Show notes
James Governor of RedMonk sits down with VMware by Broadcom's Dilpreet Bindra and Zach Shepherd at KubeCon Europe 2026 in Amsterdam to unpack what they call "the best kept secret in the industry": VMware by Broadcom's deep, sustained contributions to the CNCF and Kubernetes ecosystem. The conversation covers VMware's shift to exposing Cluster API directly as a product commitment, the etcd diagnostic tooling they've open-sourced for the whole community, and the journey of Velero from an internal project to a CNCF sandbox project with maintainers from Red Hat, Microsoft, and beyond. The trio also digs into the significance of CNCF's new AI platform conformance program, VKS's certification as a Kubernetes AI platform, and why workload portability matters more than ever as the AI tooling landscape explodes. Dilpreet and Zach close with what's got them buzzing at the biggest KubeCon Europe yet — from llm-d's CNCF sandbox acceptance to the quality of customer conversations happening on the show floor.This RedMonk conversation is sponsored by VMware by Broadcom.Show notes: https://redmonk.com/videos/vmware-by-broadcoms-open-source-story-at-kubecon-eu-2026/Chapters:00:00 Introductions: Meet Dilpreet Bindra and Zach Shepherd from VMware by Broadcom01:07 The Best Kept Secret: VMware's History as a Top CNCF Contributor01:50 Betting on Cluster API: Moving from Proprietary to Open Source02:24 Chopping Wood, Carrying Water: Earning Community Trust03:04 The Chop Wood Carry Water Award and VMware's Track Record03:45 The etcd Story: Open-Sourcing Support Tools for the Whole Ecosystem04:52 Leading Projects vs. Sharing Ownership05:46 Velero's Evolution: From VMware Project to CNCF Sandbox06:24 What Is Velero? Kubernetes-Native Backup and Restore07:13 Diverse Maintainership: Red Hat, Microsoft, and Beyond07:57 Why Contributing Velero to the CNCF Is a Strategic Investment, Not a Giveaway08:34 AI, Kubernetes, and the Infrastructure Boom09:06 VKS as a Certified Kubernetes AI Platform and Why Portability Matters10:17 CNCF AI Compliance and the Promise of Workload Portability10:46 KubeCon EU 2026: The Biggest One Yet11:11 What's Most Exciting: llm-d Joins the CNCF Sandbox11:34 Booth Energy and the Depth of Customer Conversations12:07 Wrap-Up