As many of you may know, significant changes have occurred following VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom in late 2023.
Customers now have two options for consuming VMware products: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF).

Stand-alone VMware products, which were available for so many years, are no longer an option. So now, it’s VCF or VVF with no other alternatives.
Now, let’s turn our attention to NSX and see the changes that have taken place.
What Does This Mean for NSX Customers ?
Like many of you, I was surprised (and a bit shocked) to discover that all NSX security features are not included with VCF out of the box. What’s going on?!
By default, VCF customers can only benefit from NSX networking features, such as logical switching, logical routing, etc.
Where Have All the NSX Security Features Gone?
To take advantage of the NSX security features we know and love, you will need to purchase add-on packages.

These add-ons include a first package called “VMware vDefend” which offers standard Distributed and Gateway firewall capabilities.
There is also an advanced package called “VMware vDefend Advanced Threat Prevention” (ATP), which includes features such as Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS), Malware Prevention, and much more. To learn more about the vDefend ATP package, feel free to visit this page here.

Note also that Generative AI is invited to the party, and I may discuss this topic in another blog post later on.
Conclusion
I can imagine your reaction to this post, and especially you “NSX customers”, who’ve been using “Distributed Firewall”, “IDPS” and more. This news can be difficult to digest, and believe me I know how you feel.
However, this new VCF adoption can also be an opportunity to consume other products being now part of VCF, to enhance your environment and use functionalities you may not have considered before.