Modernizing VM Management: Introducing KubeVM Service

What if you could manage virtual machines and Kubernetes workloads through a single, unified control plane? In this episode of the Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha and Jad El-Zein are joined by Shruthi Rajashekar and Arunesh Pandey, engineering leaders behind KubeVM Service, to explore how VMware Cloud Foundation is bringing Kubernetes-native management to traditional virtual machines. For years, virtualization administrators and platform engineering teams have operated in separate worlds. One manages VMs through vCenter and traditional workflows, while the other uses Kubernetes, declarative APIs, and GitOps to manage cloud-native applications. KubeVM Service aims to bring these worlds together. We explore how KubeVM Service enables self-service VM provisioning, policy-based governance, and declarative lifecycle management while preserving the capabilities of the underlying virtualization platform. The conversation also covers the proposed vendor-neutral VM API, how it compares with KubeVirt, and how existing VMs can transition toward Kubernetes-based management without requiring application rebuilds. Plus, we discuss innovations like Fast Deploy, unified resource management, and the CNCF sandbox initiative aimed at establishing a common API for managing virtual machines across infrastructure providers. Links Mentioned KubeVM Service blog https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/10/22/introducing-kubevm-service/ Github https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator https://github.com/vm-api/vm-api Gitops blog on VCF https://rutgerblom.com/2026/10/27/gitops-for-vms-on-vcf-9/ Videos https://youtu.be/puJYxPvj2zU?si=Uyj7UluhdB9T2ay9 https://youtu.be/a2LksDuZlwc?si=lxSsKc29i-4xY3wy