the NW vmware integration states nothing about it. However the NW NVE OVA states what the hardware version would be that it would be deployed with. The latest nw19.14 OVA states in the .ovf file that is in the .ova file the following:

<vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-09</vssd:VirtualSystemType>

So that's vmx-09, which corresponds to ESXi 5.1 virtual hardware version.

This is quite old (ESXi 5.1 was released in 2012). The good news is that this OVA will deploy on virtually any modern ESXi host since newer versions maintain backward compatibility with older hardware versions.

Compatibility

• Will work on: ESXi 5.1 and newer (including 6.x, 7.x, 8.x)
• Limitations: You're restricted to features available in the vmx-09 hardware spec

Key vmx-09 limitations:

• Maximum 64 vCPUs
• Maximum 1TB RAM
• No NVMe controllers
• No virtual TPM
• Older USB controller support
• Limited to older network adapter features

So Dell seems to remain very legacy/low hardware compatibility-wise, even with the latest NW NVE OVA deployment. So they don't seem to feel any need to have a higher hardware version, which sounds to be even lower than what you stated.