Fundaments brings the VMware Cloud Service Provider Community back together
It has been nearly three years since Broadcom acquired VMware, but the consequences continue to keep the market on edge. Fundaments, one of only six Dutch Broadcom Pinnacle Partners, aims to take a leading role in supporting other VMware partners. That is why it is breathing new life into the VMware cloud provider community.
The cloud market remains unsettled following the VMware acquisition in November 2023. Larik-Jan Verschuren, CTO at Fundaments, sees this too. “There is a major consolidation wave happening right now. In the Netherlands, there were 97 partners who could purchase VMware licenses, either directly or indirectly. As of March 31, 2027, that will apply to only six Pinnacle Partners. That announcement caused quite a stir earlier this year. After that, the market went a bit quiet. Now, we are noticing that emotion is giving way to resignation and a sense of reality.”
Walking away from a VMware-based cloud entirely is not a smart decision for many Cloud Service Providers, Verschuren believes. “As a partner, you are often dealing with large, ongoing contracts with specific expectations. Switching is complex and often not financially attractive. Furthermore, we see that the product Broadcom is delivering is still the best. To be honest, I was worried about the consequences of the layoffs at Broadcom, but I notice that great strides are being made in development. The product is anything but dead.”
All or nothing
The big difference compared to the past, according to Verschuren, is that VMware by Broadcom is focusing on a select target group. “In the past, VMware was often used to virtualize a small piece of infrastructure. Broadcom wants to move away from those types of customers. The expectation is essentially that you purchase a complete, modern private cloud environment with all the bells and whistles. It’s all or nothing. In doing so, Broadcom is primarily targeting parties that want to perform compliance checks and audits and gain full-breadth insight.”
Robbert Jan Ponsen agrees. He joined Fundaments in May. Between 2012 and 2021, he worked for VMware. “You can think what you want, but Broadcom is making a clear choice for large accounts. They want end customers who use the entire stack and partners with deep expertise and their own staff to manage things. They are referring all other Service Providers to Pinnacle Partners like us, where they can then purchase a full service.”
“We have been thinking about how we can help other partners,” Verschuren indicates. “We want to maintain the existing ecosystem of Cloud Service Providers as much as possible, just like the business model of these partners. There are two possible routes. These partners can become our customers and have their clients land with us. Additionally, we offer the possibility to work together in an embedded way. In doing so, we take into account, within Broadcom’s rules, how these parties want to earn their money as much as possible.”
New community
A common complaint from partners without Pinnacle status is that they are missing out on important information. “There used to be a very large community of VMware cloud providers, in which significant investments were made,” says Ponsen, who was involved in that community at the time. “Broadcom has put an end to that. Partners without Pinnacle status can now only find information on the website, while they have a need to be kept well-informed and to be able to share knowledge.”
“We are now filling that need,” continues Verschuren. “We are breathing new life into the community of VMware partners. The goal is for everyone to stay well-informed about what is happening. We understand the pain of the other partners and want to alleviate it.”
Nuance regarding price increases
Ponsen believes that Fundaments is the right party to do this. “We are not the largest of the six Dutch Pinnacle Partners. But in terms of knowledge and experience, we are ahead of the market. That is how I viewed Fundaments when I was still working at VMware. As a result, we are very capable of sharing VMware knowledge. This can involve commercial topics, the partner program, and the product itself, for example.”
The price increases, which have caused quite a stir, will certainly be discussed in the community. Verschuren: “As mentioned: virtualizing just a small piece has become much more expensive. That is often what is meant when people say Broadcom has raised prices significantly. The difference is that you now pay a transparent price for a complete, modern private cloud. In some cases, you even benefit from the new licensing structure. We don’t have to defend the Broadcom/VMware story, but there is nuance in the stories about the price increases. We are happy to discuss that.”
Fundaments wants to share its knowledge with other partners, but the main intention is, of course, for partners to learn from each other. Ponsen: “In the old community, I always liked seeing how competitors were open with each other. It makes sense, because they have the same challenges. The market is big enough for that, too. I expect that to happen again now.”
First event
The new VMware Cloud Provider Community kicks off on October 1st with a Community Day at a unique location in Utrecht. Ponsen: “There will be speakers from the market, from our own team, and from VMware. It will cover, among other things, what has happened over the past six months and how partners can deal with it. The announcements made during VMware Explore, which begins on August 31st and which we will be attending, will also be discussed. What does the VMware roadmap look like?”
More information about this VMware Cloud Provider Community Day can be found at www.cloudprovidercommunity.nl.
Information hub
Fundaments wants to work with the community to determine which topics will be discussed next time and what activities will be organized. “It is certainly not our intention to decide everything ourselves,” says Ponsen. “We are going to discuss what everyone expects from the community.”
“Above all, we want to ensure that partners have the right arguments to make decisions about their future with VMware,” concludes Verschuren. “The community should primarily serve as an information hub.”
