VMware Explore 2025 is just around the corner (Aug. 25–28 in Las Vegas), and customers are eager to see what Broadcom will deliver—whether it’s lower prices, more flexible licensing, or extended support for expired contracts. But, to paraphrase Mick Jagger: “You can’t always get what you want, but you just might get what you need.”

Figure 1. VMware Explore 2025: Maximizing Value with VCF.

Despite customer complaints and ongoing legal challenges, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan shows no sign of changing course. The company remains committed to transitioning customers from perpetual licenses to subscriptions and pushing the full VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform, even if it means higher costs. The era of cherry-picking VMware products à la carte is over—welcome to the nine-course tasting menu. Figure 1 shows VMware Explore 2025: Maximizing Value with VCF

So far, the strategy appears successful. Broadcom reported $15 billion in revenue for Q2 of its 2025 fiscal year, a 20% year-over-year increase, while net income surged 124% to $4.95 billion. During a recent earnings call, Tan noted that 87% of VMware’s top 10,000 customers have signed up for the VCF bundle.

“This year’s VMware Explore theme, ‘Simplify Your Cloud. Architect Your Future,’ reflects where we see customers heading,” Broadcom told Network World. “Customers are grappling with cloud complexity, AI adoption, and security demands—all at once. VMware Explore 2025 provides the tools and strategies to tackle that complexity and streamline the entire cloud lifecycle—from development to consumption to management.”

The session catalog is packed with hands-on labs, workshops, breakout sessions, tutorials, roundtables, and keynotes—all centered on VCF. Some sessions even feature Broadcom executives in “Ask Me Anything about VCF 9.0” panels.

CEO Hock Tan’s keynote, Shaping the Future of Private Cloud and AI Innovation, will feature VMware experts unveiling the latest innovations in private cloud, private AI, and app delivery. Broadcom says the session will also include customer speakers sharing real-world insights on running, scaling, and securing enterprise workloads.

Broadcom’s relationship with some customers has turned contentious. It’s rare for enterprise IT vendors to engage in public spats with clients, but Broadcom appears unafraid to play hardball.

Broadcom Plays Hardball as VMware Customers Navigate the VCF Transition

Broadcom has recently sent cease-and-desist letters to VMware perpetual license holders whose support contracts have expired, according to Ars Technica. The letters warn that users suspected of unauthorized use of patches, bug fixes, and updates released after support expiration may be subject to review.

Last fall, Broadcom settled a highly public dispute with AT&T, which sued VMware after Broadcom allegedly refused to honor a prior contract for extended support. AT&T claimed its VMware costs were set to rise by 1,050%, stating at the time that “Broadcom is attempting to bully AT&T into paying a king’s ransom for subscriptions AT&T does not want or need, or risk widespread network outages that could cripple the operations of millions of AT&T customers worldwide.”

Around the same period, Siemens threatened legal action to secure ongoing support for software it claimed to use—but some of the software was unlicensed. VMware sued, Siemens countersued, and the legal battle continues.

The scrutiny extends beyond individual companies. This summer, the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) filed an action for annulment to overturn the European Commission’s approval of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition. Meanwhile, VOICE, a German IT user association, filed a complaint alleging Broadcom abused its dominant market position by imposing “exorbitant and unfair price increases” during the switch from perpetual licensing to subscriptions. Reported price hikes reached several hundred percent.

A Dutch court also ordered Broadcom to continue providing VMware support to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) for up to two years during the agency’s migration to alternative platforms, citing a breach of “duty of care” and the critical nature of the infrastructure involved.

Despite these legal challenges, Broadcom shows no signs of backing down. While some customers have defected, most appear to be moving through the five stages of grief toward acceptance.

Finding Value in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

Brad Tompkins, executive director of the 150,000-member VMware User Group (VMUG), notes that VMware customers have had three years to adjust since Broadcom announced the acquisition in May 2022. After evaluating alternatives, many decided that vSphere remains difficult to beat and committed fully to VCF.

“Now I have all this extra technology,” Tompkins says, “I need to figure out how to use it and provide value.” He emphasizes that extracting full value from VCF requires alignment across technology, people, and processes—with people and processes being the most challenging.

Broadcom Unveils VCF 9.0

While vendors often debut new products at user conferences, Broadcom announced the general availability of VCF 9.0 on June 17—its first major release under Broadcom’s direction. Tompkins sees it as a signal that Broadcom is delivering on its promise to invest in R&D and innovation.

VCF 9.0 has strategic implications for enterprises navigating hybrid cloud, AI workloads, and cost management, according to Steve McDowell, principal analyst at Nand Research:

• Consolidates infrastructure operations and developer workflows into a single control plane, reducing tool sprawl and complexity.
• Delivers a public-cloud-like consumption model with self-service provisioning, chargeback models, and API-driven automation.
• Supports AI and machine learning workloads via GPU services, confidential computing, and Kubernetes-native tools.
• Enhances security, compliance, and audit readiness with integrated dashboards and monitoring.
• Provides real-time cost metering, predictive modeling, and automated capacity reclamation to align infrastructure usage with budgets.
• Introduces advanced memory tiering (reducing memory/server costs by up to 38%), vSAN global deduplication (up to 34% TCO reduction), and NSX Enhanced Data Path for higher AI pipeline throughput.

Tompkins notes that organizations don’t need to adopt every VCF component to benefit: even 70% adoption can yield significant savings, improved process automation, and operational efficiency.

“Everybody wants to operate like AWS,” Tompkins says. “Hyperscalers do it at scale with fewer resources than typical enterprises. Think of VCF as a cloud operating model you can buy and deploy—there are savings that help offset purchasing the whole package.”

Reference:

1. https://www.networkworld.com/article/4042245/vmware-explore-preview-customers-are-looking-for-vcf-value.html

Cite this article:

Priyadharshini S (2025), VMware Explore Preview: Unlocking VCF Value for Customers, AnaTechMaz, pp.158