Are Virtual Machines the Secret to Cloud Native Success?

Key Highlights

• Broadcom has successfully contributed its VM API project to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox to centralize management workflows.
• The initiative aims to deliver virtual machine provisioning through native Kubernetes APIs.
• Broadcom will co-chair the new Workload Conformance Working Group to establish shared standards for workload runtime behavior.
• The 2026 Virtual Machines Report indicates virtual machines still account for over half of production applications.
• More than 20 new partner solutions have been validated for the VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service to accelerate deployment timelines.

The News

Broadcom announced today at KubeCon North America 2026 that its VM API project has been accepted into the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox. The company also revealed its role co-chairing the new Workload Conformance Working Group to define open standards for Kubernetes workloads. Alongside these community contributions, Broadcom validated more than 20 partner solutions for its VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service ecosystem. You can find out more by clicking here to read the press release.

Analyst Take

The narrative around enterprise architecture over the past decade heavily favored containers as the inevitable destination for all workloads. Yet the reality on the ground looks quite different. Organizations continue to rely on virtual machines. The Linux Foundation data released today confirms that 53 percent of production applications still run on VMs. Our own HyperFRAME Research Lens shows that VMs account for 40 percent of all enterprise compute workloads, outpacing containers at 28 percent. We see this not as a failure of container adoption, but as a rational calculation by infrastructure teams balancing performance, isolation, and cost.

Virtual machines remain stubbornly relevant; in fact, 57 percent of organizations are actively increasing their virtualization budgets to strengthen their existing foundations. Broadcom recognizes this reality and is adjusting its strategy to accommodate mixed-mode environments rather than forcing a premature migration. By introducing the VM API project into the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox, the company is attempting to harmonize two historically distinct operating models. This move brings legacy infrastructure into the modern era and challenges the assumption that modernization requires refactoring every application into microservices.

Many platform engineering teams struggle to manage dual operating models. Teams use one set of bespoke tools for Kubernetes and another entirely different set for the hypervisor fleet. This separation breeds inefficiency. Broadcom is positioning a solution to sort out that divide. If infrastructure teams can use a single declarative model to provision a container and a virtual machine, the operational friction decreases significantly. We see this as a highly pragmatic approach to enterprise IT management. It recognizes that operational simplicity is often more valuable than architectural purity.

We also view the formation of the Workload Conformance Working Group as a vital development for independent software vendors. Historically, ISVs have had to certify applications against dozens of different Kubernetes distributions. This fragmentation slows down deployment cycles and increases engineering overhead. By working to define an objective standard for workload runtime behavior, Broadcom is addressing a significant friction point amongst the cloud-native community. If the groups can agree on a shared set of conformance tests for workloads, it will streamline how software is distributed and consumed across the enterprise.

What was Announced

Broadcom announced that the VM API project is now part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox. This technology is architected to allow virtual machines to be provisioned and managed directly through Kubernetes APIs. It aims to deliver a unified control plane across heterogeneous infrastructure providers. Broadcom is also co-chairing the Workload Conformance Working Group. This group is designed to establish a shared standard for how workloads run on Kubernetes, ensuring consistency across multi-vendor environments.

The company also expanded the VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service ecosystem. VKS is architected to run directly on the hypervisor so that VMs, containers, and AI workloads share the same clusters. Broadcom validated over 20 partner solutions across several critical categories. For observability, the service integrates with Datadog, Grafana Labs, New Relic, and Splunk. Security validations include CrowdStrike, Sysdig, and Tigera Lynx. For stateful storage, Dell PowerProtect and Scality RING are now supported. These integrations are designed to help organizations deploy resilient architectures without abandoning their existing operational tooling.

The strategy here is grounded in pragmatism. AI workloads require strict hardware isolation. Virtual machines provide that boundary effectively. Containers offer agility. By bringing VM management into the Kubernetes control plane, Broadcom aims to deliver the best of both worlds.

We see this move as a direct response to customer fatigue. Enterprises are tired of infrastructure silos. The machinations over the commercial model adopted by Broadcom since the acquisition of VMware have only exacerbated this situation. Enterprises want unified governance. When you can apply the same security policy to a database running on a VM and a microservice running in a container, the compliance burden drops. Broadcom is building the technical foundation to make that outcome a reality.

We also must consider the timing of this announcement. Following the VMware acquisition, there has been considerable market speculation about how Broadcom would handle its open-source commitments. Contributing a core management technology like VM API to a neutral body like the CNCF sends a clear message. This is a good move by Broadcom. It demonstrates a willingness to engage constructively with the broader developer community. The decision to co-chair the conformance working group further solidifies this posture. We see these actions as necessary steps to maintain technical leadership in an ecosystem that is highly skeptical of proprietary lock-in.

The open-source contribution is a calculated play. By contributing VM API to the community, Broadcom invites collaboration from competing infrastructure providers. The success of this initiative will depend on how broadly the market adopts these standards. Sandbox projects in the CNCF are early-stage efforts. These projects require sustained investment and active participation from a diverse set of contributors to reach graduation. Broadcom must prove that VM API is not just a mechanism for managing VMware environments but a genuinely vendor-neutral standard for the entire industry.

This strategy also aligns with the broader shifts in infrastructure spending. Companies are scrutinizing cloud budgets and looking for ways to maximize on-premises hardware utilization. Running Kubernetes directly on the hypervisor allows organizations to drive higher density and efficiency. Validating partner solutions across security, observability, and storage ensures these high-density environments remain secure and manageable. Broadcom is essentially offering a blueprint for enterprise IT teams to consolidate their infrastructure footprint whilst accelerating the deployment of modern applications. We anticipate that this unified approach will resonate strongly with large enterprises that manage complex computing environments.

Looking Ahead

Based on what we are observing, the convergence of virtual machines and containers under a single control plane is moving from a theoretical concept to a practical necessity. The key trend we are going to be looking out for is how rapidly competing platform vendors adopt the VM API standard. Our perspective is that infrastructure consolidation will accelerate as AI and agentic workflows demand both hardware isolation and rapid scalability. Complex computational workloads require specialized execution environments.

Going forward, we are going to be closely monitoring how the company performs in building consensus within the Workload Conformance Working Group. Establishing objective standards for workload portability requires balancing the interests of independent software vendors and platform providers. A unified standard prevents vendor lock-in. When you look at the market as a whole, the announcement signals a shift away from isolated hypervisor management toward integrated infrastructure orchestration. HyperFRAME will be tracking how the company does in executing this vision in future quarters.

We expect competitors like Red Hat and Nutanix to respond with an approach to unified management to protect market share. The tectonic shift here is the acknowledgment that virtualization is not a legacy technology waiting to be deprecated. It is a foundational component of modern computing infrastructure. This realization will dictate how enterprises allocate their technology budgets over the next five years. We anticipate a wave of consolidation in operational tooling as disparate platforms converge. This systemic consolidation will ultimately benefit the enterprise buyer through lower administrative overhead and tighter security controls.