Tom Krause, president of Broadcom Software, says he is reviewing VMware’s go-to-market strategy with an “open mind.” Krause this week signaled that Broadcom, which last month agreed to acquire VMware for $61 billion, will preserve and enhance VMware’s ecosystem.

Since agreeing to the deal on May 26, Krause emphasized that he has met with VMware customers. Krause also noted that Broadcom has already begun considering how it will integrate VMware into the company. Furthermore, he re-iterated plans to rebrand Broadcom Software, VMware.

Krause’s latest statements appear to assuage customers and partners who fear that Broadcom will run VMware the same way it operates other software companies it acquired. Specifically, after acquiring them CA and Symantec in 2018 and 2019 respectively, Broadcom narrowed the companies’ go-to-market focus.

But partners shouldn’t draw conclusions that Broadcom has similar plans for VMware, Krause indicated.

Broadcom’s Tom Krause

“We are approaching the post-closing planning phase of the transaction process with an open mind, while drawing from the lessons learned from our previous acquisitions of CA and Symantec Enterprise,” Krause noted in company blog. “This means that we’ll be working in close coordination with VMware to learn more about their go-to-market, product portfolio, approach to innovation, engineering talent, partner network and, of course, strong customer footprint.”

VMware’s ‘Vibrant Ecosystem’

“VMware is an iconic software company with a vibrant ecosystem, including hyperscalers, system integrators and channel partners,” Krause added. “We don’t want to change any of that, and in fact, we want to embrace those relationships. We have tremendous respect for what VMware has built.”

Krause’s statement came just a day before news came that VMware channel chief Sandy Hogan is leaving the company. Hogan’s decision to leave was not related to the pending deal, according to VMware.

Kyndryl’s Harish Grama

Harish Grama, global cloud practice leader at Kyndryl, told Channel Futures that he understands the fears among partners and customers. Such concerns are to be expected when a player with an ecosystem the size of VMware is acquired, Grama said.

“The worry always is, ‘Will the strategy be derailed; will they be underinvested and milked for money, etc?’” Grama said. “None of those seem to be true because of the strategic importance, the size of the business and the premium that they are paying.”

Kyndryl is VMware’s largest partner, according to Grama. Based on recent conversations with his VMware colleagues, Grama is optimistic that Broadcom will not run VMware the same way it operates CA and Symantec.

“We don’t think that they’ll use the CA-Symantec playbook,” Grama said. “Relatively speaking, they were not that big for them. [VMware] is going to be their massive software brand. But look, time will tell. We, at least for now, see the right signs. We’ll see where it goes, but the signs are good.”

Changes Inevitable

Anurag Agrawal, principal analyst of Techaisle, underscored that VMware has been at a crossroads for some time, thanks to the shift of workloads from the data center to the cloud.

Techaisle’s Anurag Agrawal

“VMware was in a quandary,” Agrawal said. “Customer demands have been shifting from virtualized environments to cloud-native. The center of cloud gravity has moved to the hyperscalers. The cloud’s anything-as-a-service (aaS) model prompts a massive shift in IT spending from traditional products to on-demand alternatives. As a result, the transition from conventional products to aaS has been fundamentally disruptive to VMware. I fundamentally believe the deal is excellent for VMware.”