VMware’s first contentious year under Broadcom drives customers to weigh other options
Summary
In the blink of an eye, customers accustomed to selecting solutions from an a la carte menu of nearly 170 software packages and thousands of stock-keeping-unit pricing options were faced with a virtual fork in the road — VCF or vSphere. The firm expects half of the customer base to initiate proofs of concept for VMware replacements in the next two years and nearly one-third to switch to alternative hypervisor and container platform solutions by 2028. AT&T EVP and GM of Wireline Transformation and Global Supply Chain Susan Johnson said in an August email addressed to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan that the impasse stemmed from a looming 1,050% increase in its VMware bill. “You knew the price was going up, that things were going to change and that Broadcom was not easy to negotiate with.” While each VMware customer is contending with unique infrastructure needs and vendor issues, the AT&T situation illustrates the complicated nature of IT dependencies. “The way to do this is to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work of reviewing each feature and function that you need, looking at options and pressing the pencil to it to figure out what’s going to make sense over the next five years of total cost ownership,” Helmer said.
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