Public Cloud PTSD, ‘So Screwed’ by Silos: Broadcom’s Hock Tan at VMware Explore

VMWARE EXPLORE — Broadcom’s Hock Tan, president and CEO, came out of the gate swinging during Tuesday's keynote for customers and channel partners, true to his reputation for not pulling any punches.

Right off the bat, Tan launched a defense of Broadcom’s changes to VMware, which his company bought last November, three months after VMware Explore 2023.

“You’re telling us you want our products to work better and be more user-friendly,” he said, speaking to the myriad changes Broadcom has enacted to VMware’s portfolio, channel program and go-to-market approaches. “You want them to actually work together. You're asking us, you're asking me particularly, to roll up our sleeves, do the hard work, and you'll see … that's exactly what we have done. Now you're going to see a change here at Explore this year. Sorry, we are serious business people. So are you. We are all about business at Broadcom, and we're here to help you run your business more effectively. We're not here to show you bright shiny objects.” 

Tan then started in on public cloud, calling it expensive, complex and difficult to manage. VMware specializes in private cloud.

“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. “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 stage at VMware Explore in Las Vegas.

Of course, Tan added, “you continue using public cloud for elastic demand and bursting workloads, but in this hybrid world, the private cloud is now the platform to drive your business and your innovation, and we have work to do to make that happen.”

Another problem facing IT pros lies in silos, Tan pointed out. When something breaks, “as it often does,” no one wants to take responsibility and the whole organization loses resilience and time.

“You are so screwed because silos don't work well together, and it's painful for you to deliver services to your internal customers,” Tan said.

VMware, he said, has the solution in the new VMware Cloud Foundation. 

'We Have Overcome Our Silos'

That’s when Paul Turner, vice president of products, VCF division at Broadcom, took the stage to tout the new edition of VCF and its ability to overcome siloes. Get all the details on those upgrades here.

Broadcom's Paul Turner

“We focused … on delivering the best private cloud platform for you, our customers,” Turner said. “And VCF is more than just a technology upgrade. VCF is a strategic choice for you to deliver a cloud experience to your business an agile cloud experience, but with the privacy controls, the security and the resilience that you need from a platform for your applications. We have overcome our silos so that you can overcome yours.”

Broadcom rounded out the VMware Explore keynote with a look at private AI’s impact on virtualized environments, touting its ability to centralize operations and reduce costs without sacrificing performance. VMware debuted Private AI Foundation with Nvidia at last year’s VMware Explore and now is building on that platform, particularly by teaming with partners such as World Wide Technology that help end users with customization and implementation.

An AI-for-Cloud Tidbit from Hitachi Vantara, Broadcom 

Speaking of AI, in other partner-centric news coming out of VMware Explore, don’t miss this tidbit from Hitachi Vantara. The company, which sells through the channel, said this week it has teamed with Broadcom to create a private and hybrid cloud platform. The companies say the product will help organizations to better control the costs and complexities of expanding their environments. Much of those rising expenses ties to the generative AI boom. 

As such, the solution combines Hitachi Vantara’s infrastructure with the new VMware Cloud Foundation 9 software. There’s a lot of unwieldy verbiage around the exact components involved in the jointly developed platform but the crux is this: Hitachi Vantara and Broadcom claim their private-and-hybrid cloud product cuts greenhouse gas emissions, energy costs, carbon dioxide emissions and data center storage footprint.

Hitachi Vantara's Octavian Tanase

"As more businesses face the realities of the AI age, they are actively seeking solutions that help them scale and improve data reliability without sacrificing on cost or environmental commitments," said Octavian Tanase, chief product officer at Hitachi Vantara. “Our … collaboration with Broadcom exemplifies our dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions that not only meet the evolving needs of our customers but also contribute to a greener planet.”

VMware’s Turner agreed.

“This not only addresses the current challenges of data management and infrastructure modernization, but also aligns with organizations' sustainability goals, making it an essential tool for businesses looking to thrive in the era of generative AI and beyond,” he said.