Here’s the benefits Broadcom is getting from using MCP (running on Tanzu Platform):
This capability allows for seamless task completion, such as linking internal ticketing systems directly through to code commitment, significantly reducing the time required for ticket resolution. Specifically, developers can utilize natural language processing to direct an AI agent to find their next task, have the AI coding assistant implement the requested changes, and automatically submit a pull request. While this process introduced complexity by layering authorization, the resulting gains in speed and efficiency are highly transformational.
Before getting there, you had that mix of business-drivers (make better software more quickly - “productivity”) and legit security concerns:
Many enterprise organizations face the challenge of managing the business’s enthusiasm for AI coding assistants. As organizations increase the pressure on development teams to innovate more quickly, development teams are pursuing unsanctioned AI experimentation. Prohibitions of AI assistants will do little to mitigate the rise of shadow AI. Therefore it’s important to consider the risks of not pursuing a centralized governance approach to AI-assisted coding.
Can’t be having shadow AI!
So, they tested out Tanzu Platform to take care of those problem. You get all of the benefits of an enterprise-grade PaaS:
Tanzu Platform deployed on VMware Cloud Foundation helped Broadcom centralize integrations with MCP servers to enable a secure connection to the tooling needed to enrich AI-assisted coding tools. Tanzu Platform enables the Broadcom GTO team to view usage for MCP servers so that they can tune and optimize those servers for maximum performance and also to determine patterns so they can retire unused servers and control technical debt and costs.
It’s good to be skeptical of dog-fooding your own products. However, I’ve watch this selection process as it unfolded, and the dog-food was picked because it tasted good, not because it was self-made. Broadcom’s IT is very hands-on and their security is intense. That makes this a good blueprint for getting MCP setup in your organization.
Check out the full story from my colleague Kevin. Check out the Tanzu AI Services docs for more. Also, to see some of this in action, check out an overview of the platform engineer for AI parts of Tanzu Platform: hosting models and brokering access to generative AI, both running in public and private cloud.