Broadcom is integrating its CA Technologies and Symantec platforms into a long-standing cybersecurity focused partner program and hinted that its Carbon Black division could also be included. The move is the latest from Broadcom, which has been restructuring many of its distribution channels.

The new Broadcom Accelerate Program will combine CA Technologies’ enterprise software, mainframe software and identity management software with Broadcom’s Symantec portfolio into a new offering targeted at Broadcom channel partners. It basically supplants Broadcom’s Cybersecurity Aggregator program, which it launched in late 2020 that tapped into a select list of Symantec’s distributors to combine that subsidiary’s assets and distributor reach to expand customer service options.

Cindy Loyd, VP of global partners and commercial sales at Broadcom, wrote in a blog post that this will tap into the local knowledge of those channel partners.

“The program is aimed at providing enhanced service levels for more Broadcom software solutions delivered to a broader range of Broadcom customers across multiple geographies,” Loyd wrote. “Through the Accelerate Program, partners will act as an extension of our Broadcom team, providing extensive technical support capabilities in the customer's preferred language and time zone, as well as enhancing the customer experience through accessibility, specialized knowledge, tailor-made solution bundles, personalized assistance, training programs and value-added services.”

Broadcom touts financial opportunities Loyd also highlighted the new program’s financial opportunities for Broadcom’s distributors and resell partners.

“With the program, partners can differentiate themselves and create closer relationships with customers through their extensive knowledge of Broadcom solutions, in-region expertise and ability to deliver value-added services,” Loyd explained. “Offering value added services opens a new revenue stream for reseller partners and allows them to build stronger relationships with customers as trusted advisors who can offer comprehensive solutions and support throughout the customer lifecycle.”

That delineation could be important for Broadcom’s distributor and reseller ecosystem, which has been rocked by a number of recent changes to their programs over the past several months.

Broadcom earlier this year to reconfigure a long-standing VMware partner program. That program is now dubbed the VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, which CEO Hock Tan explained was made to “deliver consistent customer experiences.”

This alteration involved Broadcom changing how customers can move their data between an on-premises data center and a hyperscaler environment. This included a change to per-core licensing of VCF that removed pricing uncertainty around data moved between different hyperscaler environments and standardized the VCF technology stack to ease data movement. Google Cloud was the first hyperscaler to support the move.

Broadcom more recently pulled distribution of its VMware Cloud product running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) from that hyperscaler.

Analysts have noted these changes are causing some consternation from long-time VMware customers and distribution partners.

“I just talked to a client that wasn’t really impacted by the new partner program because it uses a partner that was accepted into the new program, but they are really worried about everything that is going on,” Tracy Woo, principal analyst at Forrester Research, told SDxCentral. “And that call was about how to create a business case to tell to their executives as to why they should be moving off of VMware and also they needed a list of alternatives.”

Prashanth Shenoy, VP of cloud platform, infrastructure and solutions marketing at VMware, recently told SDxCentral that the past several months have indeed been a sometimes painful whirlwind both for VMware internally and for its customers. This has included a complete overhaul of VMware’s operational model, platform offerings and its focus going forward.

“With change comes challenges in terms of confusion, because when the pace of change and the amount of change is drastic, there’s obviously a definite confusion or challenge when we don’t communicate and articulate things in a broad amplified and consistent manner,” Shenoy admitted.

However, he added that these changes were necessary and a long-time coming.

“In the previous world, this would have taken us three to four years to make that change,” Shenoy said. “I joined VMware two years back and we tried this a few times, and we didn’t execute on that. So, for me, I was very glad to have made this business model transformation, portfolio transformation, route market transformation, all in a matter of months.”

Carbon Black gaining momentum? Looking ahead, Loyd also hinted that the Accelerate Program could include its Carbon Black cybersecurity portfolio. That portfolio came as part of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition, which closed late last year.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan had initially stated he planned to sell off the Carbon Black business alongside VMware’s End-User Computing (EUC) division as they did not fit into Broadcom’s already stacked portfolio.

“We’ll find good homes for them because there are a lot of very interested parties who are more than happy to take those assets,” Tan told investors during a Broadcom earnings call shortly after it closed on the VMware deal.

However, Broadcom was only able to sell the EUC business, which it sold to KKR for $4 billion, and instead decided to keep the Carbon Black operations. Those operations are now positioned alongside the Symantec business.

Rob Greer, VP and GM for Broadcom’s Enterprise Security Group, explained in a blog post that Symantec is Broadcom’s security platform that “concentrates on data and network protection, while Carbon Black’s complimentary portfolio specializes in both endpoint detection and response (EDR) and application control.” He added that Symantec’s data center security product targets traditional workloads in the data center, with a complementary offering from Carbon Black that when combined will provide a more complete package.