Author | Lightnews

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 15

Why pay yo talk with me directly when you can chat with my digital twin?

virtual.thectoadvisor.com

Virtual CTO Advisor

virtual.thectoadvisor.com

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 15

Why pay for my advisory services when you can get it for free?

Https://virtual.thectoadvisor.com

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 15

Good to be remembered!

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 8

I'll be hiring my first AI Agent this week. I'm not an analyst, but it will be one. We'll see if it can keep its job.

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 8

Announcing The CTO Advisor's Guide to VMware Alternatives

- What type of Software-defined Data Center customer are you?
- Can you reasonably migrate within your defined period of time?
- What gaps do you need to fill?
- What are the products for each of your path?

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The CTO Advisor's Guide to VMware Alternatives. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

VMware's acquisition by Broadcom has created a new inflection point for enterprise IT. While VMware's vSphere remains a dominant and "sticky" technology in the private data center, its percentage of t...

us02web.zoom.us

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 4

Nice webinar session on VMware Cloud Foundation... The #vCommunity came with their questions! Well worth my time. If you want to catch this on replay - us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 – Strategic Considerations for Enterprise Platforms. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the we...

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) represents more than just the next version of VMware’s flagship hybrid cloud platform—it’s a major architectural and operational inflection point for enterprise IT. W...

us02web.zoom.us

1

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 3

I built another thing. My AI-powered RSS Reader that covers roughly 17 of the largest enterprise IT vendors' blogs. cto-scanner.web.app

CTO Signal Scanner

cto-scanner.web.app

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Sep 2

Did I just waste two weeks building #VirtualCTOAdvisor when I could have just paid Delphi.AI for a strikingly similar solution? I unpack the build vs. buy decision in the modern enterprise. ctoadvisor.substack.com/p/build-vs-s...

Build vs. SaaS: Lessons from Building Virtual CTO Advisor

Did I waste time and money building Virtual CTO Advisor?

ctoadvisor.substack.com

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 26

After a coding sprint, I finally got Vertex AI Search to index 7,000 pieces of my IT insights. Now it’s wired back into virtual.thectoadvisor.com. 🚀

This is just phase one—next comes smarter retrieval, context-aware answers, and deeper advisory automation.

👉 What would you want Keith to answer?

Virtual CTO Advisor

virtual.thectoadvisor.com

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 25

I'm listening to Kendrick and Vibe-coding at #VMwareExplore. If you see my cowboy hat bobbing up and down, you know I'm in that zone. - They ain't talkin about nuthin

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 24

I’d welcome the bias as long as the conversation happens in the open.

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 23

Will this ever be a place to talk enterprise tech?

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 22

How long did it take me to fine-tune Gemini Flash 2.5 Pro on my 470 blog posts?

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 22

Webinar: A CTO's Guide to VMware Alternatives
When: September 10th, 2025 11:00 AM CDT
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The CTO Advisor's Guide to VMware Alternatives. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

VMware's acquisition by Broadcom has created a new inflection point for enterprise IT. While VMware's vSphere remains a dominant and "sticky" technology in the private data center, its percentage of t...

us02web.zoom.us

1

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 22

I built my first public facing app. And it may take my job. virtual.thectoadvisor.com

Virtual CTO Advisor

virtual.thectoadvisor.com

1

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 21

We are officially a week out from my VCF 9 webinar. I've submitted all the questions to @vmware.bsky.social that I need answered to create the content. I just have this little thing called #VMwareExplore in my way. Register us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 – Strategic Considerations for Enterprise Platforms. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the we...

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) represents more than just the next version of VMware’s flagship hybrid cloud platform—it’s a major architectural and operational inflection point for enterprise IT. W...

us02web.zoom.us

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 21

Oh... That's why Google Cloud Vertex AI has a Prompt Management system. open.substack.com/pub/cloudeve...

I Lost My Voice

How burying prompts in app code left me speechless—and why platform teams need prompt management.

open.substack.com

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 19

It’s a great opportunity for anyone that has a VMware alternative story.

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 18

The SMB VMware vacuum is real.
Broadcom’s exit left a crater—and now every vendor with a hypervisor or container runtime is rushing in.
SMBs aren’t choosing—they’re freezing.
Too many options, not enough clarity.
It’s not just a tech decision anymore; it’s survival strategy.

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 15

Me: Why did you fabricate a reference that's not in the dataset I provided?
ChatGPT: My bad.

This is the OpenAI custom GPT builder experience. But AGI is right around the corner.

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 15

Should you go all-in on VMware Cloud Foundation 9 or pick, pick, and choose what parts to adopt, or skip it altogether?

I'm conducting a webinar where I break down what's important and to which type of customer.

August 28th
1:00 PM CDT

Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: VMware Cloud Foundation 9 – Strategic Considerations for Enterprise Platforms. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the we...

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) represents more than just the next version of VMware’s flagship hybrid cloud platform—it’s a major architectural and operational inflection point for enterprise IT. W...

us02web.zoom.us

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 14

This post has been a long time in the making... I consistently get the question about my thoughts about VMware alternatives.

Here's my response:
thectoadvisor.com/blog/2025/08...

Thinking About VMware Alternatives? - The CTO Advisor

Thinking About VMware Alternatives? It’s an API and Automation Problem, [...]

thectoadvisor.com

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Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 13

Rebuilt my basement stairs once.
Got to the joist… had no idea how to connect it.

I hit the same problem in AI.
Told my custom GPT: “Always search all datasets.”
It didn’t.

The flaw wasn’t in the plan — it was in what the plan forgot to plan for.

Full story → open.substack.com/pub/ctoadvis...

The Joist, the GPT, and Why Good Plans Fail

When the Flaw Isn’t in the Plan — It’s in What the Plan Forgot to Plan For

open.substack.com

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 13

Started building KeithGPT.
First thought: “Oh crap, this might kill billable hours.”
Second thought: “Wait… it’s actually leveling up my clients before we even start.”

The right clients show up sharper.
The work goes deeper.
The value climbs.

Turns out, the “threat” was just a filter.

Keith Townsend @CTOAdvisor @thectoadvisor.com · Aug 13

Hat tip to @stevendickens3.bsky.social for putting AWS EVS back on my radar.

This isn’t just a new VMC-on-AWS service — it’s AWS’s move in Broadcom’s VCF-everywhere strategy and a bid to hold ground against Oracle, Google & Azure.

Here’s my take on what it means: thectoadvisor.com/blog/2025/08...

AWS EVS: A Step Toward VCF Everywhere - The CTO Advisor

Broadcom has ended sales of VMC on AWS. This isn’t [...]

thectoadvisor.com

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