VMware Explore 2025 in Las Vegas

Day 2 Recap | August 26, 2025

Welcome to VMware Explore 2025, where thousands of explorers have gathered at The Venetian Convention and Expo Center to harness the power of private cloud. Reporting live from Nevada, here’s your recap of Day 2.

Welcome Reception Highlights

Yesterday at 5:00 PM PDT, the energy kicked into high gear at the Welcome Reception—complete with 9ft LED robot stilt walkers, exciting giveaways, networking opportunities, and plenty of food and drinks. In fact, we served roughly 600 pounds of bacon and 1,000 pounds of chicken among our various catering bars (we’re pretty sure that’s a record)!

Attendees were greeted with lively music, arcade games, activations, and the event’s sponsors and exhibitors. The VMware by Broadcom booth was buzzing, offering demos, expert advice, and theater sessions. There was also plenty of interest at the Swag Station, where attendees picked up this year’s official event backpack and free event coloring pages.

The Hub—Community at the Core

From morning through evening, The Hub once again proved to be the beating heart of VMware Explore. This year’s expanded space brings together exhibitors, program areas, and community activations into one consolidated location.

Explorers recharged in the lounge areas, networked at the Communities Lounge, and tuned in to the Broadcast Booth featuring theCUBE for live interviews. Many stopped by the Discovery Theater for stimulating breakout content, earned points at Broadcom Rewards via the Explorer Expedition Game in the mobile app, and even took a paws with some puppies at the Bark Park. Wherever you turned, connections were being made and ideas were cross-polinating throughout The Hub today.

General Session—Innovation on the Main Stage

This morning’s general session was one of the major highlights of the week, with Broadcom leaders, VMware experts, and innovative customers showcasing the latest in private cloud, AI, and app delivery.

The key message? VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 is designed to help enterprises optimize, scale, and secure workloads in today’s complex cloud environment.

Didn’t watch it live? By the end of the day, the full replay will be available in the VMware Explore Video Library. Dive in to learn about the new product announcements and technical insights that were revealed today.

Focus on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and Learning

On and off the main stage, VCF 9.0 continued to be the star of the day. Explorers got expert insights into the latest features including:

• GPU Management for AI workloads
  
• Tiered Memory for performance and budget efficiency
  
• A Unified Console to simplify operations
  
• Expanded APIs for boosting automation and flexibility
  

Learning opportunities for VCF 9.0 went even further as attendees participated in Hands-on Labs, Expert-led Workshops, and certification exams designed to sharpen skills and accelerate career growth. VMware Explore is about more than keeping up—it’s about getting ahead.

On Deck: Odyssey Final Tournament 

Looking ahead, the VMware Odyssey Final Tournament kicks off tomorrow at 11:00 AM in the Hands-on Labs room on Level 2 in the back of The Hub. The top 8 finalists will compete live, climbing the leaderboard and putting their knowledge to the test. Whether attendees are there to cheer, compete, or learn, it’s always a fan favorite.

Day 2 underscored what makes VMware Explore unique: innovation on stage, career development opportunities across labs and certifications, and the collective impact of our community coming together. There’s still more—tomorrow awaits with even more chances to learn, connect, and advance.