Like It Or Not, This Is Broadcom’s New VMware Channel Strategy

September 18, 2025, 10:00 AM EDT

‘You have to understand, we are not selling individual point products anymore. We are now selling a platform for the private cloud,’ says Krish Prasad, the leader of Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation Division.

When Broadcom CEO Hock Tan took the stage at the VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas last month, he asked the audience a poignant question: “How do you let go of your IT past so you can build for the future?”

His query was designed to spur the crowd to examine the many ways Broadcom says its VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) private cloud platform outperforms the public cloud.

But it also echoed the challenge facing solution providers over the past two years since San Jose, Calif.-based Broadcom acquired VMware for $61 billion and began systematically dismantling and then rebuilding its channel: How do we let go of what VMware was so we can build a future with the company as it exists now?

The answer, it seems, is finally coming into focus. Broadcom executives leading its VMware business and channel strategy made it clear in interviews with CRN that partners that want to remain relevant must double down on professional services capabilities and technical certifications to help customers unlock all of the value VCF promises.

In exchange, Broadcom is pledging to push all professional services to the channel.

“We want very technical pre- and post-sales partners that can walk a customer through the [VCF] journey, implement and drive the outcomes. If you do that well, you will thrive. You will prosper beyond what you’ve ever experienced with VMware,” said Brian Moats, Broadcom’s global channel chief.

Channel partners that are on board with the new platform-focused VMware drive said they are thriving under the strategy as Broadcom bolsters the shift with boosted financial incentives and co-selling opportunities for those partners—as seen with Tampa, Fla.-based solution provider 27 Virtual.

“Over the last 12 months, we increased our VMware business by well over 10 times. It’s insane what we’re doing right now,” said William Grismore, co-founder of 27 Virtual, which has been a VMware partner since 2008. “The main thing you have to understand is this is real if you commit and you’re a dedicated partner.”

But there are many solution providers that considered themselves to be committed, dedicated VMware partners and were not invited to join the Broadcom Advantage Partner Program in February 2024 when Broadcom disbanded the existing VMware partner program. Many more were banned from reselling VMware offerings when the company unveiled plans in June to cut the four-tier program down to three, eliminating the lowest, or Registered, partner tier in the Americas and other regions.

“VMware is in our DNA, it’s what we know best, but we unfortunately can no longer sell it,” said Gary McConnell, CEO of longtime VMware partner VirtuIT Systems. “It’s frustrating to not be in the program, as we’ve been a proud VMware partner for the last 15-plus years. We’ll always be here to support VMware environments, but I don’t know that we’ll rejoin any future program with them.”

And the changes are far from over as Broadcom is preparing this fall to terminate its current VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, revamp the Broadcom Advantage Partner Program with new deal registration and official partner tiering, force partners to either be a reseller or CSP and refocus its efforts to shift renewals and client opportunities to a narrower group of VMware partners.

All of these moves come in service to the idea that Broadcom has morphed its VMware portfolio into a private cloud platform that requires a mature, highly skilled, fully dedicated cadre of partners to service it.

That means there is a class of solution providers like 27 Virtual that stand to reap the rewards of earning a spot in the new panoply of partners that make the grade. But it also leaves behind a slew that are hurt, confused and frustrated that their longtime relationship with the virtualization superstar is coming to an end.

‘Hock Made Some Tough Decisions’

Broadcom’s Tan hasn’t been shy about criticizing VMware’s former channel and go-to-market strategy, which included tens of thousands of resellers, OEMs, ISVs, CSPs, distributors, solution providers and others—alongside about a dozen siloed VMware divisions with different general managers and individual incentive programs. In 2024, Tan said VMware’s go-to-market model had caused “chaos and conflict” in the channel.

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In addition to the partner cuts, under Tan’s guidance Broadcom has eliminated perpetual licensing and reduced VMware’s product portfolio from roughly 4,000 products to just a handful of platform offerings, with VCF being the main focus moving forward. This has caused pricing spikes for many VMware customers, as VCF includes multiple integrated products compared with clients previously being able to buy stand-alone products like vSphere, vSAN and NSX.

“Hock made some tough decisions, but we needed to rethink how we were set up,” said Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation Division, who now leads Broadcom’s entire VMware business and innovation strategy after holding top positions at VMware for over a decade. “You have to understand, we are not selling individual point products anymore. We are now selling a platform for the private cloud.”

Prasad said for designing, deploying and setting up a private cloud, there’s “a certain level of maturity” partners need to have to deliver customer success.

“You cannot have every little partner be at the same level of maturity where they can go, ‘Oh sure, yeah, I’ll deploy a cloud for you.’ If you want to deploy a cloud, we—and our customers—need a partner who is really capable of doing it,” Prasad said.

Laura Falko, who leads partner programs at Broadcom, said while other companies and competitors are “all about recruitment” and owning a huge ecosystem, that is no longer VMware’s strategy.

“We’re looking for more all-in partners,” said Falko, head of global partner programs and partner marketing.

When questioned about how many partners VMware had before Broadcom’s acquisition versus how many VMware partners there are today, she said, “Honestly, we don’t even look at the [total number of VMware partners] we have anymore because that’s not what is important to us. What’s important to us is we’re looking for active, capable technical partners who are maniacally focused on customer success.”

Broadcom declined to say how many VMware partners it has today. Multiple sources put the number at approximately 18,000 partners, down from 30,000 in the ecosystem prior to the acquisition, including distributors, OEMs and ISVs.

‘We Want Our Partners To Take Over Professional Services’

One of Broadcom’s most channel-friendly changes underway is to pass all professional services to its channel partners. The company has committed to its partner ecosystem that it will no longer offer post-sales consulting, implementation and deployment services, although it’s unclear what percentage of those services it was previously providing direct to customers.

“Partners have the ability to translate what the customer needs to some implemented outcome better than we will or could,” said Moats, senior vice president of global commercial sales and partners. “So Hock has decided that we’re going, literally, all in with 100 percent of services to be delivered by partners—that’s 100 percent.”

Broadcom’s Prasad said it comes down to a question of scale.

“We are not hiring any professional services resources. We want partners to get that business,” Prasad said. “We cannot scale to the number of customers we have. There are too many customers who are adopting this. So we cannot do it internally with our own resources.”

Moats said Broadcom will work alongside partners if they need help with validating designs but will not be doing any delivery of the private cloud.

“The light bulb has clicked for partners in that yes, there’s massive up-front services because clients are making big moves. But they also see the recurring, ongoing need for advisory, architecture, implementation, strategy, modernization, support, all types of services—you name it. There are a bunch of different paths to adding value to a client,” he said.

What Partner Triumph Looks Like In 2025

When Broadcom began shaking up VMware’s channel ecosystem, 27 Virtual decided to double down on VMware in a move that would change the trajectory of the solution provider.

“When we pivoted and decided to go all in with VMware, everything changed for us,” said 27 Virtual’s Grismore. “We started selling [VCF], and it created opportunities for ourselves by us creating special education, software and services bundles. We would bundle everything together, and we’re selling it for a single price.”

As VMware sales have skyrocketed by 10X over the past year for 27 Virtual, Grismore said there were “too many” products, programs and SKUs previously at VMware compared with the new focus of selling a “true” private cloud platform by capable partners.

“This program that they have right now to incentivize partners to get this deployed, customers can feel that they have the best chance possible of a successful deployment, which is helping us,” said Grismore. “I’ve been around for a long time. I’ve never seen a company so committed to the partner channel.”

Solution provider giant World Wide Technology echoed a similar stance regarding Broadcom’s renewed dedication and strategy for VMware partners that made the cut.

“I don’t think our partnership with Broadcom and VMware has really been any better as it relates to investing in each other in terms of our services delivery capability,” said Bob Olwig, executive vice president of global partner alliances for WWT. “We’re fortunate to be one of the companies that VMware is leaning into, and they appreciate us leaning into them. So for us, it is about services and helping customers unlock the potential of VCF.”

Olwig’s view of WWT’s VMware relationship illustrates the strides Broadcom has made in winning over some key partners that were initially put off by its channel maneuvers and new go-to-market strategy. In 2024, WWT was grappling with uncertainty about the future of the partnership as well as unhappy customers looking for a VMware alternative, executives told CRN at the time.

For some partners, new customer opportunities and growth are coming from the commercial market, a segment where many VMware partners have been dropped from the Broadcom partner program and are no longer allowed to sell VMware to their customers.

“Many opportunities that were handled by those other partners are now being funneled through us,” 27 Virtual’s Grismore said. “So we create special agreements with those legacy partners that were removed from the program. We’re able to do that better than anyone else because we’re noncompetitive. We don’t offer competitive solutions like Nutanix or Verge.io or [Microsoft’s] Hyper-V.”

Grismore said this is creating opportunities for solution providers to team together to ensure customer needs are met. Partners that are unable to sell VMware anymore need a trusted partner they can bring to their customer, he said.

“We can transact it and keep them whole. And they can still sell their services, their networking, the hardware and whatever they want to do,” he said.

‘Uncertain About The Rationale:’ The VMware Partner Turmoil

For those partners that were terminated from Broadcom’s channel ecosystem and are now unable to sell VMware, the pill is hard to swallow.

Chandler, Ariz.-based MSSP Nothing But Net had been a VMware partner for 18 years before receiving notice that it was no longer authorized to resell VMware.

In fact, to make things worse, Nothing But Net said VMware unexpectedly reached out to one of its long-standing customers via email in an attempt to move the customer to a different, authorized VMware reseller.

The email sent by VMware to Nothing But Net’s customer—which CRN verified—said that in order to ensure a “smooth transition,” larger VMware partners like Connection, Insight Enterprises and SHI had been “sent quotes for your upcoming contract renewal.” The email also informed the customer that if it had a “preferred partner that is an authorized VMware by Broadcom reseller, we’d be happy to accommodate.”

The missive angered both Nothing But Net co-owner and President Bob Cox and his customer, which had just recently renewed its VMware contract through Nothing But Net and now plans to map out a path to switch off VMware to another vendor after it expires.

Cox said he’s never seen anything like the channel turmoil that has ensued since Broadcom acquired VMware.

“I’m uncertain about the rationale behind Broadcom’s recent changes to the VMware partner ecosystem. The decision to terminate numerous partnerships and concentrate on a select group of larger partners raises questions about their commitment to the small and medium-size business sector,” Cox said.

Nanuet, N.Y.-based VirtuIT is another longtime VMware partner that didn’t make the cut.

Although VirtuIT will continue to support its customers’ VMware environments, the solution provider is investing in competing vendors, including Nutanix, Microsoft and Scale Computing.

“For the last 19-plus years, we’ve been focused on putting solutions in front of customers that best meet their business demands, not what meets an OEM’s strategic go-to-market the best,” said VirtuIT’s McConnell.

Although McConnell said VMware’s technology “is still top tier regardless of our thoughts on partner strategy or pricing or bundling models,” VirtuIT is focused on “providing VMware alternatives for those looking to get off of their ecosystem.”

Cox, for his part, said he’s in the process of moving his VMware customers to offerings such as Microsoft’s Hyper-V platform. “We are getting emails and calls from vendors every day asking us to evaluate their solutions as Broadcom-VMware replacements,” he said.

Working To Get Every Customer ‘Taken Care Of’

It’s no secret that VMware competitors Nutanix, Microsoft and Scale Computing have been laser-focused on going after disgruntled VMware customers and partners.

In disclosing its fourth-quarter financial results at the end of August, Nutanix, for example, credited former VMware channel partners for playing a key role in driving new customers its way. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it added 2,700 new customers during fiscal 2025, growing annual sales 18 percent to $2.54 billion.

To combat this, Falko said Broadcom is striving to make sure no customer departs VMware or is left behind if its authorized partner has been cut from the partner program.

“We’ve worked with our sales teams and our partners to ensure that every single customer who no longer has an authorized partner is taken care of, either directly by our teams or by a partner, depending upon the segment,” said Falko. “So all the way down to the smallest SMB customers, there is somebody assigned to ensuring that there’s a smooth transition for them.”

Nearly every partner CRN spoke with made one thing clear: It’s not easy for a customer to completely get off VMware technology.

Looking at Broadcom’s recent third-quarter financial results, the company’s Infrastructure Software segment—which is mainly VMware—generated $6.8 billion in revenue. This represented a revenue increase of 17 percent year over year, above the company’s outlook of $6.7 billion.

Tan said over 90 percent of its VMware vSphere customers have purchased VCF.

“We see the top 10,000 [customers] as being people where it makes a lot of sense to derive a lot of value in deploying private clouds using VCF,” Tan said during Broadcom’s quarterly earnings report with investors and analysts in September. “We now are looking at whether the next 20,000 or 30,000 midsized companies see it the same way.”

Current VCSP Ending Oct. 31; New Invite-Only VCSP Launching Nov. 1

One of the biggest upcoming changes to Broadcom’s channel strategy is evolving its current VCSP partner program into a new, invite-only program focused on partners that can provide VCF as a managed service.

On Oct. 31, 2025, the current VCSP program will end.

Many of the partners currently enrolled in the program are not being invited back into the new VCSP program that goes live on Nov. 1, 2025. Broadcom said it has already sent out invitations to the partners eligible for the new VCSP program.

“The idea of the new VCSP program was not about just [partner] reductions; reduction is a byproduct of it,” said Broadcom’s Ahmar Mohammad, who crafted the new VCSP program.

“In the past VMware days, a CSP could mean 50 different things—like just an outsourcer who provides some managed services on customer data centers. Everybody was under the CSP umbrella,” said Mohammad, vice president of partners, managed services and solutions go-to-market. “We’re now saying, ‘Look, a Cloud Service Provider is somebody who takes our subscription license as an ingredient, they have their infrastructure that they rack and stack, and they offer that as a finished product to the end customer. It’s a cloud offering, a good alternative to a hyperscaler.”

VCSP partners should be able to provide services such as Disaster Recovery as a Service, Sovereign Cloud as a Service, Backup as a Service and Container as a Service, Mohammad said, with the ability to turn VCF into a fully packaged offering.

When reviewing its current VCSP program, Broadcom saw many CSP partners were reliant on traditional approaches such as basic vSphere support rather than being able to deliver managed private cloud as a service.

“Broadcom is not going to become a hyperscaler. We don’t have data centers around the world. Our CSPs are our next best thing [in] that they can go and compete against the hyperscalers and provide a viable alternative,” said Mohammad. “When you apply that definition, there are fewer partners that actually meet that criteria, and those are the ones who we sent invitations to.”

Mohammad said it will now “mean something” to be a verified VCSP partner. “So now when I say ‘CSP,’ a customer can expect a clear service-level agreement with a clear outcome,” he said. “We want them to grow bigger and bigger and bigger, and much faster.”

Partners Can No Longer Be Both A CSP And A Reseller

A major change in Broadcom’s VMware channel strategy being implemented is that a partner can no longer be both a CSP and a reseller—the partner must choose one.

This was another hard pill to swallow for many solution providers that wanted to be both a CSP and a reseller when it came to providing VMware-based solutions.

Robert Keblusek, chief innovation and technology officer at Sentinel Technologies, said the company wanted to lean in more as a VMware CSP but no longer can.

“We were intending to double down and basically offer VCF as a hosted platform, which seems to align with what Broadcom would want us to do—but then, when the rule came out that you couldn’t be in both programs, it forced us to pivot to reseller-only,” Keblusek said, noting that Sentinel Technologies made that choice based on how it could best meet its customers’ data center needs and because its VMware reseller business is larger than its cloud provider business.

That said, Sentinel Technologies, a longtime Downers Grove, Ill.-based VMware partner, was doing “quite well” in providing cloud services to smaller companies.

“They’ve come out with ‘we can’t be both.’ For us, that’s an unfortunate decision. We were doing a great job as both a reseller and Cloud Service Provider,” Keblusek said. “We would be an excellent advocate for VCF if we were allowed to be in both and continue with VMware and our hosting platform.”

Keblusek said the company is witnessing success deploying VCF inside customers that are betting big on the private cloud platform.

“We just finished a pretty nice size VCF deployment for a financial services organization that went all in with VMware,” he said. “They wanted to build a platform for cloud elasticity and cloud-type automation for the future and their growth plans. They’re already reporting incredible results from a performance perspective, so they’re extremely happy.”

However, Keblusek said Broadcom’s strategy of moving all customers to VCF might not be for everyone. Many of Sentinel Technologies’ customers are traditional ESX, vSphere or NSX customers that loved the point product technology but weren’t leveraging much of the automation, management tools or anything above and beyond.

“Broadcom is sort of forcing some of their hands into, ‘You have to go with these capabilities now. You’ve got to move to a subscription model.’ We’re optimistic that we’ll see some customers really want to lean in once they get past some of the initial shock that their ESX renewal isn’t quite as straightforward as it used to be,” Keblusek said.

Although some of Sentinel Technologies’ customers are exploring options to move off VMware due to price increases, nearly all would prefer to stay with VMware, he said.

“By and large, all the customers, they want to renew VMware. They want to keep VMware. They ultimately either want to renew it or double down,” said Keblusek. “We’re starting to have customer conversations around, ‘Maybe let’s optimize this infrastructure for VCF? Instead of looking at switching to something like Nutanix or others, here’s what it looks like if you go with the Broadcom and we build you a private or a hybrid cloud environment.’ We’re hoping that more customers will go in that direction because we think the product is extremely strong.”

Broadcom’s Evolved Partner Program; Official Partner Tiering Set For November

With the new VMware channel strategy and vision taking shape, the company is evolving its flagship Broadcom Advantage Partner Program, through which all VMware channel business takes place, starting Nov. 1.

Broadcom’s move earlier this year to drop the Registered partner tier came as the company shifted focus from transactions to long-term customer value, executives told CRN.

Historically a program focused on a transactional model centered on licenses and basic services, the revamped program sets up a new framework where competencies, certifications, customer success and professional services define partner value.

“Now we’re moving into a time where we want to start the releveling, demotion and promotion against the new requirements that start in November,” Falko said. “We also wanted to put some incentives in place, like deal [registration], that have differentiation between the tiers to reward the partners for making that higher tier.”

On Nov. 1, Broadcom will officially kick off the normal progression and evaluation process to determine which partners achieve the Pinnacle, Premier or Select tier levels.

The program will feature a points-based system that prioritizes capability over sales volume.

Pinnacle partners will be required to hold Expert Advantage Professional Services Partner status to demonstrate advanced VCF deployment and implementation capabilities. Partners can also qualify by maintaining a dedicated SMB practice that supports scalable adoption.

Pinnacle and Premier partners will be required to maintain dedicated sales and technical resources, as well as execute joint business plans with Broadcom to ensure alignment and delivery.

Deal Registration And Incumbency Protection

Improvements to VMware deal registration and incumbency protection will also take effect on Nov.1, Falko said.

Pinnacle partners will get an increased discount on deal registration compared with today. The Premier partner tier discount will stay the same, while Select partners will have the lowest discount.

“Deal registration is for our new business expansion and capacity opportunities. Also, migrations—like if you’re going from VVF [VMware vSphere Foundation] to VCF—we allow the partners to deal-register that,” Falko said.

Broadcom is also introducing changes to incumbency protection with a focus on rewarding customer success and clients that take advantage of all the technologies inside VCF. It is asking VMware partners to register their incumbent renewal opportunities as well as show what VMware features customers have deployed.

“So it protects the incumbent partner, the last partner that sold that opportunity, for that deal and that specific product and core count,” Falko said.

If partners prove a successful VCF implementation, Broadcom will approve their registration and increase their discount protection.

“We’ve increased the discount protection another 5 points to reward them for that,” Falko said.

‘We Need Those Partners Who Are Willing To Lean In’

For some solution providers like Pellera Technologies, the new VMware partner strategy and VCF road map bests VMware’s former channel program and siloed product business units.

“The customers that are willing to understand the shift from current VMware deployment to VCF 9, that allows us to go in and have conversations as to why it is more economical and why it is more beneficial for your entire enterprise,” said Perry Carfagna, executive vice president of enterprise systems and security for Pellera, the Tallahassee, Fla.-based solution provider formed from the merger earlier this year of Converge Technology Solutions and Mainline Information Systems, under the ownership of H.I.G. Capital.

“I always tell my reps, ‘When’s the last time nine out of 10 of your customers needed to have this discussion?’ We’re now able to bring that discussion up not just one level, but a couple of levels,” Carfagna said.

Carfagna believes Broadcom is giving its VMware channel a clearer partner program and a fully integrated private cloud platform to attack the market.

“Broadcom is doubling down on us, and we feel it,” said Carfagna. “Now there’s a confidence and the predictability to go out and say, ‘OK, how many people can we cross-train? How can we do this quickly? How can we hire?’”

Carfagna said the company’s VMware software revenue and services increased by double digits in 2025 compared with 2024 thanks to a spike in services.

“Services are a lot richer in margin than subscriptions, so this is our best incentive to go out there and deploy, make it sticky, because the more they use the products, the more value they realize and the discussions turn around to expansions and, ‘How do we fit AI in there?’ So it’s a game-changer completely,” Carfagna said. “What VMware is doing along with Pellera is we’re really in lockstep from how we go and attack the market and help our clients.”

While companies like Pellera, WWT and Virtual 27 are thriving under the narrower VMware ecosystem, partners like Nothing But Net and VirtuIT Systems say their once long-term relationship with VMware is likely gone forever.

“We’ll focus on establishing relationships [with vendors] that invest in their channel partners rather than punish,” said VirtuIT’s McConnell. “So we’ll double down on the strategic OEMs that do that and help us better serve customers.”

From Broadcom’s perspective, If there’s one message channel leaders want to get across as the VMware partner ecosystem changes, it’s this: Double down on VMware certifications, drive private cloud adoption and ongoing services and deploy all the VCF capabilities for customers.

“My message to partners is, ‘Please lean in. The demand is greater than we can fulfill,” said Moats. “We need those partners who are willing to lean in. They will get the fulfillment. They will get the work.”

Steven Burke contributed to this story

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