Broadcom and Canonical Expand Partnership for Secure, AI-Ready Private Clouds

/ AI, Cloud, Cyber Security, Data Protection, Machine Learning, VMware Explore
Broadcom and Canonical Expand Partnership for Secure, AI-Ready Private Clouds

The News

At VMware Explore 2025, Broadcom and Canonical announced an expanded collaboration to optimize VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) for modern container-based and AI workloads. By bringing enterprise-grade Ubuntu OS, chiseled containers, and GPU driver optimizations into VCF, the partnership aims to address developer productivity and security challenges that surface in large-scale enterprise deployments.

Why It Matters

Developers are often caught between two competing demands: speed of innovation and security assurance. theCUBE Research has consistently highlighted this tension, and we have noted that developer productivity is frequently undermined by fragmented security patching and oversized container images.

This partnership is designed to close those gaps. Developers working with Kubernetes-based applications can now access:

  • Enterprise Ubuntu Integration with VCF: Consistent, enterprise-supported Ubuntu across VCF stacks, enabling expedited patch management and stronger vulnerability response.
  • Chiseled Ubuntu Containers: Lightweight container images for runtimes like Python, .NET, and Go that improve network transfer speeds, reduce storage requirements, and minimize attack surfaces.
  • GPU Driver Simplification: Precompiled virtualized GPU drivers baked into Ubuntu images reduce deployment complexity especially in air-gapped environments where external repositories are inaccessible.

Why It Matters in Practice

Consider a development team working on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows in a financial services enterprise. Today, they must spend time compiling GPU drivers, securing container images, and applying out-of-band patches, all before deploying models into production. With VCF + Canonical integration:

  • The OS and drivers are pre-secured and validated.
  • Chiseled containers cut deployment times and reduce image pull latency.
  • Developers may move faster, while platform teams maintain governance and compliance without adding bottlenecks.

This reflects a “shift left” in security and infrastructure readiness, with security coming baked into the development process rather than bolted on afterward.

Industry Analysis

The expanded partnership shows VMware’s intent to position VCF not just as a virtualization stack but as a developer-first private cloud platform. For Canonical, the collaboration reinforces Ubuntu’s role as the de facto Cloud OS for modern workloads.

More importantly, it reflects a broader trend noted by theCUBE Research: 59% of organizations plan to consolidate their observability, security, and data tooling. VCF + Ubuntu integration simplifies that consolidation by offering a single, enterprise-backed stack where security, AI enablement, and container performance converge.

Takeaway for Developers

For developers, the potential benefits are less infrastructure friction and more coding time. This partnership could also reduce the time-to-value for AI and container workloads. By standardizing on Ubuntu within VCF, enterprises may gain a more secure, efficient, and developer-friendly private cloud foundation.

Author

  • Paul Nashawaty

    Paul Nashawaty, Practice Leader and Lead Principal Analyst, specializes in application modernization across build, release and operations. With a wealth of expertise in digital transformation initiatives spanning front-end and back-end systems, he also possesses comprehensive knowledge of the underlying infrastructure ecosystem crucial for supporting modernization endeavors. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a proven track record in implementing effective go-to-market strategies, including the identification of new market channels, the growth and cultivation of partner ecosystems, and the successful execution of strategic plans resulting in positive business outcomes for his clients.

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