Since Broadcom announced its agreement to acquire VMware in late May, I have frequently been asked what our plans are for VMware’s business following transaction close. It’s an important question and one that I continue to consider as we progress through the regulatory review process. Having recently returned from visiting with our customers across the world, it’s the right time to share my current thinking on our plans.
Innovating for the Future
One of our primary reasons for acquiring VMware was based on a recognition that the future of enterprise IT is multi-cloud – the ability to build and distribute applications and services across a combination of clouds.
To take a step back, over the last 15+ years, Broadcom has built one of the leading technology companies in the world through customer-focused R&D as well as acquisitions. Innovation has fueled our growth, with R&D spend outpacing revenue growth by nearly 50% since 2009, and it will remain integral to our long-term strategy.
What drives our commitment to R&D investment is an understanding that we must invest in both short- and long-term customer needs. We must anticipate and continue innovating technology that will help our customers grow their businesses. The addition of VMware is our next big step to drive innovation in software – one that enables enterprises to modernize and transform their IT infrastructure and meet the needs of an ever-evolving, multi-cloud world. VMware has best-in-class technology and talent, as well as a promising roadmap. Solutions from the Broadcom and VMware portfolio will offer customers the broadest set of software to navigate both current and future multi-cloud challenges.
VMware develops technology for the future and addresses a growing market. The Broadcom business case for this transaction is premised on focusing on the business model, increasing R&D, and executing in getting customers to use the full portfolio of innovative product offerings – not on increasing prices.
Building on Solid Foundations
In my recent conversations with customers, I heard a clear need to adapt to the multi-cloud era and shared my excitement about our plans to empower them with the technology and expertise to do so. For customers to become “Cloud Smart,” they will need a connected ecosystem of partners working together to meet their requirements. VMware has built a powerful partner network to support customers’ multi-cloud strategies, and together, we will accelerate its growth and momentum to help customers achieve their business objectives. In addition, the technology leadership of VMware product and engineering teams is outstanding, which Broadcom will continue to support them.
While we will look for opportunities post-closing to further unlock VMware’s potential, our initial focus will be to continue building on all of the pioneering work and partnerships that define VMware today. By applying Broadcom’s operating expertise and proven track record to VMware’s strong partner ecosystem, we can advance our mutual focus on innovation and continue to develop technologies that enable customers to work seamlessly in private and public cloud environments.
By investing and innovating in infrastructure software and VMware’s broad portfolio – including multi-cloud and cloud-native capabilities – we will bring our customers greater flexibility and deliver new solutions to help them connect, scale and protect their IT infrastructure. This will also empower our customers to modernize and architect their IT infrastructure while ensuring there will be large-scale, secure, and reliable, yet flexible, choices to do so.
Investing in Partner Relationships to Benefit Customers
Customers and partners work with Broadcom because of our trusted relationships, consistent execution, operational focus and innovative solutions. As we maintain our focus on creating value for customers, we plan to embrace VMware’s existing partnership ecosystem as a valuable asset for serving customers of all sizes.
VMware’s partner ecosystem is embedded in everything the company does across each point in the value chain and fuels its innovation engine – that’s what makes it successful. Moreover, VMware’s partnership programs, which are continually being updated and evolved, are designed to help partners grow and become more profitable on their own. After the transaction is complete, we will continue to invest in developing our united ecosystem to help partners grow their businesses with expanded offerings of the combined organization and enable them to better meet the needs of their customers.
Today I remain incredibly excited about what a combined Broadcom and VMware can offer our customers. I’m confident this will only grow as we progress toward officially joining together. VMware has created a pioneer in enterprise software, and we look forward to helping write the next chapters of its successful innovation story.
For more information on how Broadcom is innovating for the future with enterprise software, visit our blog at Broadcom Software Blogs.
