VMware doubles down on private cloud; and pushes back against post-Broadcom flak

• VMware streamlined its software portfolio to focus on its VMware Cloud Foundation full-stack offering and its vSphere virtualized environment, the company announced Tuesday.
• “What we have done is pivoted our strategy to truly focus on making VCF the best available private cloud platform,” Prashanth Shenoy , VCF Division VP of product marketing, said during a Thursday press briefing.

• As part of the move, the company announced enhancements that ease integration of existing VMware software integration, edge compute deployments and network configuration, as well as several private cloud security add-ons, VMware said in an announcement.

The portfolio pivot marked the first official update to the product suite since VMware’s November acquisition by chipmaker 博通 , a move that stoked enterprise concerns about changes to product bundling, pricing and licensing practices.

VMware’s near ubiquity magnifies the impact of even the smallest shift in strategy under Broadcom ownership. The Tuesday announcement cleared up some of the uncertainty around the virtualization software company’s near-term plans and highlighted major changes.

After a period of portfolio reassessment and customer consultation, the company prioritized simplifying its solution suite and organizational structure, narrowing its focus to “the minimal critical products,” Shenoy said.

Shenoy characterized the company’s previous suite as a sprawl of 168 different products and bundles and offers, and close to 9,000 SKUs.

“While it gave our customers choice, it made it extremely complex to understand what is the right choice,” Shenoy said. “Our job right now is to truly clean up the seams around these products and make them look, feel, act and behave like a single private cloud platform.”

To help rationalize the portfolio, the company restructured, consolidating five business divisions into a single unit focused on delivering a “single, consistent platform,” according to Shenoy.

In addition to prioritizing the VCF large-enterprise platform, the unit will support the vSphere virtualized environment for smaller customers who don’t need a full-stack solution.

“We have drastically simplified that into what our customers truly want,” Shenoy said.

Shenoy confirmed the shift to subscription-based pricing as VMware phases out perpetual licenses, adding that the new billing model cuts VCF costs in half, to $350 per core per year from $700.

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