OCTOBER 10 – Understanding the 2024 VMware Broadcom Licensing Requirements & Partner Changes
And details about how you can continue hosting your VMware by Broadcom US-based workloads through a white label partner.
OCTOBER 10 UPDATE: Thank you for attending our October 10 webinar! Check out the updated Frequently Asked Questions section and the October 10, 2024 webinar replay below.
Webinar Replay: Managing Spend as a VMware Registered VCSP Partner
Please provide your details to view the recording.
SEPTEMBER 24 UPDATE: Atomic Data’s next VMware by Broadcom webinar is slated for October 8th, at 10AM CST. Join our panel of VMware experts, including vCIO Tim Grossheusch, as they answer your questions and help you continue to navigate billing, budgeting, and more as a registered-level VCSP partner.
The agenda:
- Budgeting & billing
- Your end customer experience
- Outlining how you should be supported
- The process of deploying Usage Meter & interpreting their results
- The current state of Broadcom and our Cloud Commerce Manager
- Navigating the changes & discrepancies in the technical documentation
MARCH 28 UPDATE: Three things you should be doing immediately as you plan for the VMware by Broadcom VCF and partner transitions.
- Upgrade your Usage Meter to 4.8 by April 1st to ensure proper usage data collection.
- Register as a Broadcom Advantage Partner by May 1st in order to transact going forward.
- Engage with a White Label Partner large enough to intake your core commit but small enough to be always available.
MARCH 26 UPDATE: Thanks for joining our March 19 webinar! We continue to work through your questions and correspondence.
Click here to view the webinar recording, pricing information on Atomic Data’s VMware White Label Solutions, the 2024 labor rate sheet, and an intake form to get your custom quote.
As an official Broadcom Premier Partner – VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) and VMware Reseller for the United States market, Atomic Data is now offering two white label solutions for you and your clients’ VMware Cloud Foundation and add-on licensing needs. Introducing Flex and Steady plans, designed to bring continuity and security for your VMware workloads.
Here’s what you’ll get with Atomic Data’s Flex and Steady white label solutions:
Pricing and commitments to fit your business model (with newly reduced setup costs).
There’s still time to transition your licenses and keep your workload in place. Get in touch today!
MARCH 18 UPDATE: Updated Frequently Asked Questions, with more updates following the webinar on March 19.
MARCH 14 UPDATE: Join Atomic Data vCIO and VMware expert Tim Grosshuesch on March 19 at 10am CDT as he shares a complete breakdown of everything we do and do not know about the VMware/Broadcom transition. Full details and registration can be found here.
The acquisition of VMware by Broadcom in December 2023 has brought significant changes to the product, reseller, and cloud hosting programs. Not only is all perpetual licensing transitioning to a subscription model, there are also new limitations on who can sell VMware licenses and host VMware workloads. These limitations bring critical questions for many smaller VMware partners and their end-clients.
Smaller VMware Cloud Provider Partners
As a VMware Cloud Provider Program (VCPP) partner, your agreement and ability to transact terminates on April 24, 2024. Broadcom is inviting some VCPP Partners to be included in the Broadcom Advantage Program for VMware Cloud Service Providers (VCSP), but others will need to work with an invited Partner in order to be able to continue to offer a VMware cloud service.
VMware Resellers & Direct Customers
If you are a VMware Reseller, your VMware Reseller agreement was terminated on February 4, 2024. Active resellers will be invited into the new Broadcom Advantage Partner Program as a Reseller.
If you are a direct VMware customer currently operating a VMware environment on-premises or with a hosting provider, it’s likely that you will be affected by these changes.
Transacting with VMware by Broadcom Going Forward
Atomic Data, a 20-year VMware partner with a Cloud Verified, geo-redundant, SOC 2 Type II attested hosting environment, has been invited as a Premier Partner into the Broadcom Advantage Partner Program for VMware Cloud Service Providers and VMware Resellers. This means we’re able to provide a white label resale solution to other VMware hosting providers who were not invited into or are choosing not to join the Broadcom Partner program. If you are a VCPP or VCSP who has not been invited into the Broadcom Partner Program or are unwilling/unable to increase your core commit and would like to continue leveraging VMware solutions, contact us to start a conversation about transitioning your workload.
We know there are a lot of questions and confusion, and we’re here to help cut through the noise and ensure your workloads continue uninterrupted. Information about these changes continues to be shared by Broadcom on a daily basis. Further updates will be shared here as new information becomes available.
FAQ
Broadcom acquired VMware and is making a number of changes to how VMware software is sold and procured. This will greatly simplify and reduce confusion regarding what products are necessary to meet business requirements. For Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), VMware is consolidating the market from thousands of providers to approximately 1,000 globally. Instead of having every product treated as a separate ala carte charge, VMware has moved to a single product, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), which includes all VMware products. This move will reduce overall support costs as environments all move towards a Cloud Director (VCF) Reference Architecture. Smaller providers that are not invited to the Broadcom Advantage Program have options for what they will do going forward. VMware is focused around working directly with CSPs who will commit to 7000+ cores (Pinnacle Partners) or 3500+ cores (Premier Partners) and allowing those CSPs to engage with smaller VCSPs through a White Label Program.
February 5 – VMware partner program transition
March 31 – Final month for VMware consumption under existing program
April 19 @ 5PM PDT – Order Submission Cutoff (soft close)
April 24 @ 5PM PDT – Order Systems Shutdown (submission cutoff)
April 26 @ 5PM PDT – Order Booking Cutoff
April 30 – Existing partner agreements terminate
Everyone – Broadcom Employees, Aggregators, and CSPs – are behind. This is a massive change to a program that has existed for over a decade. We are hopeful some extensions will be put in place given the amount of contract work that needs to take place between VMware, Aggregators, and CSPs in order to transition to this program and move to White Labeling for those that are interested in pursuing that path.
VMware is providing a White Label path for smaller Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to partner with a larger CSP that aligns with their Vision and Mission Statement. The smaller CSP will continue to operate their environment and lean on their White Label provider for licensing, support, and additional White Label services that will help them grow their business.
This move, similar to Microsoft’s transition to core-based licensing, will sharpen focused efforts to properly size workloads and underlying hardware. Long-term, all customers consuming VMware software will increase their utilization to a level that maximizes their Total Cost of Ownership when using VMware products. Atomic Data is prepared to help you reduce your licensing liabilities through right-sizing virtual machine workloads, increase your over-subscription ratio, and working towards how you can leverage software that is now included in your costs including features that will deliver more value to your clients and reduce your long-term costs.
All Pinnacle and Premier VCSPs have be provided high-level information about how this program will work along with discounts based on contractual commitments. There is also a path for On-Demand Licensing that has no commitments. Smaller CSPs likely will only consume one license, VMware Cloud Foundation ($350/core) which includes vSphere, vSAN, and the Aria suite of products. Atomic Data is prepared to help other CSPs optimize their core counts and identify additional cost savings. For example, Atomic Data transitioned from F5 Big IP load balancers to AVI load balancers and we saw a cost savings in addition to aligning our consumption of these services to our revenue streams that consume load balancing.
Atomic Data’s solution is for non-Premier and non-Pinnacle Cloud Service Provider Partners and allows them to continue their CSP offerings under their own brand in in their current data centers, preventing an immediate need for extensive investment in infrastructure migration or expertise to change the solution in use today to deliver Cloud Services. We have experts on staff that can help you right-size your environments to reduce your licensing liabilities and maximize your investment in VMware Software.
Atomic Data is offering these solutions to assist smaller VCSPs who are unable or unwilling to enter the new Broadcom Advantage Partner Program and are concerned about their ability to maintain existing VMware workloads. As an MSP with an established private cloud offering, bringing this licensing service with relevant professional services to providers in need was a natural step and important to Atomic Data leadership.
As recently published by VMware, Premier Cloud Service Provider partners have highly-developed VMware practices and a consistent track record of delivering customer satisfaction. Premier partners are most often regionally focused, with robust sales and service capabilities, competencies, and technical validations for servicing the managed services needs of customers in geographically specific regions.
VMware has evolved the White Label model whereby a VCSP Pinnacle or Premier partner can deliver VMware Cloud Foundation entitlements to another VMware Cloud Service Provider in a non-branded manner, enabling the secondary VCSP partner to brand and deliver the service to their customers on their pre-existing hardware.
As a regional partner focused only on the USA territory, Atomic Data is unable to provide licensing for non-US hosted workloads. If you’re based outside of the USA but have a US presence and workload, we can help!
VMware by Broadcom registered VCSP partners can use Atomic Data’s professional services engineers to move cloud workloads from one client to another, though rekeying is recommended if you anticipate lots of movement.
Broadcom has indicated that we need the client and the vCenter that the client is associated with.
Yes, VMware by Broadcom registered VCSP partners can use vSAN in their primary environments, and should do so to save money.
Registered partners can put their DraaS cloud host into maintenance mode, and use overage licensing for DRaaS business units over committing cores.
No, registered partners can disable cores and Usage Meter won’t meter them.
The Aria Suite is used by Atomic Data to harden your security and optimize your environment through the right-sizing of VMs.
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