Virtually Speaking Podcast

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100

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Jun 2026

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About the show

The Virtually Speaking Podcast is a weekly technical podcast dedicated to discussing VMware topics related to private and hybrid cloud. Each week Pete Flecha and John Nicholson bring in various subject matter experts from VMware, recently acquired by Broadcom, and within the industry to discuss their respective areas of expertise.

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June 16, 2026Episode 60514 min

Kubernetes Networking, Gateway API, and WAFs with F5 & VKS

At KubeCon 2026 in Amsterdam, Jad El-Zein and John Nicholson sit down with Philippe Klapp from F5 to discuss the evolution of Kubernetes networking, ingress, Gateway API, and web application security in modern cloud-native environments. The conversation explores how F5 has evolved from traditional hardware load balancers to cloud-native solutions running inside Kubernetes clusters, including NGINX, Container Ingress Services (CIS), and Distributed Cloud. They also discuss VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS), Gateway API momentum, WAF deployment models, AI-era protocols like MCP, and what platform engineering means for both VMware and F5 customers. If you’re running Kubernetes at scale or trying to simplify networking and security across private cloud and platform engineering workflows this episode is packed with practical insights. Guests: Philippe Klapp, F5 Hosts: Jad El-Zein & John Nicholson Event: KubeCon 2026 – Amsterdam

June 12, 2026Episode 60413 min

eBPF, Cilium, and the Future of Kubernetes Networking with Isovalent & VKS

At KubeCon 2026 in Amsterdam, Jad El-Zein and John Nicholson sit down with Duffie Cooley, Field CTO at Isovalent, to talk about eBPF, Cilium, Kubernetes networking, and the growing partnership between Isovalent and VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS). The conversation dives into how Cilium integrates with VKS as a day-zero add-on, how eBPF changes networking and observability inside Kubernetes, and why technologies like BGP, ECMP, and kube-proxy replacement matter for scalable modern platforms. Duffie also explains how Isovalent and VMware networking strategies complement each other, how enterprise capabilities extend beyond open source Cilium, and why add-on ecosystems are becoming critical for platform engineering teams operating Kubernetes at scale. If you’re building modern Kubernetes platforms, exploring VKS, or trying to simplify networking and security operations, this episode is packed with practical insights from one of the pioneers behind the technology. Guest: Duffie Cooley, Field CTO – Isovalent Hosts: Jad El-Zein & John Nicholson Event: KubeCon 2026 – Amsterdam

June 9, 2026Episode 60350 min

Networking for VCF 9.1: Simplifying Private Cloud Networking

etworking has traditionally been one of the biggest barriers to private cloud agility. In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Dimitri Desmidt from the VMware Cloud Foundation Networking team to explore how VCF Networking simplifies network operations in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1. The discussion covers how VPCs, connectivity policies, IP Address Management (IPAM) integration, and network automation allow infrastructure teams to provision networking services directly from vCenter without requiring deep networking expertise or constant coordination with network administrators. Dimitri walks through real-world examples showing how VCF Networking delivers self-service networking, multi-tenancy, simplified application isolation, and integrated network services while preserving the flexibility and scale required by modern private cloud environments. If you’ve ever wanted networking to be as easy to consume as compute and storage, this episode is for you.

June 5, 2026Episode 60217 min

The Art of Troubleshooting: Solving Complex IT Problems Together

Troubleshooting complex IT environments isn’t just about technology, it’s about people, process, and collaboration. Recorded at VMware Connect 2026, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Kim Delgado and Mandy Bosco-Wilson (better known as Team Kandy) to discuss collaborative troubleshooting methodologies that help organizations solve problems faster and more effectively. The conversation explores common troubleshooting anti-patterns, the importance of psychological safety, blameless inquiry, scientific troubleshooting methods, and real-world examples of complex issues spanning vSAN, Kubernetes, Cloud Native Storage, networking, and infrastructure operations. Kim and Mandy share stories from the field, including how a seemingly simple issue bounced between multiple support teams before collaborative troubleshooting uncovered the true root cause. They also discuss strategies for handling multi-vendor incidents, avoiding siloed thinking, and creating environments where everyone can contribute to finding solutions. Whether you’re a VMware administrator, platform engineer, SRE, architect, or IT operations leader, this episode offers practical techniques you can apply to your own troubleshooting processes.

June 2, 2026Episode 60110 min

Real-World VCF 9 Migrations: What Actually Works

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (and 9.1) is generating a lot of excitement, but many organizations are still operating with assumptions based on older VCF releases. In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Bill Oyler from Presidio to separate fact from fiction and discuss what customers are actually experiencing as they adopt VMware Cloud Foundation 9. Bill shares lessons learned from customer migrations, including brownfield convergences, external storage support, infrastructure readiness assessments, and some of the most common upgrade pitfalls organizations encounter. The conversation covers everything from Enhanced Linked Mode and distributed switches to certificates, firewall rules, hardware compatibility, and practical planning considerations for successful VCF 9 adoption. Whether you’re evaluating VMware Cloud Foundation, preparing for a migration, or already planning your upgrade, this episode provides valuable insights from real-world customer engagements and deployments. #VirtuallySpeakingPodcast #VMware #VMwareCloudFoundation #VCF9 #VMUG #PrivateCloud #vSphere #vSAN #Broadcom

May 29, 2026Episode 60023 min

From VMUG to Career Growth: The Power of Community

In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, we’re live from VMUG Connect in Minneapolis with Brock Peterson and Dale Hassinger from Broadcom for a conversation about community, blogging, automation, AI, and career growth. Brock and Dale share how community involvement, technical blogging, VMUG participation, hackathons, and simply putting your work out into the world can create real career opportunities. Dale talks about his journey from customer and community contributor to Broadcom employee, while Broc explains why blogs still matter as practical, reusable technical content for customers and practitioners. The conversation also explores how AI is changing the way infrastructure teams work, from troubleshooting YAML and building automation to creating apps, dashboards, and AI-driven home lab workflows. Whether you’re looking to grow your career, start blogging, present at a VMUG, or experiment with AI and automation, this episode is packed with practical encouragement from two long-time community contributors.give me some alternate titles. Links Mentioned Brock's Blog: https://www.brockpeterson.com/ Dale's Blog: https://www.vcrocs.info/

May 22, 2026Episode 59918 min

GPUs, Kubernetes & AI Infrastructure Realities

At KubeCon 2026, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with VMware by Broadcom’s Frank Denneman to explore one of the biggest infrastructure conversations happening in AI today: should Kubernetes workloads run on bare metal or virtualized infrastructure? The discussion dives deep into how AI workloads are changing infrastructure design, why Kubernetes and virtualization are becoming increasingly connected, and how technologies like DRS and Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) are evolving to support modern GPU-intensive environments. Frank explains the operational, security, and resource management challenges organizations face as AI adoption accelerates — especially when dealing with expensive GPU clusters, multi-tenant AI workloads, and the rise of AI agents. Topics include: Why virtualization still matters for Kubernetes and AI GPU scheduling, topology awareness, and resource isolation DRA (Dynamic Resource Allocation) in Kubernetes AI infrastructure efficiency and GPU utilization Security and isolation for AI agents and workloads Token governance and AI operational guardrails Lessons learned from decades of virtualization applied to AI infrastructure If you’re trying to understand where Kubernetes, virtualization, and AI infrastructure are headed next, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

May 20, 2026Episode 59811 min

What Enterprises Get Wrong About Kubernetes

At KubeCon 2026, Pete and John sit down with Myles Gray, Product Marketing Engineer at Broadcom, to talk about what enterprises often underestimate when adopting Kubernetes. Myles shares lessons learned from years of working directly with Kubernetes platforms, platform engineering teams, and enterprise customers trying to move from experimentation into real production environments. The conversation dives into the operational realities of Kubernetes — including long-term maintenance, upgrades, GitOps workflows, CI/CD pipelines, open source integrations, security scanning, and why the ecosystem around Kubernetes matters just as much as Kubernetes itself. They also explore concepts like “golden paths to production,” Argo CD, Harbor, OpenTelemetry, container image security, Cloud Native Buildpacks, and how organizations can standardize application delivery without creating hundreds of fragmented deployment pipelines. If you’re trying to understand how enterprises are operationalizing Kubernetes at scale — and why platform engineering is becoming so important — this conversation is packed with practical insights.

May 19, 2026Episode 59753 min

What's New in vSphere for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 brings major updates to vSphere, and in this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Feidhlim O’Leary for a deeper technical look at what’s new. The conversation explores how vSphere 9.1 improves lifecycle management, streamlines firmware and driver updates, enhances VM management, and expands memory tiering capabilities introduced in earlier releases. Feidhlim also shares insights into observability improvements, operational simplification, and the types of day-to-day enhancements that practitioners will immediately appreciate. From certificate management and lifecycle automation to performance optimization and hardware enablement, this episode focuses on the practical operational improvements that make vSphere 9.1 one of the most substantial platform releases in recent years. If you’re running VMware Cloud Foundation or vSphere environments at scale, this is a great technical overview of the updates infrastructure teams should know about. #VMware #vSphere #VCF #VMwareCloudFoundation #virtuallyspeakingpodcast Links Mentioned What’s New with vSphere in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1? https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/12/whats-new-with-vsphere-9-1/ VMware vCenter Virtual Hardware Gets an Upgrade in vSphere with VCF 9.1 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/12/vcenter-virtual-hardware-upgrade/ Non-Disruptive VMware vCenter Patching in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/12/vcenter-quick-patch/

May 18, 2026Episode 59618 min

Tigera + VMware Cloud Foundation: Securing Kubernetes and AI at Scale

Tigera is the creator of Calico, one of the most widely deployed Kubernetes networking and security platforms in the world, powering millions of Kubernetes nodes globally. In this conversation, Ratan explains why enterprise customers are demanding more advanced networking, observability, and microsegmentation capabilities for modern Kubernetes environments — especially as AI workloads continue to grow. The discussion covers Calico integration with VMware Kubernetes Service, platform engineering, service mesh, encryption, multi-cluster networking, and how organizations can simplify Kubernetes operations while improving security and performance. They also dive into one of the hottest topics at KubeCon: AI agents. Ratan shares how Tigera is thinking about agent governance, observability, authorization, and securing autonomous AI workloads across hybrid environments. If you’re building modern Kubernetes platforms, securing AI infrastructure, or operating cloud native applications at scale, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.