How the VCF 9.0 lab drives more learning value

In November 2023, Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware. This $69 billion deal meant big changes for VMware users.

Perhaps the most tangible change was the shift from perpetual licences to a subscription-based model. But another impactful change was Broadcom's radical simplification of the VMware product portfolio.

Before the acquisition, the VMware product portfolio was comprehensive but sprawling. Under Broadcom, some 160 products have been consolidated into four flagship products.

This consolidation process extended to training, too. Many VMware courses have since been bundled up into a tighter portfolio.

Twenty-five legacy courses have been consolidated into six technology domains. These, in turn, have been bundled into five courses. The result is an educational catalogue that provides far better bang for your buck with no loss of quality.

At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we provide lab hosting services for VMware Education Delivery Partner (VEDP) courses.

Our company was born in the cloud – and in VMware's virtualisation software in particular. We have more than 30 years of experience with VMware architecture.

And for the last five years, we've hosted more than 500 VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 labs for VMware-authorised course providers.

In this article, we aim to show you how the newly consolidated VCF 9.0 lab portfolio drives more learning value – and how it can play a crucial role in training the next generation of cloud professionals.

What is the VCF 9.0 lab?

VCF 9.0 is a third-generation private cloud and unified app platform. It provides a premium, on-premise infrastructure solution for virtual machines (VMs) and containers that's optimised for modern apps and AI workloads.

VCF 9.0 labs teach cloud students how to use this powerful platform effectively. In the case of VMware-authorised courses delivered by VMware Education Delivery Partners (VEDPs), these labs are built on hands-on, real-world simulations of practical problems.

They're a great example of the value of lab learning. Instead of asking students to learn from dry, textbook-style resources, they learn through doing, gaining hands-on experience at their own pace.

These labs consolidate previous training programmes. This makes them more comprehensive and richer in learning, but also more resource-heavy. In fact, a VCF 9.0 lab environment can be up to 1,850 times larger than a vSphere 8 ICM (install, configure and manage) lab.

This has presented new challenges for course providers. At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we've put our hosting experience to the wheel and provided high-performing, reliable and cost-effective lab hosting services that ensure a smooth learning experience and tangible results.

Why does technical quality matter when delivering VMware courses?

Like all virtual labs, the newly consolidated VCF 9.0 lab adds value to companies. But this value can be compromised by inadequate underlying infrastructure.

There are three main reasons for this. The first relates to learner satisfaction, the second to cost efficiency and the third to the depth of knowledge acquired.

If infrastructure is inadequate, learning is likely to be disrupted and fragmented. This is frustrating for learners and teachers alike.

The same goes for a lack of adequate troubleshooting behind the scenes. For a lab to confer its full value on a company, you need to be sure the lab hosting service is on hand to jump in when something goes awry.

This ties in to the second point. Companies need to be sure they're getting a good ROI from the training they invest in. If learning is disrupted or glitchy, they're likely to feel they're not getting what they paid for.

And if they don't get what they paid for? This leads to the third and, in one sense, the most important point.

Training is there so IT professionals know how to maximise results with VCF 9.0. If their training is poorly hosted, they're unlikely to emerge with the depth of knowledge they need for real-world applications.

In effect, a company paying for a course that's not adequately hosted is paying for a knowledge gap. This knowledge gap will be felt down the line when staff are unable to promptly and effectively troubleshoot a problem.

At the end of the day, learning value is impossible without the right underlying infrastructure, whether your professionals need to deepen their understanding of VCF 9.0 or any other kind of virtualisation software. But what is it about VCF 9.0 in particular that adds this kind of value?

How does the VCF 9.0 lab increase value?

Since VMware's acquisition by Broadcom in 2023, the product portfolio has been streamlined – and VEDP courses have been streamlined alongside them.

Twenty-five courses have been folded into six technology domains. The resulting five courses provide all the knowledge required to effectively use VCF9.0 in an enterprise environment:

What does this mean for you? In short, learning has been consolidated and streamlined to maximise the usefulness of the learning and drive more learning value for companies in a whole host of sectors.

What does Ascend Cloud Solutions provide?

Here at Ascend Cloud Solutions, we provide consistent, reliable and high-quality lab hosting services for VEDP course providers, including the VCF 9.0 training programme.

Our infrastructure ensures consistency and reliability, while our extensive background in VMware software means we can jump in to troubleshoot problems as they arise.

In practice, this means that course providers who come to us for lab hosting services can count on a smooth experience for learners and teachers alike.

Are you looking for consistent, reliable and high-quality lab hosting services for VMware-authorised lab courses? Get in touch with Ascend Cloud Solutions today to discuss your needs or explore the course catalogue to see which courses we support.