Kyndryl expands Broadcom tie-up for private cloud AI

Kyndryl has expanded its strategic alliance with Broadcom, focusing on consulting services for VMware Cloud Foundation in private and hybrid cloud environments.

The broader partnership targets enterprises rebuilding their cloud estates as AI increases both automation and cyber risk. Kyndryl will provide consulting, architecture, modernisation and operational support for VMware Cloud Foundation across virtual machines, containers and connections to public cloud environments.

The move reflects a wider shift among large organisations toward private cloud systems that offer tighter control over data, workloads and regulatory requirements. It also comes as companies face growing pressure to defend systems against attacks that AI tools can help develop and deploy far more quickly.

Kyndryl and Broadcom will support the alliance with a skills programme for several thousand certified consultants, architects and delivery specialists. The training is intended to support customer projects involving agentic workflows and cloud modernisation.

Security focus

A central part of the offering is Kyndryl's Agentic AI Framework, which applies rules to automated actions in VMware Cloud Foundation environments. The framework is designed to keep AI agents within approved actions defined by business policies and regulatory requirements.

The approach addresses a growing concern among large companies: that AI systems can introduce or exploit weaknesses at machine speed if they operate without clear controls. Kyndryl argues that policy guardrails should be built into private cloud environments before workloads are deployed, rather than added later as a corrective measure.

The alliance also includes cyber recovery measures tied to VMware Cloud Foundation isolated recovery environments, immutable snapshots and orchestrated runbooks. These tools are intended to help customers restore critical operations quickly after a breach and verify the integrity of recovered systems.

Enterprise demand

The companies are targeting sectors with strict operating and compliance demands, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation and government. These industries are under particular pressure to show where data resides, how systems are governed and how critical services can be restored after disruption.

The expanded arrangement covers advisory and strategy work, architecture and design, upgrades, modernisation programmes and what Kyndryl describes as secure day-two operations. It also includes support for VMware Tanzu alongside VMware Cloud Foundation, reflecting demand from companies running both older virtualised applications and newer container-based workloads.

Broadcom has been positioning VMware Cloud Foundation as a private cloud platform for organisations seeking a more standardised base for infrastructure and applications. Kyndryl, one of the largest managed VMware service providers, brings an installed base of customers already running complex IT estates that rely on VMware software.

"Against the backdrop of rising sovereignty demands, enterprises are rationalizing their hybrid and private cloud environments, and they require a pragmatic, outcome-driven approach," said Giovanni Carraro, global strategic alliances leader, Kyndryl. "By expanding our partnership with Broadcom and investing in VCF skills, we will help customers build modern, resilient, private clouds that enable AI adoption, support data modernization, address the risk of AI-identified vulnerabilities and deliver real business value."

The reference to sovereignty points to another factor shaping enterprise cloud strategies. Companies in regulated markets are increasingly expected to maintain stronger oversight of where data is stored and processed, especially when AI systems and autonomous software agents are involved.

Broadcom says customers need specialist support to make fuller use of VMware Cloud Foundation as they consolidate infrastructure and prepare systems for AI-related workloads. That is likely to appeal to organisations seeking tighter control and simpler management across private and hybrid environments.

"Our expanded relationship with Kyndryl helps ensure that our mutual customers have the expert guidance required to fully leverage VMware Cloud Foundation as a strategic private cloud platform," said Regan McGrath, president, Americas, Broadcom. "Kyndryl's global delivery capabilities and investment in certified talent provide enterprises with the foundation they need to drive agility, modernize applications and scale AI-driven innovation."

Kyndryl says the combined approach will support both virtual machine and containerised workloads, including AI inferencing, on a single private cloud platform while maintaining the control and sovereignty requirements of enterprise customers.