In this blog, Techzine reports on the latest developments surrounding VMware’s acquisition of Broadcom.
April 16 – The European Commission has inquired about Broadcom’s heavily modified VMware licences. This shows that Brussels is heeding the call by CIO organisations (see 29 March). A spokesperson confirmed that the Commission received information about Broadcom’s changed licensing and support policies.
Broadcom has already refuted the claims made by the interest groups. According to the company, its new bundling of services is more advantageous than before for most customers. The great dissatisfaction among many VMware customers and partners shows that this argument is not very persuasive.
The EU investigation currently consists only of several questions from the European Commission’s antitrust unit. Previous similar investigations mostly consist of a round-up of competitors to determine whether action is needed from EU regulators. It is uncertain whether and when these initial procedures will be followed up.
April 11 – Broadcom will not be selling VMware products between April 30 and May 1. That week, it will migrate VMware’s internal ERP solution from SAP to Oracle. “These features will no longer be available: User Registration, License Management, Users/Permissions, EA Management, Account Management, Success Plans, Subscription Delivery Platform (SDP), My Funds, Purchase or Upgrade Products, Enroll in Learning Courses, Purchase Support Incidents.”
Bob Venero, president of VMware partner Future Tech, told CRN that the sales pause is a smart move. He thinks VMware deserves praise because a coordinated move such as this can create months of post-migration problems. Another VMware partner, however, is less positive: this person actually sees the move as one more addition to the mountain of problems created by Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware.
April 2 – VMware Cloud Foundation is getting a major update in July. The Register reports that for the first time, users will be able to use a single license key for all VCF components. In addition, OAuth will be improved so that VMware can eventually accept single sign-on. Also, an NSX overlay will enable the creation of software-defined networks without IP address changes.
A more comprehensive release will follow in the first half of 2025: VCF 9, an update focused on unifying VMware components. In this way, VMware by Broadcom is hoping to avoid data silos between vSphere and Aria.
The changes should better show VMware customers the benefits of the Broadcom acquisition. Few customers have recognised any upside post-acquisition, especially since the main consequence for consumers has been a price increase due to forced bundle deals and the end of perpetual licensing. Those changes are however simply in alignment with what the rest of the market is offering, according to VMware.
March 29 – CIO Platform Netherlands and fellow organizations in Belgium, France and Germany condemn Broadcom’s stance since it acquired VMware. In a letter to the European Commission, the advocacy organization names several complaints. Among them, one denounces the increased prices, Broadcom’s refusal to honour existing contracts and the abolition of perpetual licenses.
CIO Platform Netherlands reports the following: “Our members primarily fear a sharp increase in prices forced on them by new pricing models (for instance by exchanging perpetual use license model to a subscription model), or deteriorating contracting conditions, that Broadcom could enforce due to the dependence of our members on VMware products. This happened for instance after Broadcom’s takeover of Symantec.”
The CIO organizations believe that the Commission should address Broadcom’s dominance, or at least speak out about the practices mentioned.
March 28 – Nutanix is explicitly tapping into the uncertainty present among VMware customers since Broadcom acquired the company. VMware’s competitor is urging potential customers to adopt a ‘dual-vendor strategy’, leaving the option to transition away from VMware.
Nutanix refers to sources such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Computer Weekly to indicate the uncertainty surrounding VMware. According to Nutanix, it is therefore high time for a diversification of one’s virtualisation platform, which it says offers an opportunity to “de-risk” when it comes to VMware’s offerings.
For customers looking to make the switch, Nutanix promises to facilitate a simplified transition. For instance, it has made available a ‘VMware to Nutanix Migration Guide‘ since January. It stresses that all workloads fit on this competing platform.
We spoke with Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami recently to discuss what his company has to offer VMware customers:
Keep reading: Nutanix CEO says many VMware customers will switch to Nutanix
March 21 – European cloud consortium CISPE pleads for regulatory intervention against VMware by Broadcom, alleging that the software licensing arrangements orchestrated by Broadcom could spell bankruptcy for its members and disrupt essential services for end-users across Europe.
The collective, representing Cloud Infrastructure Providers in Europe, warned of the dire consequences facing cloud customers, including public sector entities, large enterprises, SMEs, and startups, all of whom stand threatened by what it termed ‘egregious and unwarranted new contract terms and price increases.’
While Broadcom has proposed a workaround by allowing smaller clouds to purchase licenses indirectly from larger providers, dissatisfaction looms large among stakeholders. CISPE voiced concerns that such arrangements would only exacerbate the plight of secondary partners, potentially driving them out of business. CISPE’s secretary general, Francisco Mingorance urged authorities to designate Broadcom as a gatekeeper under Europe’s Digital Markets Act, allowing for stringent oversight of its practices.
March 19 – In a surprising turn, VMware by Broadcom has extended a lifeline to small cloud service providers (CSPs) after ending its previous programs. Initially terminating the Cloud Services Provider (VCSP) program post-acquisition, Broadcom left many partners uncertain about their future due to high licensing requirements. However, facing potential customer migration, Broadcom has introduced a “white label” program, The Register reports.
This program allows former partners who do not meet the core requirements to continue offering VMware services through licensed primary partners. In this arrangement, primary partners handle billing and metering for secondary partners who resell their capabilities or acquire licenses for existing hardware. By salvaging relationships with smaller CSPs, Broadcom hopes to mitigate the risk of customer loss.
March 15 – In a blog, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan reflects on the first 100 days since acquiring VMware. In it, he reiterates previously stated objectives, such as the move to a subscription model and $1 billion set aside to innovate within the VMware stack. Tan agrees that the radical changes have not gone down well with everyone: “Of course, we recognize that this level of change has understandably created some unease among our customers and partners.” However, he says that this is offset by making it easier to do business with Broadcom and allowing partners to achieve more lucrative results with the simplified offering.
Specifically, he focuses on VMware Cloud Foundation. Based on conversations with CIOs, CTOs, partners and decision makers, he sees three themes that innovations will address. First, the complexity of IT systems slows down organizations, which costs money. Second, IT support needs to be faster and more flexible, according to Hock Tan. In addition, he touts the importance of better resilience and security, in addition to retaining developers. In summary, VCF should make it possible to be “your own cloud provider,” Tan said. Either way, more change awaits, he promises.
March 11 – Broadcom promises to offer VMware training materials at a much lower cost than before. The existing tools have already been withdrawn for certain customers, reports The Register. However, they will immediately regain access when the new offerings are introduced across the board. Currently, since 5 February, this access only applies to “strategic customers” and partners in the Broadcom Advantage programme. Other customers are said to have to wait until around May to get started with the new training resources.
“We are prepping to announce some very positive and major changes to our Digital Learning offerings and we expect the platform to be fully up, and the new digital learning offerings to be made public, at the beginning of Broadcom’s Q3FY24 (May).”
March 8 – Are Carbon Black’s and Symantec’s days as separate entities numbered? Broadcom is merging the two security divisions into the new Enterprise Security Group. That’s what Rob Greer, the new VP & GM of the Enterprise Security Group announced in a blog on Broadcom’s website. In itself, this merger makes sense, especially after the news a few weeks ago that Broadcom does not plan to sell Carbon Black after all. To some extent, the two portfolios are also complementary.
Greer indicates that the two portfolios will continue to coexist for the “immediate future.” He makes no statements about the longer term, but that’s not very hard to guess. Since he talks about the complementary nature of the two portfolios, a true merger into a single platform is very much in the cards. However, that will take time.
Finally, an interesting detail is that Greer is someone who came from Symantec and has been working at Broadcom for quite some time. Jason Rolleston, who until recently was the GM of Carbon Black, will remain involved in the Enterprise Security Group. He will assume the role of Chief Product Officer.
March 8 – Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has told investors that he expects “double-digit” quarterly growth from VMware by 2024. “We are focused on upselling customers – particularly those who are already running their compute workloads with vSphere virtualization tools – to upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation.” According to Hock Tan, Broadcom’s VMware strategy has already been “very successful” since the acquisition. More importantly, these are said to have gone as expected. Exactly what this playbook means for customers, we recently highlighted by speaking to VMware partner SoftwareOne.
Read more: Broadcom is the boss at VMware and knows exactly how to optimize it
February 26 – KKR reports that it has signed a definitive agreement with Broadcom. The deal includes the End-User Computing Division (EUC Division). The investment company will pay 4 billion dollars for the acquisition. Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager of the EUC Division, said in a statement that this acquisition will transform the EUC Division into a standalone company. Iyer says KKR is an ideal strategic partner with the resources to get to a success story. “They are eager to invest in our mission to become an even more innovative and customer-centric organization,” he continues. The transaction should close later this year.
February 25 – Broadcom appears to be rid of the first “redundant” part of VMware. Reuters reports that the End-User Computing business unit appears to be becoming part of private equity firm KKR. The deal would be worth $3.8 billion. It is the result of an auction, so other parties also bid. One of them was EQT, according to Reuters’ sources. With this acquisition, VMware EUC will have a new home. This could well be an interesting new home too. After all, KKR also owns Alludo. That company says it is focused on “the future of work” and has Parallels in its portfolio, among others. In any case, EUC is a better fit there than at Broadcom. Of course, it remains to be seen what it all means for the development of VMware’s EUC platform and the customers who use it.
February 13 – Broadcom has discontinued the free version of the VMware ESXi hypervisor. “Along with the termination of perpetual licensing, Broadcom has also decided to discontinue the Free ESXi Hypervisor, marking it as EOGA (End of General Availability)”, explains the VMware website. The free version could only run on a limited number of cores and lacked many management niceties. No replacement product is now available.
January 31 – Dell has terminated its distribution deal with VMware. The agreement dates back to November 2021, when Dell divested the company. Ever since, the two parties remained closely connected through this “commercial framework agreement”, which allowed customers to purchase software and hardware at the same time. However, the Broadcom acquisition has thrown a spanner in the works because OEMs like Dell are no longer allowed to act as resellers of VMware licenses. For that reason, the official notice can be seen as a “legal nicety”, as The Register describes it.
January 24 – Broadcom will stop offering Aria on a SaaS basis. Previously, VMware offered various solutions to operate, deploy and maintain applications, infrastructure and platform services through an as-a-Service model. This will no longer apply to Aria, whose functionality is now bundled within VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation. As The Register notes, this change effectively results in a price increase for customers. The cost of the chosen VMware offering would now have increased due to the forced purchase of unwanted additional solutions that are now bundled.
January 22 – VMware feels compelled to offer customers more clarity with regard to ongoing support for various products. It stresses in a blog post that the 59 solutions that are no longer available stand-alone will still be supported. Meanwhile, the portfolio has been simplified to just VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation, with the rest of the offerings available as “advanced add-ons”.
22 January – Veeam is investigating whether it may support Proxmox in future. Proxmox is an open-source alternative to VMware. The Register highlights a discussion on the Veaam forum where the company’s SVP Product Management Anton Gostev refers to the development. Besides Proxmox, Gostev also cites Oracle Linux KVM, which will be supported from the next update of the RHV backup service. Better support for backups with VMware competitors will make it easier for organisations to make the switch.
January 12 – A roundup from Computable (Dutch article) reveals that a massive exodus of VMware partners and customers is imminent. Of the 4,000 current partners, less than half would remain and “at least a few hundred thousand” customers are expected to be shown the exit door. The 120 global distributor count looks set to be reduced to a little more than a dozen by Broadcom.
January 10 – Most VMware Cloud Service Providers won’t continue under Broadcom’s reign. A notice to CSPs from Broadcom states that the old VMware Partner Connect Program will be abolished. In its place will be the invite-only Broadcom Expert Advantage Partner Program, according to The Register. Those not receiving an invite will stop being VMware CSPs from 30 April 2024. Since the news hit in late December, things have remained quiet. Many CSP customers will not yet be aware that their provider may no longer be able to provide VMware products from 30 April.
January 9 – Broadcom will now take the 2,000 top VMware accounts direct. That policy took effect immediately, CRN reports. That outlet’s sources state that this move was expected. “Opportunity Registration,” the process through VMware accounts are applied by a partner, will no longer be accepted within “strategic customer segments.”
December 23 – Broadcom has sent a “Termination Notice” to VMware partners. VMware’s partner program will be replaced by the invitation-only Broadcom Advantage Partner Program as of Feb. 5, 2024. A source stated to CRN that all vendors that make less than $500,000 in annual revenue from their VMware offerings may not be invited back in and retain their partner status. Contracts with various service providers are said to continue through April, however.
December 12 – From now on, VMware will no longer offer perpetual software licenses. Those who already have these licenses will no longer get support and security updates. SVP and GM of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Krish Prasad explains that under the leadership of Broadcom, VMware want to simplify its portfolio. This means that all solutions will now be delivered on a subscription basis. According to VMware, the new policy affects the following services: VCF, vSphere, vSAN, NSX, HCX, Site Recovery Manager, vCloud Suite, Aria Universal, Aria Automation, Aria Operations, Aria Operations for Logs and Aria Operations for Networks.
Read more about this development: VMware kills off perpetual licenses, only subscriptions remain
December 7 – Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has confirmed that, as expected, it will divest VMware End-User Compute and Carbon Black. The company also revealed what strategy it will pursue with the remaining VMware services, likely resulting in higher costs for customers.
Read more about this: Broadcom will divest VMware EUC and Carbon Black
December 3 – Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has let VMware employees know they now have to return to their offices if they live anywhere near one. This is based on a report by Fortune. Earlier, VMware was known to be positive about remote work and supported a hybrid work culture. “If you live within 50 miles of an office, you get your butt in here,” Tan stated in conversation with VMware workers. He also had a negative impression of so-called employee resource groups (ERGs) that VMware staff have set up. These groups exist as cooperative ventures between employees and between the company and the outside world. They aim to further the careers of its members, which may be accomplished by sharing social networks and expertise.
December 1 – Broadcom plans to lay off 1,267 employees at the VMware HQ in Palo Alto, California. The move was made apparent by a submission from Broadcom to the California Employment Development Department, Bloomberg reports. This group represents about 3.3 percent of VMware’s total workforce. According to Channel Futures, Broadcom-related layoffs now stand at 2,837 as of Thursday afternoon. Locations in several states in the U.S. as well as in Ireland are also affected by the round of layoffs. For some of these employees, their departure will take place at the end of January 2024.
November 30 – In an internal meeting, CEO Hock Tan revealed that many employees will no longer be needed. The VMware departments focused on sales, HR and finance will be combined with Broadcom’s offering, leading to significant job losses. “That is consolidation, wisely called integration,” Hock Tan stated. The reporting comes from Business Insider.
November 29 – Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware is said to generate $70 billion for investment firm Silver Lake and Michael Dell. Both parties owe this astronomical sum to EMC’s hefty 81 percent stake in VMware, according to a Financial Times calculation. An investor in Silver Lake has called it “one of the deals of the decade.”
November 29 – Broadcom has made Carbon Black a separate business unit; the same goes for VMware End-User Compute. VMware partners have been informed that they should not sell these products alongside other VMware offerings. With that, a sale of these two components appears imminent. We have further highlighted these developments in a separate blog:
Read more: Broadcom immediately sets up Carbon Black for sale
November 27 – While a round of layoffs at VMware is looming, VMware partners face a lot of uncertainty. CRN reports on customers no longer receiving support for their software, with one party refusing to pay a VMware partner for that reason.
November 23 – Broadcom execs list revealed that VMware has been split into four divisions. VMware Cloud Foundation will continue to carry the acquired company’s name, while Tanzu, Software-Defined Edge and Application Networking & Security have folded within Broadcom. In doing so, the future of security option VMware Carbon Black and VMware End-User Compute appears to lie elsewhere.
Read more: VMware split into four divisions after acquisition by Broadcom
November 21 – Confirmation at last. Broadcom has officially acquired VMware. After CEO Hock Tan’s company made pledges to remain interoperable with Chinese suppliers, authorities in Beijing gave way. Earlier, Broadcom had convinced U.S. and European regulators that the VMware acquisition would not harm the competitive landscape.
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