Press Release
New Platform9 OS Brings KVM to VMware Admins Without the Linux Shell
Private Cloud Director now ships with Platform9 OS, a turnkey KVM-ready Linux distribution.
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 13, 2026 — Platform9, the enterprise private cloud company, today announced updates to Private Cloud Director (PCD), featuring Platform9 OS, a turnkey KVM-ready Linux distribution. The latest product update removes the Linux administration barrier required for enterprises to exit VMware and accelerate their journey to a modern private cloud. Platform9 OS also offers a secure and tightly validated platform that automatically stays up to date with growing cybersecurity threats, and provides a critical building block for AI applications built on Kubernetes and agentic workloads.
Broadcom’s recent VMware acquisition, coupled with the increasing AI usage built around Kubernetes, has introduced seismic changes to the virtualization market and has spurred many enterprise organizations to reassess how they are managing their private cloud infrastructure. Amid this evolution, they are seeking continuity from a familiar, VMware-like experience, enterprise-grade services and software, and flexibility in hardware choices to avoid continued dependency and increased price unpredictability driven by AI.
“With today’s release of Platform9 OS, VMware administrators can deploy, operate, and upgrade an enterprise-grade KVM based private cloud without the overhead of traditional Linux systems administration,” said Sirish Raghuram, Chief Growth Officer and Co-Founder at Platform9. “Our design goal for Platform9 OS is that operators do not need to login to the Linux shell, it is intelligently managed by the Platform9 management plane.”
Key Feature Updates
Linux Administrative Updates
- Turnkey Linux image configuration for admins without deep Linux expertise.
- Automated translation of VMware networking constructs into Linux-native networking.
- Automatic conversion of VMware clusters to KVM to eliminate conversion complexity.
- Ability to create VMs directly from ISOs for Linux and Windows.
Observability Updates
- Audit log functionality enhanced to improve readability, increase data capture, and enable administrators to create filtered log output.
- Integration with external observability, logging, and SIEM tools for better data visibility, integration with existing dashboards and reporting, and improved audit preparation.
- Parity for self-hosted Platform9 deployments: self-hosted deployments now have the same observability and supportability available as Platform9 SaaS deployments.
Platform Enhancements
- Kubernetes for self-hosted and Community Edition environments: cluster-API based Kubernetes is now available in self-hosted and Community Edition environments.
About Platform9
Platform9 is the enterprise private cloud company, delivering a modern, open, and SaaS-managed platform for running private clouds. Founded by a team of VMware veterans, Platform9 helps enterprises and service providers modernize infrastructure with speed and flexibility, without the complexity of traditional approaches. Its flagship offering, Private Cloud Director, enables organizations to migrate from legacy virtualization platforms and operate cloud infrastructure with a familiar, enterprise-ready experience.
Read the full press release from PR Newswire here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/platform9-removes-one-of-the-biggest-barriers-to-replacing-vmware-linux-administration-302770385.html
Media Contact
Jason Cardillo, Head of Marketing at Platform9