After acquiring VMware, Broadcom swiftly enacted widespread changes that resulted in strong public backlash. A new survey of 300 director-level IT workers at companies that are customers of North American VMware provides insight into the customer reaction to Broadcom's overhaul.
The survey released Thursday doesn't provide feedback from every VMware customer, but it's the first time we've seen responses from IT decision-makers working for companies paying for VMware products. It echos concerns expressed at the announcement of some of Broadcom's more controversial changes to VMware, like the end of perpetual licenses and growing costs.
CloudBolt Software commissioned Wakefield Research, a market research agency, to run the study from May 9 through May 23. The "CloudBolt Industry Insights Reality Report: VMware Acquisition Aftermath" includes responses from workers at 150 companies with fewer than 1,000 workers and 150 companies with more than 1,000 workers. Survey respondents were invited via email and took the survey online, with the report authors writing that results are subject to sampling variation of ±5.7 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
Notably, Amazon Web Services (AWS) commissioned the survey in partnership with CloudBolt. AWS's partnership with VMware hit a road bump last month when Broadcom stopped allowing AWS to resell the VMware Cloud on AWS offering—a move that AWS said "disappointed it." Kyle Campos, CloudBolt CTPO, told Ars Technica that the full extent to which AWS was involved in this report was helping underwrite the cost of research. But you can see why AWS would have interest in customer dissatisfaction with VMware.
Widespread worry
Every person surveyed said that they expect VMware prices to rise under Broadcom. In a March "User Group Town Hall," attendees complained about “price rises of 500 and 600 percent,” according to The Register. We heard in February from ServeTheHome that "smaller" cloud service providers were claiming to see costs grow tenfold. In this week's survey, 73 percent of respondents said they expect VMware prices to more than double. Twelve percent of respondents expect a price hike of 301 to 500 percent. Only 1 percent anticipate price hikes of 501 to 1,000 percent.
“At this juncture post-acquisition, most larger enterprises seem to have a clear understanding of how their next procurement cycle with Broadcom will be impacted from a pricing and packaging standpoint,” the report noted.