Building a Multi‑Region VCF 5.2 Cloud Platform for Modern Service Delivery

Challenge

The organisation faced a critical inflection point as its existing VMware infrastructure approached end‑of‑support status. Over several years, the environment had grown organically, resulting in a patchwork of mixed vSphere versions, inconsistent configurations, and operational inefficiencies. This fragmentation created challenges in maintaining platform stability, ensuring compliance, and delivering a consistent customer experience across their cloud services portfolio. As a cloud services provider operating across multiple Australian data centres, the business needed a modern, scalable, and supportable platform capable of meeting both internal operational requirements and the evolving expectations of its clients.

Compounding the issue was a limited level of internal experience with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). While the organisation had strong operational knowledge of traditional vSphere environments, the shift to a fully integrated VCF architecture, encompassing SDDC Manager, NSX, vSAN, and lifecycle automation represented a significant leap in complexity. The business required not only a technical uplift but also a strategic transformation in how cloud infrastructure was deployed, managed, and consumed.

The challenge, therefore, was twofold: replace the ageing infrastructure with a greenfield VCF 5.2 platform designed for multi‑tenant cloud operations, and ensure the internal team could confidently operate and extend the new environment moving forward.

Solution

A comprehensive, multi‑phase solution was developed to deliver a robust, future‑ready cloud platform aligned with VMware best practices and the organisation’s long‑term service strategy. The engagement began with detailed architectural design workshops, focusing on multi‑site resiliency, workload segmentation, tenant isolation, and lifecycle automation. These sessions ensured the platform design aligned with both technical requirements and business objectives, particularly around scalability, security, and operational simplicity.

The project team deployed several VCF 5.x instances across multiple availability zones and regions, establishing a consistent and repeatable architecture. Each instance was built using a greenfield approach, enabling clean configuration baselines and eliminating legacy technical debt. NSX was implemented as the core networking and security fabric, with a strong emphasis on zero‑trust principles. This included micro‑segmentation, distributed firewalling, and strict east‑west traffic controls for management and tenant workloads.

Cloud Director was deployed to provide a mature multi‑tenant cloud services layer, enabling the provider to deliver flexible, self‑service cloud offerings to clients. NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI) was integrated to support both management and tenant application load balancing, improving performance, resilience, and operational visibility.

To address the internal skills gap, tailored handover workshops and operational enablement sessions were delivered. These covered VCF lifecycle management, Cloud Director operations, NSX security design, and AVI configuration. By the end of the project, the internal team had the confidence and capability to manage, scale, and support the new platform independently.

Outcome

The project delivered a fully modernised, multi‑regional cloud platform spanning five availability zones across three geographically diverse regions. The new VCF‑based architecture provided a consistent, automated, and supportable foundation for the organisation’s cloud services, replacing the fragmented legacy environment with a unified and future‑proof solution.

Multiple clients were successfully migrated onto the new platform, benefiting from improved performance, enhanced security, and greater service flexibility. The adoption of NSX and AVI introduced a more resilient and scalable network architecture, while Cloud Director enabled the provider to expand its service catalogue with new multi‑tenant offerings.

Security posture improved significantly through the implementation of zero‑trust network policies, ensuring strict control over all management and tenant traffic. Operational efficiency also increased, with VCF lifecycle automation reducing manual overhead and minimising the risk of configuration drift.

The project not only modernised the technical platform but also uplifted the organisation’s internal capability. Through structured knowledge transfer and hands‑on enablement, the internal team gained the expertise required to operate and evolve the environment confidently. Ultimately, the organisation emerged with a stronger, more competitive cloud services platform and a clearer pathway for future growth.

Key Benefits:

• Modern, fully supported VCF 5.2 cloud platform
• Consistent architecture across multiple regions and availability zones
• Stronger security posture through zero‑trust network design
• Expanded multi‑tenant cloud service offerings via Cloud Director
• Improved application resilience and performance with AVI load balancing
• Reduced operational overhead through VCF lifecycle automation
• Enhanced internal capability through targeted training and handover workshops
• Future‑proof foundation for scalable cloud growth