Virtually Speaking Podcast

The Virtually Speaking Podcast is a technical podcast dedicated to discussing VMware topics related to private and hybrid cloud. Each week Pete Flecha and John Nicholson bring in various subject matter experts from VMware and from within the industry to discuss their respective areas of expertise. If you’re new to the Virtually Speaking Podcast check out all episodes on vspeakingpodcast.com and follow on Twitter/X @VirtSpeaking

Virtually Speaking Podcast is a technology podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Virtually Speaking Podcast, a technology show with 100 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #615

  VMware Explore 2026 Preview

  Aug 11, 202628 min

  VMware Explore 2026 is almost here, and the Virtually Speaking crew is getting ready for Las Vegas. In this episode, Pete Flecha is joined by John Nicholson, Jad El-Zein, and special guest Duncan Epping to preview the week ahead. They talk about the return to deeply technical content, the sessions they’re most excited about, the evolution of Hands-on Labs, Odyssey competitions, and why the community and networking remain such a big part of Explore. Virtually Speaking will also be recording live from the VMware booth Monday through Wednesday, talking with customers, partners, engineers, and anyone with a great technical story. We’ll also be doing a daily live recap at 5:00 PM. If you’re attending Explore, come by the booth and say hello.

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  Episode #614

  Self-Service Infrastructure with VCF Automation 9.1

  Jul 21, 202647 min

  VCF 9.1 goes beyond the foundational infrastructure to help organizations deliver a true private cloud experience through automation, self-service, and policy-based governance. In this episode, Pete Flecha and Jad El-Zein welcome Maher AlAsfar, Product Marketing Engineer at Broadcom, to explore what is new in VCF Automation 9.1. The conversation covers declarative infrastructure, Kubernetes-native APIs, Containers as a Service, centralized service management, namespace capture, app stack formation, and project-level content libraries. Maher also explains when a lightweight container service makes more sense than deploying a full Kubernetes cluster, how infrastructure services such as networking, storage, and load balancing support these workloads, and why automation is the natural next step after deploying VMware Cloud Foundation.

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  Episode #609

  Why VMUG Connect Replaced UserCons?

  Jul 10, 202616 min

  At VMUG Connect 2026 in Minneapolis, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson sit down with Ryan Lance from the VMUG leadership team to talk about the evolution of the VMUG community and what’s changing with the new VMUG Connect format. Ryan shares his journey through the VMUG community, from early user group involvement and speaking at events to leading the Sacramento VMUG. The conversation explores how VMUG is getting back to its roots as a source of VMware education, hands-on learning, technical community, and practitioner-led knowledge sharing. The discussion also covers the shift from traditional one-day UserCons to larger regional VMUG Connect events, the continued importance of local communities, the role of home labs, certification, VMUG Advantage, and how VMUG can help practitioners stay informed as VMware Cloud Foundation continues to evolve. Whether you’re a long-time VMUG member, a home lab builder, a VMware administrator, or someone looking to get more connected with the community, this episode highlights why VMUG remains such an important resource for learning, networking, and sharing real-world experience.

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  Episode #612

  Why AI Changes the Security Game

  Jul 7, 202641 min

  In this episode, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson welcome back Bob Plankers for a deeper conversation on why AI changes the security game. Bob explains how AI is accelerating vulnerability discovery, exploit creation, malware customization, and even end-to-end attack execution. The discussion covers why “patch the critical stuff only” is becoming riskier, how AI can chain moderate vulnerabilities into serious attacks, and why identity, zero trust, microsegmentation, recovery planning, and defense in depth matter more than ever. Bob also walks through practical ways VMware Cloud Foundation can help, including vDefend, Avi Load Balancer, vSAN Data Protection, cyber recovery, isolated recovery environments, hardening guides, and security configuration resources.

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  Episode #606

  Private AI in Action: Training an AI Robot Dog with VMware Cloud Foundation

  Jul 3, 202612 min

  At KubeCon Europe 2026 in Amsterdam, Johan van Amersfoort from ITQ joins Virtually Speaking to introduce one of the most talked-about demos on the show floor: Q9, an AI-powered robotic dog built using VMware Private AI Foundation. But Q9 is more than a fun demo. It showcases how organizations can use VMware Cloud Foundation, Private AI Services, GPUs, large language models, computer vision, and secure networking to train and deploy AI applications while keeping data private and sovereign. Johan explains how Q9 uses gesture recognition, conversational AI, image analytics, local inference, and remote model access to create an interactive AI experience. The conversation also explores practical enterprise AI use cases, including HR assistants, legal knowledge systems, sovereign AI, and why private infrastructure remains critical for AI success. Whether you’re exploring Private AI, AI infrastructure, model training, or simply want to meet the coolest dog at KubeCon, this episode delivers both technical insights and real-world examples.

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