

The Party
After the last session ended, I headed over to the closing party, where I had a chance to catch up with the VMware community one last time. The party lasted from 8:00 to 10:00 PM and was held at The Palazzo Pool Deck. Access to the two-hour party was included in the Full Event Pass and can be added to the Essentials Pass and Meetings+ Pass for $250.

The party featured DJ Skemadox and Honey Buckets performing, along with a couple of open bars and some finger food.

Key Takeaways from Explore 2025
My key takeaways from VMware Explore 2025 is that VMware is betting its future on the private cloud and that VCF 9 will be the platform to deliver it. Hock Tan emphasized the importance of this by stating that VCF 9.0, a private cloud, now outperforms public clouds in terms of cost, security, and control. And then doubled down on it by challenging the long-held notion that public cloud was the only path forward. He stressed that VCF9 is the culmination of 25 years of VMware innovation.

VMware positions VCF as not only a foundation for cloud workloads, but also as an AI-native platform. It achieves this by enabling private AI Services, such as GPU monitoring, model store and runtime, agent builder, vector database, retrieval, and Intelligent Assist, which will be bundled into the VCF subscription. VMware aims to enable its customers" AI needs by simplifying model deployments while preserving both privacy and performance.

However, VMware also recognizes that security is on its customers' minds and a high priority for CEOs. VMware addressed these concerns by introducing new capabilities across vDefend, Avi Load Balancer, and Cyber Compliance Advanced Services for VCF, including support for agent-based AI workflows and post-quantum cryptography.

Ultimately, VMware is not just about delivering functionality, but also future-proof security that is suited to emerging AI and compliance challenges. Additionally, the platform is now deeply integrated with hardware ecosystems, supporting NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs and AMD's ROCm AI stack, which enables enterprises to run advanced AI workloads efficiently on-premises. This demonstrates a commitment to providing customers with choices and flexibility while ensuring the entire infrastructure is secure.

The Last VMware Explore
The first VMworld was held in San Diego, and it has had a good run over the years. It has been a gathering place for the VMware community to connect, catch up, and stay current on the latest technologies. I know of more than a few companies that got their start at it. I have made more than one long-term friend at it.

VMware used VMworld and later Explore as a platform to launch its new technology. I remember how amazed the audience was when the first vMotion was demonstrated.

At some past events, the keynote concluded with the announcement of the number of attendees and details about the next year"s event, including its location and date. Neither of these happened at the end of this year"s keynote further the buzz around the future of VMware Explore.

When I asked VMware representatives about VMware Explore 2026, they were uncommitted about next year"s event and said they evaluated it on a year-to-year basis.

VMware did not officially release the number of attendees. Some of the attendees that I talked to estimated the crowd to be around 4,000. In the 2010's, the number of attendees regularly topped twenty thousand.

The number of booths on the floor this year was around fifty; pre-pandemic, there were hundreds of booths scattered across the expo floor. This year, it was easy to approach the vendors; in the past, huge crowds would often gather in front of the most popular booths.

Several factors have contributed to the downsizing of the event. VMware divested its end-user computing business (Horizon), which may account for approximately a 20 percent reduction. Changes in behavior during the pandemic have led to a general decline in attendance at trade shows. Additionally, VMware"s focus on enterprise customers, who have access to Technical Adoption Managers (TAMs) and experienced sales engineers, reduces the necessity for these customers to attend events like Explore to stay informed about new VMware products and features.

However, I believe that the most significant factor is the maturity of the product itself. For the most part, we are comfortable with it, and if we need more information about a specific feature or problem that we are having, a quick web search or AI prompt will usually solve it. There are dozens of blogs that give tips and tricks to VMware users and there are many community forums to discuss VMware products.

I enjoy VMware Explores, and I attended many excellent sessions this year, with William Lam's and Justin Murray's really sticking out. Yes, they were recorded, but a video is a poor substitute for sitting in a live session.

There has been talk about replacing Explore with a set of road shows in different geographical locations, which would be great for those who can"t afford to take the time and expense to travel to Vegas, but that would also mean that only the most popular sessions would be presented and that many of the niche sessions would be eliminated, and that only the people in that geographical location could attend that would be a shame as there is something special about a worldwide gathering. This year, I had some great conversations with people from New Zealand, the UK, Europe, and the US.

So, will there be a VMware Explore in 2026? As the event was coming to a close, VMware indicated that there would be one of their blog posts.

Later, I saw a Twitter post that also indicated that there would be one in Vegas in 2026.

Many of the sessions were recorded and will be available for viewing starting Wednesday, Oct.

I hope to see you next year at Explore!