SAN FRANCISCO – VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram stressed calm and time in wading through the morass of questions about the vendor’s pending and controversial $69 billion acquisition by Broadcom.

During an opening keynote speech and following press conference at this week’s VMware Explore 2022 event, Raghuram expressed optimism about the deal and that it’s business as usual until the deal closes. This included comments that the deal remained on track and that VMware was working with the Broadcom team to better understand the depth and breadth of its portfolio.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan was in attendance at the keynote, and Raghuram said that there were a number of Broadcom employees at the event. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of its acquirer’s 2023 fiscal year, which is Oct. 31, 2023.

In the meantime, Raghuram said that VMware continues to operate as an independent company, highlighted by the number of new product announcements unveiled at the event.

Raghuram also said the vendor remains committed to its customers and resellers on long-term product roadmaps, explaining that those channel ecosystems remain critical to its success and that its customers are used to dealing with large vendor acquisitions.

The executive also acknowledged that there was initial employee concerns over the deal, but that has lessened as its workforce have been shown the roadmap.

Read all of SDxCentral's VMware Explore 2022 coverage here.