VCF and Private AI expertise for enterprise and government. Independent VMware platform reviews and supported XCP-ng migration for smaller environments.
Eric Sloof · Architect, consultant and certified instructor
Different organisations need different platforms. My work starts with your workloads, continuity requirements and the people who will operate the result.
Architecture, implementation and training for organisations investing in VMware Cloud Foundation and Private AI infrastructure.
Design a new VCF platform or modernise an existing VMware environment. I help define the target architecture and migration plan, covering workload domains, capacity, networking, availability and lifecycle sequencing.
Turn AI requirements into a practical infrastructure design. Scope includes GPU capacity, hardware sizing, networking and the path to model serving. Data control, availability and daily operations are designed in from the start; private deployment alone is not a security guarantee.
Build the skills your engineers need to operate their platform. I deliver tailored VCF, NSX and Private AI infrastructure training through architecture workshops, hands-on labs and embedded coaching, shaped around your environment and knowledge gaps.
For organisations running their own VMware hosts and mainly Windows or Linux server VMs. A review comes before any decision to migrate.
A paid, fixed-scope assessment of dependencies, risks and total operating costs over 3–5 years. Your actual VMware quote is compared with migration, infrastructure, backup, support, training and administration costs. The recommendation may be to stay, upgrade or validate an alternative.
Where the assessment supports a move, I help design and validate XCP-ng with an appropriate commercial XOA and Vates support scope. A representative pilot precedes the final migration quote. Delivery includes planned cutovers, tested recovery, application acceptance and handover to your administrator or IT partner.
vSphere 8 lifecycle. General Support for ESXi 8.x, vCenter 8.x and vSAN 8.x ends on 11 October 2027. Your environment does not automatically stop. Any paid Extended Support, coverage and contract terms must be confirmed for your situation; support and upgrade options are included in the review.
A supported production stack. Free software does not mean a cost-free service. A self-built Xen Orchestra installation with community-only support is not the default for production. The proposal defines the commercial support scope and who patches, monitors and handles incidents.
Migration is not automatically one-to-one. V2V has compatibility limits and the final cutover requires a maintenance window. NSX, vSAN, VDI, vGPU and virtual appliances may require a new design. Operating systems, applications, drivers and vendor support are checked first.
Recovery must be tested. Snapshots do not replace separate, tested backups. We agree acceptable data loss (RPO), required recovery time (RTO) and the rollback procedure. Any switch back must account for new production data and prevent two copies of a VM from running in production simultaneously.
Product information checked on 24 October 2026. Sources: Broadcom lifecycle · Extended Support in the SAP context · Xen Orchestra editions · Vates support · V2V migration. Availability and terms are confirmed per project.
The scope varies by project. The principle stays the same: understand the requirements, validate the design, execute carefully and prepare the team.
Establish the current environment, dependencies, business requirements and costs. Agree the scope and a clear recommendation before committing to implementation.
Define the target architecture and acceptance criteria. Use representative tests or a pilot to validate applications, performance and recovery before the transition.
Deploy or migrate in agreed stages, with maintenance windows, recovery procedures and application acceptance. Retire the legacy environment only after validation.
Document the platform, train the team and confirm ownership of patching, monitoring, backups and incidents. Ongoing operation is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
I'm an independent VMware Cloud Foundation architect and certified instructor based in the Netherlands. Since 2004, I've designed, deployed and taught VMware infrastructure for enterprise environments — from early ESX clusters to today's VCF private cloud platforms.
I combine architecture with practical implementation and knowledge transfer. My goal is a platform that fits your requirements and a team that understands how to operate it.
I was named VMware Certified Instructor of the Year EMEA 2023 and have been a vExpert for 18+ consecutive years.
Practical infrastructure knowledge, shared in public.
Tell me what you run today, what needs to change and your expected timeline. We can then discuss the right scope for architecture, implementation, training or a platform review.
The SME discovery call is a free 30-minute introduction, not a full assessment. The scope and price of any follow-up work are agreed separately. Email to request a time; no appointment is booked automatically.