VMware Explore takes place in Las Vegas next week, and the channel will be keen to see how the upheavals after Broadcom acquired the firm earlier this year are panning out.
IT Europa took part in a Zoom call with senior Broadcom execs ahead of Explore. We were issued with a number of VMware show announcements that we have to keep under wraps until next week.
We can confirm that there is no intention of appointing a new VMware-dedicated CEO to run the Broadcom subsidiary going forward. Next week, all eyes will be on Broadcom president and CEO Hock Tan, where he will be expected to give an update on how Broadcom is integrating a company that is seen as key to the virtualisation, edge, and cloud ecosystems.
The channel will also want further re-assurances over pricing and contract changes and partner support. If this isn’t forthcoming from Tan and his cohorts, VMware’s competitors will no doubt smell further blood.
On the Zoom call, IT Europa asked about both large and small VMware competitors making big noises about their ability to home in on VMware customers that have concerns about the way Broadcom has handled the acquisition.
Prashanth Shenoy, vice president of product marketing, VCF division at Broadcom, said: “There will always be competition. This is nothing really new for us. We have always been advocates of flexibility and choice. Where we have always won, and will continue to win, is on innovation.”
On product development, he said: “Broadcom is solely focused on delivering against our innovation roadmap, which we are outlining at VMware Explore. VMware Cloud Foundation is the only complete private cloud platform that delivers public cloud scale and agility with private cloud security, resilience and performance, and proven lower total cost of ownership.”
Customers and terms
“We believe this is what customers want, and what we are delivering. We are also working with our customers to provide prescriptive guidance on moving to a private cloud platform through tools, programmes, and flexible terms, which will help them as they transition into our new subscription licensing model,” said Shenoy.
We’ll see what the reaction is next week!
