VMware kicked off their flagship conference for the first time since lockdowns lifted worldwide, as a newly rebranded VMware Explore 2022, this past week.
VMware CEO, Raghu Raghuram, reminisced about how the event had evolved from an annual event for data centre professionals to now being an annual event for muti-cloud professionals and the multi cloud community.
He said, “I’m thinking about the amount of resources that it takes a really broad community to make this happen. In fact, it takes this specific community to want to make this happen let alone an entire digital transformation.
“Many of them are building out cloud offerings in their particular region, and the particular architecture/product they use in order to do that is called VMware vCloud Director,” Raghu described.
“Think about the developers developing the applications, the platform engineering teams, the cloud operations teams, the security teams… It’s not a stretch to say the shift to a digital economy is not possible without all of you.”
Ramping up multi-cloud and the approach right now
Later during a press conference, Raghu had said, “We will always be going where our customer base tends to wander to. This is what led us to Oracle or Ali Cloud, for example.
“So, we will be driven by what our customer base is saying. And they are not telling us that everything is the same. “
What that would help immensely also is a 4000-strong service provider partners in their VMware Cloud Provider Programme (VCPP).
“Many of them are building out cloud offerings in their particular region, and the particular architecture/product they use in order to do that is called VMware vCloud Director,” Raghu described.
It is worth noting over 75-percent of VMware’s customers use two public cloud providers while 40-percent use three cloud providers.
The roadmap for this product is becoming more federated as a service which Raghu opined would make it easier for potential customers to plug themselves into.
It is worth noting over 75-percent of VMware’s customers use two public cloud providers while 40-percent use three cloud providers.
The VMware CEO had expressed, “You will be insane not to adopt a multi-cloud strategy (because of) cost management (potential).”
The elephant in the room – Broadcom
In May, the company announced what could be seen as the next major transition of their company. Admitting to having had many talks with Broadcom’s Tan Hock Eng aka Hock Tan in June and July, Raghu commented that Hock Tan is “thrilled with the product line.”
Raghu said, “I think the way to think about the Broadcom acquisition is that they are establishing themselves through this acquisition once it is closed, as a major software business.”
“It is not a classic product synergy acquisition. It is a company trying to expand to a second large business,” Raghu also added while bringing attention to the many years ago when Hock Tan and his company, Avago, had acquired a custom silicon merchant in Silicon Valley, and continued to invest in innovation in that area.
While the acquisition process plays out, Raghu does not think that a wait-and-see approach will be a viable course of action for CIOs and CEOs who want to advance the digital agenda in their respective organisations.
This was to the point that Avago changed its name to that of the company they had acquired, Broadcom.
The journey for software is proceeding in a similar fashion.
According to VMware, Broadcom is currently looking under the covers at VMware’s inner workings.
By the time the acquisition process closes within the October 2022 till November 2023 time frame, the market may be looking at two companies each with their own significant market leadership in significant market categories – semiconductors and software.
The final word from VMware about Broadcom?
Raghu pointed out, “if you look at it, we (Broadcom and VMware) are both agnostic to the ecosystem and work at layers underneath, right?”
By the time the acquisition process closes within the October 2022 till November 2023 time frame, the market may be looking at two companies each with their own significant market leadership in significant market categories – semiconductors and software.
“So, the point is we don’t operate a cloud, instead we work with all the systems and chip manufacturers.”
While the acquisition process plays out, Raghu does not think that a wait-and-see approach will be a viable course of action for CIOs and CEOs who want to advance the digital agenda in their respective organisations.
