At VMWorld 2019, VMware announced a new service portfolio called Tanzu, allowing users to build services natively based on Kubernetes within the existing vSphere environment. VMware also emphasized its continued embrace of Kubernetes applications and stated that it is currently one of the top three contributors to Kubernetes technology applications globally, seemingly indicating a gradual reduction in the use of virtual machines. In fact, looking at the Tanzu platform architecture, the parallel structure of Kubernetes and virtual machines within vSphere has been adjusted to a system where Kubernetes is the underlying layer, and virtual machines are configured on top of Kubernetes. This architectural shift allows users to directly build Kubernetes application services within vSphere, while also enabling single-point management through Tanzu Mission Control and the advantage of dynamic adjustments. Although other product infrastructures haven't changed yet, this may indicate that if VMware's application model with Tanzu is successful and widely adopted, it may be further applied to other products, potentially reducing the proportion of virtual machine technology used in the original product portfolio. However, according to Mark Lohmeyer, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cloud Platforms Group at VMware, both Kubernetes and existing virtual machine technologies are key areas of continued development for VMware, with no particular emphasis on either. Lohmeyer further explained that embracing Kubernetes offers more development opportunities; therefore, the Tanzu product portfolio design is more like an extension of the existing vSphere application model, while also allowing for greater development space for virtual machine technology. Given VMware's current market strategy of developing cross-cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid cloud solutions, embracing Kubernetes is inevitable. Firstly, the benefits of traditional virtual machines are becoming increasingly limited, and unlike container services, they cannot adapt to changes in demand more quickly, and centralized management is also difficult. Secondly, to connect cross-cloud application services, containerization provides greater compatibility; therefore, embracing Kubernetes, which is currently widely used, will bring more advantages. In particular, the announced collaboration with NVIDIA, leveraging Kubernetes as a medium, enables the vSphere virtualization platform to quickly connect virtualized GPU computing resources. This allows users to rapidly deploy applications requiring large-scale computing, such as artificial intelligence, deep learning, and big data analytics. It also reduces the cost of building servers with integrated GPU acceleration resources and provides flexibility for applications that frequently require adjustments to computing resources based on research project changes. However, even with the increased opportunities brought by embracing Kubernetes, VMware cannot completely abandon its existing virtual machine technology application model. This is because many partners still use virtual machines for computing, and many application services remain built on virtual machine architectures. Therefore, virtual machine technology will remain a key focus for VMware. While the continued expansion of Kubernetes applications may gradually reduce the proportion of traditional virtual machine applications, it will not be completely eliminated. In fact, it may even lead to the development of new usage models for edge computing and IoT applications.
