Platform9 updates private cloud software to woo VMware users

Platform9 has updated its Private Cloud Director software with a new Linux distribution, Platform9 OS, aimed at companies moving away from VMware.

The release adds a KVM-ready Linux layer designed to reduce the Linux administration needed to deploy, run and upgrade a private cloud environment. It also extends observability and support for self-hosted deployments to match features already available in the software-as-a-service version.

The changes come as many corporate technology teams reassess their infrastructure after Broadcom's acquisition of VMware and amid a wider shift towards Kubernetes-based systems for newer application workloads. Platform9 is positioning the release at organisations that want to retain a familiar virtualisation operating model while changing the underlying software stack.

According to figures cited by Platform9, a January survey by CloudBolt found that 86% of IT decision-makers were actively reducing their use of VMware. Separate market data showed continued growth in Kubernetes use, including for artificial intelligence inference workloads.

Linux changes

A central part of the release is Platform9 OS, a turnkey Linux distribution prepared for KVM, the open-source hypervisor technology widely used as an alternative to VMware's stack. The software is aimed at administrators with VMware experience but less direct experience managing Linux systems.

It can automate configuration of the Linux image, translate VMware networking constructs into Linux-native networking, and convert VMware clusters to KVM-based environments. The update also adds an option to create virtual machines directly from ISO images for both Linux and Windows.

That focus addresses a practical issue in migration projects. Companies may be willing to move away from VMware licensing and product dependencies, but often face operational hurdles when the target environment requires deeper Linux expertise than their existing teams have.

"With today's release of Platform9 OS, VMware administrators can deploy, operate, and upgrade an enterprise-grade KVM based private cloud without the overhead of traditional Linux systems administration," said Sirish Raghuram, chief growth officer and co-founder of Platform9.

"Our design goal for Platform9 OS is that operators do not need to login to the Linux shell, it is intelligently managed by the Platform9 management plane," he said.

Self-hosted parity

Another part of the update focuses on observability and support for customers running the platform in self-hosted mode rather than consuming it as a managed service. Those deployments now have the same observability and support features as the SaaS version.

The change also reflects demand from customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where data sovereignty requirements can push organisations towards self-hosted installations instead of externally managed cloud services.

Audit logging has also been revised to improve readability, capture more data and let administrators produce filtered log outputs. Users can now connect the platform with external observability, logging and security information and event management tools, allowing operational and audit data to feed into existing dashboards and reporting systems.

Broader platform

Alongside the Linux and observability changes, Platform9 has expanded Kubernetes support for self-hosted and Community Edition environments. Cluster-API-based Kubernetes is now available in both deployment models.

That addition reflects the growing overlap between traditional virtualisation, private cloud operations and container management. As more companies run mixed estates of virtual machines and Kubernetes clusters, vendors in the private cloud market are trying to present a single operational framework across both.

Platform9, founded by former VMware employees, has built its business around software for running private cloud infrastructure with a management layer designed to resemble public cloud operations. Its Private Cloud Director product has been marketed as a way for customers to replace older virtualisation environments while keeping control of on-premise infrastructure.

The latest release shows how vendors targeting VMware migrations are trying to remove operational friction as well as software friction. In many cases, the challenge is not just converting virtual machines or changing hypervisors, but adapting teams, processes and support models to a different underlying platform.

One migration tool highlighted by Platform9, vJailbreak, is intended to help automate VMware displacement at scale. The company said a single customer had used it to migrate more than 10,000 virtual machines.