VMware Cloud Marketing Head: Broadcom Changes Mean Business ‘Will Only Get Better’
“Good business hygiene is never easy,” said VMware's Prashanth Shenoy. “When you acquire a company, you look at everything.”
![VMware cloud marketing promises improvements VMware cloud marketing promises improvements](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt73c9ed57e302e99d/65cfa748b62b9c040a956546/Better_Cloud.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
phloxii/Shutterstock
First, Shenoy empathized with end users all of the changes Broadcom has made.
“We understand this massive transformation and simplification of the portfolio and our business model has raised many questions and concerns,” he wrote. “We are proactively working with the sales teams and channel partners to help customers make this transition.”
The upheaval itself had to happen, Shenoy added.
“Broadcom identified things that needed to change, and as a responsible company, made the changes quickly and decisively,” he wrote. “The changes that have taken place over the past 60+ days were absolutely necessary.”
However, Shenoy noted, what has not changed at VMware delivering value to customers.
“You are the reason we build and deliver great software. You drive our innovation. The new VMware Cloud Foundation is the best platform for deploying a private cloud infrastructure that is ubiquitous, flexible and integrated across cloud endpoints. It will only get better," he said.
Within just the VMware Cloud Foundation division, Shenoy explained, end users can expect “faster innovation with more value.” Channel partners, meanwhile, can look forward to “even better profitability and market opportunity.”
Much of that aforementioned opportunity will come through the shift to subscription licensing. VMware had made big strides in moving away from the perpetual model but apparently not quickly enough for Broadcom’s taste.
“We immediately turned this transformation into net new value for our customers,” Shenoy wrote. “How? Do you want to have deployment flexibility? Now you can. When you purchase VMware Cloud Foundation, you get license portability. This means you will be able to deploy on-premises and then take your subscription at any time to a supported hyperscaler or VMware Cloud Services Provider environment as desired. You retain your license subscription as you move. Google Cloud will be the first to support VMware Cloud Foundation license portability with other hyperscaler and partner clouds expected to follow.”
Yet, one of the most controversial parts of Broadcom’s decision around VMware Cloud Foundation and other portfolios concerns bundling. The chipmaker has mandated that certain products be included, regardless of whether customers need them. That’s caused some consternation for many end users because they feel forced to pay for something they didn’t necessarily want.
Shenoy delivered a rebuttal to that perspective.
“Offering a few offerings that are lower in price on the high end and are packed with more value for the same or less cost on the lower end makes business sense for customers, partners and VMware,” he wrote. “We’re putting all our R&D investment towards fewer offerings, which is a double win for customers.”
Finally, Shenoy said, all product teams now reside within the VMware Cloud Foundation group.
“We are now better positioned to deliver a single, integrated product across all core technologies with a single vision for where we are taking the VMware Cloud Foundation platform,” he explained. “We also have professional services and global support practically sitting right next to R&D inside the same business division. This gives us a laser focus on building one product with the services and support needed to drive maximum value.”
Some important changes will impact VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation as a result, Shenoy said, “along with some very strategic add-ons related to security, ransomware protection and recovery, application platform services, and private AI.
Throughout the rest of Broadcom’s fiscal year second quarter, VMware will unveil enhancements to VMware Cloud Foundation’s core platform, Shenoy said. From there, expect automation for infrastructure and application services. These come “in response to a growing need from VMware customers to deliver and support next-gen cloud-native and AI-powered applications across their private and hybrid clouds.”
Specifically, automation for data services already is available. But, within “a few months,” Shenoy said, look for automation for load-balancing services, too. After that, VMware Cloud Foundation will deliver automation services of for private AI.
Finally, VMware Cloud Foundation now offers integrated network operations capabilities. These “help IT users improve their network visibility, gain insights into network performance, and quickly identify and resolve network issues,” Shenoy wrote.
Broadcom aims to get customers to adopt “our full stack VMware Cloud Foundation as the best subscription-based private cloud platform for innovation,” Shenoy said.
To accomplish this, the company “will rely heavily on partners to transition our broad customer base to the new subscription model and help them transform their business with our private cloud infrastructure.”
Standardized pricing within the channel will keep everyone’s expectations on the same page, Shenoy added. All partners will compete on a level playing field; their value-added services will set them apart.
“This will deliver a better customer experience,” Shenoy said. “We’ve also implemented a new customer segmentation model aligned with our simplified portfolio strategy.”
Shenoy was addressing Broadcom’s decision to take the top 2,000 accounts away from partners. However, he said, this will not eliminate partner opportunity with those enterprises.
“VMware will have deeper direct relationships with its most strategic customers, in order to accelerate the adoption of VMware Cloud Foundation in these accounts,” he said. “It makes business sense for Broadcom to have close relationships with its most strategic VMware customers to make sure VMware Cloud Foundation is being adopted, used and providing customer value. However, we expect there will be a role change in accounts that will have to be worked through so that both Broadcom and our partners are providing the most value and greatest impact to strategic customers. And, partners will play a critical role in adding value beyond what Broadcom may be able to offer itself.”
VMware Cloud Service Provider partners, Shenoy said, will help take VMware Cloud Foundation to “an even broader set” of corporate and commercial customers, delivering it as a managed service.
“And because not all customers are ready to consume VMware Cloud Foundation, our thousands of reseller partners will drive adoption of VMware vSphere Foundation,” Shenoy said. “In the corporate segment, we support co-selling with our CSP partners. And our commercial segment is 100%-owned and led by reseller partners. This should help reduce channel conflict, which partners have said was an ongoing challenge previously.”
Shenoy’s blog comes at a critical time for channel partners and their buyers. Many are assessing whether to stick with VMware for the long term. Of course, it stands to reason, given VMware’s ubiquity within corporate, SMB and other environments that adoption will hold up throughout Broadcom’s changes.
But that does not mean a number of end users won’t replace at least some parts of the VMware stack with alternatives. As we’ve noted, rival vendors galore are targeting customer uncertainty with promotions. This week, Virtuozzo and Scale Computing emerged as the latest providers to do just that. The former is offering free migration for VMware cloud providers, while the latter is pitching no-cost license transfers, covering any remaining contract terms for free for up to 12 months.
“There is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now as partners and customers are looking to migrate quickly and seamlessly to VMware alternatives,” said Jeff Ready, CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing.
Shenoy’s blog comes at a critical time for channel partners and their buyers. Many are assessing whether to stick with VMware for the long term. Of course, it stands to reason, given VMware’s ubiquity within corporate, SMB and other environments that adoption will hold up throughout Broadcom’s changes.
But that does not mean a number of end users won’t replace at least some parts of the VMware stack with alternatives. As we’ve noted, rival vendors galore are targeting customer uncertainty with promotions. This week, Virtuozzo and Scale Computing emerged as the latest providers to do just that. The former is offering free migration for VMware cloud providers, while the latter is pitching no-cost license transfers, covering any remaining contract terms for free for up to 12 months.
“There is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now as partners and customers are looking to migrate quickly and seamlessly to VMware alternatives,” said Jeff Ready, CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing.
The marketing head of VMware Cloud Foundation is seeking to reassure customers and partners that all the changes enacted by Broadcom mean business “will only get better.”
“Good business hygiene is never easy,” Prashanth Shenoy, head of VMware’s marketing group for cloud platform, infrastructure and solutions, wrote in a blog this week. “When you acquire a company, you look at everything.”
Shenoy was referring to the industry uproar that has arisen in the months after Broadcom closed the $61 billion purchase of VMware. In short, Broadcom has laid off thousands of VMware staff; “simplified” the VMware portfolio, including VMware Cloud Foundation; terminated the VMware partner program before inviting “active” partners to join Broadcom Advantage; and taken the top 2,000 VMware accounts out of partners’ hands and put them onto direct sales teams.
![VMware's Prashanth Shenoy VMware's Prashanth Shenoy](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt0071e04a730f2ab6/65cfa9a4a06dfc040afe03c8/Shenoy_Prashanth_VMware_2024.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
VMware's Prashanth Shenoy
That last move, especially, has sparked a wave of opportunity for smaller cloud vendors. A number of companies have emerged to showcase their viability as VMware replacements. And that timing could prove auspicious. A recent Candafero poll shows that 50% of VMware partners “urgently want to dump Broadcom,” as Jay McBain, chief analyst at Canalys, which runs the online, partner-only Candafero community, said in January. (Canalys is a Channel Futures sister company.)
As a result of all that, VMware’s reputation has taken a hit. Shenoy, for his part, aimed to shed some light on Broadcom’s strategy around VMware, which has turned itself into a multicloud provider. See the slideshow above to learn more about what Shenoy had to say to customers and channel partners.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like