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VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) · Full-stack Private Cloud Infrastructure & Management Platform

For your VMware Cloud Foundation transition,
work with a 12-year cloud specialist team, not just a reseller

Since Broadcom's restructuring, adopting VCF is no longer a simple license purchase. It means redefining your entire infrastructure architecture. Softworks is a specialist partner that has designed and deployed virtualization and cloud infrastructure on the front lines for 12 years. From vSphere core deployment to a full-stack VCF transition and stable operations afterward, a dedicated engineering team with 12 years of experience takes responsibility from start to finish.

Why Softworks

How Softworks approaches VMware Cloud Foundation

01

We design for operational stability two to three years out, not convenience at deployment

Over 12 years in the enterprise virtualization market, we have seen how decisively initial architecture design shapes a customer's operating costs and incident frequency two to three years later. A design that only considers convenience at deployment ends up burdening the customer during operations. Softworks looks across the full system lifecycle and proposes the architecture that stays stable and efficient to maintain and manage after handover.

Integrated platform architecture of VMware Cloud Foundation 9
Integrated platform architecture of VMware Cloud Foundation 9
02

We find the most cost-effective architecture by redesigning your license structure

Under Broadcom's new bundled subscription model, carrying over your existing configuration as-is can inflate costs with advanced features and broad product bundles you never use. Softworks analyzes workloads in detail, rebalances clusters, and sizes exactly the packages you need. The result is an infrastructure architecture and a license optimization plan, delivered together, that eliminate wasted spend.

03

Full support for strict financial and public sector network separation rules and security audits

In the financial and public sectors, infrastructure deployment is about more than technical implementation. Strict security guidelines and regulatory compliance are at its core. Drawing on experience from numerous regulated financial and public sector projects, Softworks implements NSX-based virtualized network separation. Beyond deployment, we prepare the evidence required for regulatory inspections and security audits, supporting stable operations with reduced regulatory risk.

04

From virtualization to containers and AI, specialist engineers work as one team to deliver your project

The key to a successful VCF adoption is having experts who understand not only the virtualization layer but also the container environments and AI workloads running on top of it. Softworks has specialist engineers in each area, with experience ranging from infrastructure to MLOps platform development. A skilled team covers everything from the underlying virtualization layer to the AI and container service layers through a single point of contact, keeping complex VCF transition projects on track to success.

The complete VMware Cloud Foundation 9 stack, from the management console to automation, containers and AI
The complete VMware Cloud Foundation 9 stack, from the management console to automation, containers and AI
Scope of Work

From assessment to operations: what Softworks covers

Assess

Assessment

Current virtualization assessment · Workload inventory · License impact analysis · TCO comparison (keep/migrate/replace)

Design

Design

VMware Cloud Foundation architecture design · Management and workload domain separation · vSAN storage policies · NSX networking and network separation design · Backup/DR integration design

Build

Deployment

VCF Installer-based deployment · Standard VCF Operations configuration · Security baselines (CIS and agency guidelines) · Performance validation

Migrate

Migration

Migration from existing vSphere or other hypervisors · Choosing between Converge and Import paths · V2V migration · Phased migration plan and rollback criteria

Operate

Operations

Operations handover · Administrator training · Routine inspection framework · Technical support onboarding

Knowledge Base

12 years of deployment records are the starting point for the next project

The many complex variables and technical decisions you face in a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) transition are areas Softworks has already validated in the field and resolved over many years. Softworks has captured the design criteria, incident response history and performance tuning values built up across 12 years of enterprise projects in its own Knowledge Base. New projects do not start from a blank page. We apply proven deployment know-how from day one to deliver the most stable VCF infrastructure.

  • 12 yearsof virtualization and cloud deployment project experience
  • Finance · Public · ManufacturingTrack record with industry-specific regulatory requirements
  • Standard design setsArchitecture references for every scale

Accumulated Assets

  • Assessment checklist (cumulative revisions)
  • Resource usage baselines by scale
  • Standard architecture references by scale
  • Redundancy configuration pattern set
  • Security baseline set (CIS and agency guidelines)
  • Performance and failure test scenarios
  • Migration phase design patterns
  • Rollback criteria
  • Operations handover documentation standards
Field Issues

Five common problems in the field

Challenges in the FieldThe Softworks Approach
“The licensing model changed, and costs are hard to predict”We profile actual workload usage patterns in detail to size the right license package with no overspending. We present a three-year total cost of ownership (TCO) with clear figures for three scenarios: keeping the current environment, moving to VCF, or replacing it with another solution. This helps you make the most economical and rational decision.
“Performance after moving to vSAN is not what we expected”Before migration, Softworks measures the actual I/O characteristics of your current workloads and designs the optimal storage policies (fault tolerance method, deduplication, cache configuration and more). After migration, we compare measured performance against the baseline data to confirm it meets expectations.
“We deployed NSX, but interpreting network separation regulations is difficult”Network separation guidelines and security regulations for financial and public institutions are notoriously difficult to interpret and apply. Based on hands-on experience completing numerous financial and public sector network separation projects, Softworks designs optimal security policies using NSX. We also prepare the evidence documents and deliverables required for security inspections and audits in one pass, easing the burden of regulatory compliance.
“We remove concerns about ‘migration disruption risk’ so you can make fast, safe decisions”To reduce the risk of outages during infrastructure migration, Softworks defines rollback points at every stage. We migrate a small pilot group first and work only during windows with no business impact, providing a migration process that both IT staff and executives can approve with confidence.
“Our environment is old, and we can’t tell whether it can move to VMware Cloud Foundation”Softworks analyzes the configuration of your existing systems in detail and first determines the best path: consolidating resources into the management domain (Converge) or bringing them in as a workload domain (Import). We then verify NSX network additions and storage support scope before proposing a reliable VCF transition plan with no trial and error.
Components

The four components of VMware Cloud Foundation 9

VMware Cloud Foundation runs all of its components as one integrated platform. Storage (vSAN) and networking (NSX) are software-defined, and resource deployment automation (Automation) and unified operations (Operations) run on top of them through a single console. The compute layer (vSphere · vCenter) is covered on the vSphere Foundation page. Below is how each component works and the criteria Softworks validates and designs for in advance to ensure a successful transition.

01

vSAN

Turn servers' internal disks into shared storage

vSAN is software-defined storage (SDS) that pools servers' internal disks into a single shared datastore. Fault tolerance (FTT) and encryption policies can be set flexibly per virtual machine (VM). With vSAN ESA, always-on compression and global deduplication (generally available in VCF 9.1) apply across the entire cluster to maximize storage efficiency. Built-in Data Protection retains up to 200 snapshots per VM, and vSAN-to-vSAN replication to another vSAN datastore (licensed separately) provides a higher level of data protection.

vSAN OSA vs. ESA architecture
vSAN OSA vs. ESA architecture
What Softworks Does

The most common problems when moving from external storage to vSAN are performance that falls short after deployment or capacity that shrinks sharply. Both stem from poorly designed initial storage policies. Softworks measures workload I/O characteristics before migration and finalizes the right FTT, cache and deduplication policies in advance. After deployment, we deliver a comprehensive performance validation report comparing measured results against the pre-migration analysis, completing a vSAN environment that meets both capacity and performance goals.

02

NSX

Software-defined networking and security

NSX provides overlay networking and a distributed firewall to enforce fine-grained network separation (micro-segmentation) down to the individual virtual machine (VM). Starting with VCF 9, VPCs (virtual private clouds) can be defined directly in the vCenter console, so workloads get networks immediately without asking the network team for new physical VLANs. NSX Enhanced Data Path mode, enabled by default in new deployments, processes the same network traffic with far fewer CPU cores. Softworks verifies in advance that your existing server NICs meet the compatibility requirements for this feature, delivering an optimized network environment without risk.

Multi-tenant networking with VPC and Transit Gateway
Multi-tenant networking with VPC and Transit Gateway
Traffic path from external connections through the Tier-0 gateway and VPC down to the business network
Traffic path from external connections through the Tier-0 gateway and VPC down to the business network
What Softworks Does

In infrastructure subject to the Electronic Financial Supervisory Regulations and public sector network separation guidelines, projects often stall after NSX is installed because no one knows how to apply the complex security rules. This is exactly where Softworks' expertise comes in. Going beyond technical support, Softworks handles regulatory interpretation → NSX distributed firewall policy design → audit evidence preparation as one consistent scope of work. We resolve tangled regulatory issues and deliver a virtualized security environment that is fully audit-ready.

03

VCF Automation

Automate complex IT processes with powerful workflow orchestration

VCF Automation systematizes every step from resource request to approval and deployment. Workflow orchestration ties together system integrations and complex multi-step tasks to maximize IT operational efficiency. Business users consume resources easily through a catalog, while administrators manage policy and cost in one place. In VCF 9, tenant management is consolidated into a single VCF console for a more intuitive experience. Whether you start from vSphere, vRA or Cloud Director, the migration path and downtime windows differ, so an upfront assessment is essential. Softworks proposes an orchestration architecture tailored to your environment and a risk-free migration roadmap.

Organization · Project · VPC · Namespace tenancy model
Organization · Project · VPC · Namespace tenancy model
Self-service catalog
Self-service catalog
What Softworks Does

Softworks replaces inefficient resource requests handled over email and spreadsheets with automated processes built on VCF Automation. We do more than install a tool: we carefully migrate your actual approval chains and request forms into blueprints. We also integrate VCF Automation with your core systems, such as ITSM and identity management (AD · LDAP), to build a unified orchestration environment where resources are provisioned automatically as soon as approval is granted.

04

VCF Operations

Consolidate scattered management into a single console for better operational visibility

Everything operations requires is available on a single screen: fleet lifecycle management (planning · scheduling · upgrades), infrastructure performance optimization, application and network topology analysis, and a security dashboard. You can view vCenters and virtual resources across multiple sites in one place, and software subscriptions and technical support channels are consolidated as well, strengthening enterprise IT governance.

VCF Operations and Fleet Management configuration
VCF Operations and Fleet Management configuration
Non-compliant items shown in the security dashboard
Non-compliant items shown in the security dashboard
What Softworks Does

Environments where only the default dashboards are configured are rarely looked at once in operation. Infrastructure monitoring delivers value only when it reflects the customer's actual operating criteria. Right after deployment, Softworks rebuilds the metrics to match your operating standards. For the first three months, we tune routine check items and alert thresholds together with your operations staff. Only after this process do we hand over an environment your operations team can rely on with confidence.

SourceDiagrams used to describe the components are from Broadcom's official technical documentation; some have been redrawn by Softworks.

Operation & Support

Technical support continues after deployment

The life of your infrastructure is determined by operations after the transition. The engineers who performed the deployment stay on as your technical support contacts.

  • Routine inspections and health checks
  • Patch and upgrade technical support
  • First-level incident analysis and Broadcom escalation
  • Annual architecture review
  • License renewal and resizing support

We combine solutions from global technology leaders with Softworks' deployment and operations expertise to power our customers' digital and AI transformation.

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Build AI infrastructure on the same private cloud.

Build your private cloud on the right design criteria from the start

We start by reviewing your current environment and designing the scope and phases of your VCF transition together.

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