Broadcom continues to cajole channel partners to get on board with its revamped VMware channel program, noting those that don’t will “struggle to find a place in the Broadcom partner ecosystem.”

Krish Prasad, SVP and GM for Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) division, explained in a blog post that the vendor expects “that our partners will go all-in with us on helping customers unlock the full value of VCF.”

“Partners that are not committed to investing in and evolving their businesses to help customers adopt and succeed with VCF will struggle to find a place in the Broadcom partner ecosystem,” Prasad added. “As we head into the second half of 2025, we intend to put greater emphasis and focus on these value-based solution providers. We believe this is the right path forward, not just for Broadcom, but for every customer who relies on VCF to run their digital infrastructure with speed, agility, and security.”

This not-so-subtle statement seems pointed at legacy VMware channel partners that have so far resisted Broadcom’s numerous attempts to get them on board with its new program. That program, which was unveiled early last year, changed VMware’s long-standing partner sales and distribution channel in favor of Broadcom’s Advantage Partner Program.

It also highlighted broader changes Broadcom made to legacy partner programs that better aligned with its go-forward plans, but drew considerable flack from some of those partners and enterprise customers.

“These partners are mad,” Tracy Woo, principal analyst at Forrester Research, told SDxCentral at that time. “They’re mad because they’re partners and they weren’t given more notice than like a day or maybe just an email and that was it. That is very Broadcom style, it’s very matter of fact and we don’t make any apologies for it.”

Equity research firm William Blair noted in an “Enterprise Tracker” report earlier this year that some enterprises and go-to-market partners were continuing to look for ways to de-couple themselves from Broadcom and VMware. The report stated that value added resellers (VARs) had noted “customers are actively strategizing how to get off VMware, and the broader ecosystem (VARs, OEMs, ISVs) is moving away from VMware.”

That last point was bolstered by the research firm noting “newfound disillusionment from partners about Broadcom squeezing them on margins,” with a specific “partner that historically could expect to make 10 to 15 points of margin on reselling VMware is now making only 5 to 6 points.”

Enterprises have also noted the increased pricing pressure.

Cayla Collins, technical analyst at civil engineering firm Kimley-Horn, told SDxCentral earlier this year that a long-standing, but expiring, contract through its VMware channel was set for a significant price increase. That price increase was part of Broadcom moving VMware licenses from a perpetual model to an annual pricing model.

Collins explained that they asked their VMware representative if they could be grandfathered into their price structure, “because we had been working with VMware for so long and we did have a great relationship with them and our sales rep, but there just really wasn’t any way around it.”

“They did offer a small extension, but … it essentially boiled down to it was we either were going to eventually have to pay the new licensing prices or find a different solution,” Collins said.

Broadcom has maintained program pressure

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan shortly after the partner program launch attempted to clarify the move and highlight benefits that included the ability to “deliver consistent customer experiences.”

Tan also targeted past abuse of VMware’s sales partnerships, stating that the new program ended “upsell practices that were common in the software industry before the subscription transition, such as branding incremental features as new higher editions of the same product or new add-on products. These practices do not represent true innovation in core products, and cause customer confusion and frustration about missing out on new features. Subscription licensing eliminates these incentives.”

Broadcom has continued to update the program in response to partner requests, including a move earlier this year to provide a “points-based model to reward and recognize partners based on key value-based attributes, such as bookings, enablement, and services capabilities.”

Despite the consternation, Broadcom’s arguments are convincing many enterprises to stay with the vendor. Tan noted during Broadcom’s most recent earnings call that 70% of its largest 10,000 customers have now adopted the newly evolved VCF platform. That was considerable progress from the 4,500 large customers Tan said had signed on for the VCF platform at the end of the previous quarter.

Tan also noted during Broadcom’s previous earnings call that the vendor had booked 21 million total CPU cores during compared to 19 million cores posted in the preceding quarter. More significantly, Tan said that 70% of those new booked cores were on its VCF platform, “virtualizing the entire data center.”

UPDATE: This story has been updated to clarify Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's comments on the Advantage Partner Program.