The Revolution of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0: OVHcloud stands with VMware customers to migrate into the future

No need to fear it! Revolutions are revolutionary. And they are always necessary for progress—in virtualization and in life.

Nay to fear, compatriots, as today is a day for courage. Today, we do not make incremental improvements nor routine product updates, today, we dive in to the subject of VCF 9.0—a true paradigm shift in virtualization itself. For the millions of businesses running VMware infrastructure, the ground has moved—literally and figuratively—towards the future, and towards democratization. With the evolution of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), customers must rethink how they operate, migrate, and modernize. And at OVHcloud, we’re armed and ready to face any opposition.

In fact, we’ve been ready. For over 15 years, OVHcloud has partnered with VMware to deliver high-performance, secure, and trusted cloud solutions to organizations across Europe and beyond. And now, as VMware undergoes one of its biggest transformations in history under Broadcom, OVHcloud is delivering new offers to help customers migrate at scale from A to Z—with a radically simplified stack, transparent pricing, and a uniquely open model. This means that we are ready to arm you for revolution too: after all, to win any battle, we need our allies.

This isn’t just about a product launch. It’s an entire virtualization ecosystem rebooted: new hardware, new software stack, and a modernized architecture that enables organizations to go from bare metal to full workload deployment in around an hour—and not six months, as it once was. Challenging? Yes. Worth it? Without a doubt. Time to suit up and move the troops forward—towards the freedom of the future.

How the field of tech changing—and why it matters

For years, VMware’s legacy architecture required extensive technical know-how and costly certifications. Networking, storage, security—each a specialized field. And provisioning a datacenter? Painfully slow. In contrast, the new era of virtualization is about convergence, automation, and accessibility. VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 was created to democratize access to modern infrastructure. This revolution is to designed benefit the masses!

And this tech change isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about empowering teams to focus on innovation rather than orchestration. With OVHcloud’s support, our customers can now simplify operations, reduce vendor lock-in, and build future-ready infrastructure.

VCF: empowering migration at scale

At the heart of this revolutionary transformation lies VMware Cloud Foundation, the cornerstone of Broadcom’s new strategy. VCF offers a unified, full-stack platform that integrates compute, storage, networking, and management to simplify operations and accelerate digital transformation for small or large enterprises, and their partners.

But while the technology enables unprecedented agility and automation, recent licensing changes have introduced significant challenges for smaller deployments. OVHcloud responded by offering flexible solutions on shared hardware, preserving the accessibility and performance of VMware while optimizing cost efficiency for all.

Yann Meguira, VMware Product Unit Director at OVHcloud, explains:

“Broadcom’s new pricing policy imposes a minimum of 16 cores per license, which makes all small hosts unviable from a price-performance perspective. Our long-term strategy at OVHcloud has been to protect our customers. We therefore wanted to develop an offer on shared hardware to enable customers who wish to continue benefiting from the power of VMware with extremely competitive costs.”

OVHcloud: your trusted VMware partner and ally

We’ve supported organizations of all sizes through their cloud journey—from large enterprises to smaller actors—allowing them to benefit from solutions starting at just €299/month (launch pricing until June 2026). The new Public VCF as-a-Service offerhelps to democratize what was once accessible to only the biggest, strongest players. And to simplify a transition that can be complex, OVHcloud offers VMware ESXi Images, easing deployment and adoption for our bare metal servers.

And OVHcloud ensures full data sovereignty through SecNumCloud, C5, HDS, PCI-DSS and other industry-leading certifications; in fact, in 2020, we were named Leader of Hosted Private Cloud in Europe by Forrester. In 2024, VMware recognized us as Pinnacle Partner and CSP of the Year. Trust is integral when forming an alliance.

Our dedication to the cause goes beyond tech. As a trusted name in tech, OVHcloud builds its own servers and maintains strict control over infrastructure, all this while conserving both energy and costs with our patented water-cooling technology.

Fighting the good fight

Unlike our competitors in the field, we believe in contractual transparency and the freedom to cancel your contract. That means: no hidden fees, no surprise price hikes, and support for our customers’ existing agreements—even through big shifts like the VCF migration. And for those ready to embrace the future? We reward pre-commitment to our new stack with early access, pilot testing, and optimized pricing—currently underway with around 100 strategic partners.

The result? A future-ready, sustainable, sovereign infrastructure that empowers businesses to innovate securely, without compromise. We have your back, and we keep our promises. How’s that for a reliable ally?

A strategic alliance, built to last

Few partnerships in the cloud ecosystem have lasted and evolved with as much resilience and shared innovation as the one between VMware and OVHcloud. Keeping our friends close, we have enjoyed more than 25 years of VMware innovation and 15+ years of joint momentum, continuously delivering solutions of scalability, sovereignty, and simplicity.

This long-term commitment has led to key milestones in our history:

• 2011: Launch of OVHcloud’s Hosted Private Cloud
• 2017: Acquisition of VMware vCloud Air
• 2020: OVHcloud named Leader of Hosted Private Cloud in the EU by Forrester
• 2021: SecNumCloud qualification added to a growing list of certifications
• 2024: Recognized as Pinnacle Partner and Cloud Service Provider (CSP) of the Year in Europe
• 2025: Launch of first VCF-based offer Public VCF as-a-Service

A recognized leader in technology and trust

Our VMware-based solutions are awarded by the powers that be, and trusted by enterprises and public organizations alike:

• Certifications: SecNumCloud, C5, G-Cloud, Agid, HDS, PCI-DSS
• Awards: VMware Cloud Verified, Sovereign Cloud, and Zero Carbon Committed Partner
• A presence that spans Europe, North America, and strategic markets worldwide

Two strategies, one seamless experience

To be prepared for any circumstance, OVHcloud has designed a comprehensive portfolio of Managed VMware solutions:

• Public VCF as-a-Service (Ideal for small and medium customers)

• Entry-level VMware Cloud Foundation at €299/month
• Shared infrastructure, fully managed
• Perfect for development, test environments, or smaller production workloads
• Fast deployment and easy scaling

• Managed VMware vSphere (Ideal for large, regulated, or demanding workloads)

• Dedicated infrastructure with the highest certified cloud offers
• Built-in hyperconvergence, NSX networking, and enterprise monitoring
• Fully compliant (SecNumCloud, ISO, GDPR) and backed by 24/7 support
• Used by governments and large enterprises for secure cloud operations
• Provides professional services and solution architects to build the perfect combination of OVHcloud services

• Private VCF as-a-Service (Coming soon)

• The next generation of Managed VMware vSphere based on VCF 9
• Support for BYOS/BYOL to enable migration of VCF licenses to OVHcloud
• Will exist as a managed stretched cluster on 3-AZ (already in alpha) for business critical workloads
• All the best of OVHcloud expertise on the modern foundations of VCF 9

Access to all OVHcloud’s product portfolio and services

It’s not just a cloud—it’s the cloud of the future

The cloud we’re building is about more than preparation or infrastructure. It’s about empowering transformation for the betterment of us all:

• Dramatically shorter deployment times (from months to hours)
• Full-stack automation and simplified management
• A clear, sustainable Green IT roadmap with 0.20T CO₂e/MWh carbon usage in 2022

This is a new foundation that bolsters the enterprise cloud. Built to support digital sovereignty, environmental goals, and business agility, without compromise on cost or control.

VMware may have changed the rules of tech history—but with OVHcloud, you can now choose how you approach the future. 

Encouraging migration without the battle wounds

We know that migration means more than just moving workloads. It requires retraining teams, rethinking architectures, realigning budgets and maybe losing some good people along the way. That’s why we’ve:

• Simplified the stack
• Kept our lock-in policies
• Adjusted our offer and hardware to conserve the best price/performance ration within the new licensing rules
• Provided professional services and solution architects to build the perfect combination of OVHcloud services

We’re encouraging organizations to make revolutionary leap right now, because the future is already here—waiting for you to grab the horns.

Time to rally the troops

The world of virtualization is changing fast, and it’s not slowing down. With Broadcom reshaping how VMware is delivered and licensed, and with new solutions like VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 and 9.0 becoming the new standard, the path forward is clear: it’s time to modernize, simplify, and migratetoday.

At OVHcloud, we’ve anticipated this shift. We’ve designed a full-stack, sovereign, and sustainable cloud, purpose-built for organizations who want freedom, transparency, and performance without breaking the bank (or the SLA). Whether you’re a small business looking for a solid entry point or an enterprise needing certified infrastructure and 24/7 expertise, we’ve got your back in this fight!

Because let’s face it. When you’re in the trenches, migration can feel complex. So, we’ve removed the barriers to allow for a fair battle:

✔️ Transparent pricing
✔️ No vendor lock-in
✔️ Support for your existing VMware licenses
✔️ Early access and guidance from our expert teams
✔️ Hardware we design and build in-house, optimized for VMware workloads

This is not just about keeping up. It’s about staying ahead—with the right ally, and at the right time in history—with OVHcloud and VMware.

Forward ho!

🔗 https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/hosted-private-cloud/

🔗 https://www.ovhcloud.com/fr/solutions/migration-program/