Broadcom: Changes Have ‘Rejuvenated’ VMware Partners

VMware partners are reaping the benefits of Broadcom’s sweeping changes to the cloud software maker’s channel programs. 

That’s according to a blog this week from Ahmar Mohammad, vice president, partners, managed services, and solutions go-to-market, VMware Cloud Foundation division at Broadcom.

Mohammad’s missive comes a couple weeks shy of the date marking one year of VMware as a Broadcom company. That $61 billion deal officially closed on Nov. 22, 2023. In that time, Mohammad wrote on Nov. 4, VMware partners have gone through a program overhaul that has only made their businesses better.

"[W]hen we stepped back and looked at the entirety of the VMware partner ecosystem, what we saw was that complexity and inconsistency had seeped into our program,” Mohammad noted, broadly referring to the swath of cuts and tweaks Broadcom made after acquiring VMware.

Broadcom subsequently placed all of the VMware partners it decided to keep into the chipmaker’s overarching Advantage partner program. That move, per Mohammad, leveled the playing field for partners and customers, and brought “standardization and consistency across of the company’s routes to market.”

Broadcom's Ahmar Mohammad

“This, we believed, would enable partners big and small to play by the same set of rules and increase customer value and choice,” Mohammad said.

Related:The Broadcom VMware Acquisition: A Complete Timeline

And, as a result, he added, VMware by Broadcom is now “far more focused and deliberate in how we approach our partners.”

This is good, Mohammad said.

“We’re starting to go deeper than ever before with partners that are committed to growing with us. They, too, see the opportunities for VMware Cloud Foundation to deliver a private cloud platform that accelerates customers’ AI, sovereignty and security outcomes.”

For VMware Partners, Private Cloud Is the Way

To be sure, VMware by Broadcom is now fixings its sights solely on the private cloud. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan made no bones about that in August during the 2024 VMware Explore event in Las Vegas.

“Ten years ago, your CEO, your board of directors fell in love with the promise of public cloud, and they drove you to public cloud first,” Tan said on Aug. 27. “Because of this, I see you're all now suffering from PTSD.”

Private cloud, he insisted, is the future.

“It’s about staying on-prem and in control," said Tan from the VMware Explore stage.

As such, Mohammad touted some milestones and activity that involve VMware partners as Broadcom steers the ship toward all private cloud. 

He pointed to the VMware Cloud Service Provider program as the first example of success. Recall that Broadcom in March revamped VCSP to a point that the company was threatened with legal action from cloud firms in Europe. A couple of months later, the chipmaker made some concessions. Now, Mohammad said, all that effort means that more than 2,700 partners − many of which are telcos and other very large firms − are part of a “healthy and growing VCSP program that has established a substantial community focused on providing managed cloud services tailored to a diverse range of business needs.”

Recent program enhancements, including new billing and management tools, streamlined onboarding processes and more training resources “to help partners better navigate the evolving cloud landscape,” Mohammad said.

Mohammad spent the rest of the blog reviewing and touting VMware’s traction in sovereign cloud, particularly in Europe where data, privacy and localization rules are strict, as well as partnerships with hyperscalers and technology providers. 

Overall, Mohammad said, a “rejuvenated” VMware partner ecosystem is “adding value to customers through continued innovation.”

And more is on the way, he added. Broadcom and VMware partners together are “unlocking the promise of AI in the enterprise, delivering new levels of organizational resilience, and supporting the privacy and digital sovereignty demands of customers around the world.”

VMware this week is holding its annual event in Europe, where it debuted a new partner program for the VeloCloud portfolio.