VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) partner 11:11 Systems completed an acquisition of “select” IBM VCSP enterprise customers, bolstering the former’s ongoing accumulation of VCSP partners looking to get out of the VMware business and the latter’s interest in minimizing its VMware business.

The deal is 11:11 Systems eighth such VCSP-related purchase, following previous deals to acquire iland Cloud, Green Cloud Defense, Unitas Global, Sungard Availability Services, Faction, Ntirety, and Digital Sense. The emboldened VCSP partner now has more than 6,000 customers, with the IBM deal adding to its global presence and position within the evolving VCSP space under recent changes by VMware parent Broadcom.

“Broadcom’s Cloud Service Provider strategy is centered on partners that can deliver the operational discipline, technical expertise, and enterprise scale our customers require,” Ram Velaga, president for Broadcom’s Infrastructure Software Group, noted in a statement on the deal. “11:11 Systems is a partner that reflects our model. With a global platform, extensive VMware experience, more than 6,000 customers, and a portfolio spanning cloud, connectivity and security, they are well positioned to support enterprise customers as they modernize critical workloads utilizing VMware Cloud Foundation."

That noted support portfolio includes 11:11 Systems’ recent selection of Cato Networks to underpin a managed secure access service edge (SASE) platform.

IBM continues drift from VMware

Terms of the IBM deal were not released, though 11:11 did note that IBM did plan to leverage its platform “for its VMware workloads moving forward, underscoring 11:11's technical and operational scale.”

IBM last year moved to stop selling VMware on IBM Cloud services to those customers without at least one active VMware workload running on IBM Cloud. IBM noted in a support document at that time that Broadcom’s impending changes to its VCSP partner program that went into effect November 1, 2026, meant it would no longer be able to “sell VMware on IBM Cloud offerings to customers who do not have at least one active VMware workload running on IBM Cloud before that date.”

IBM explained that an active VMware workload constituted at least one host machine running on IBM’s VMware on Bare Metal Servers for Classic; VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) for Classic – Automated; VCF for Classic-Flexible; VCF for VPC; and VCF as a service (VCFaaS) Single-tenant; or at least one deployed or migrated virtual machine (VM) on VCFaaS Multitenant.

IBM added that those existing customers can continue to use and expand their VMware environments, but with a handful of restrictions. These include an inability to order a different VMware offering that what they are currently using; an inability to expands VCFaaS workloads beyond their current region or resource pool; a limit on those current VCFaaS workloads to an existing consumption model; an inability to backup VMs with Veeam Backup add-on services or expand existing backup services if that option is not already active; and a limit on new dedicated Veeam Scale-Out Backup Repositories to Cloud Object Storage-only storage.

IBM’s move threw a wrench in a standing multi-year arrangement that included renewal of that partnership in mid-2022. That deal, which was made prior to Broadcom’s acquisition, included expanded work to address requirements of modernizing critical workloads in hybrid cloud environments for clients in regulated industries.

IBM has since adjusted its cloud platform management focus toward its own Red Hat division, which recently updated its OpenShift platform with new features designed to make it easier to migrate and manage VMs across a cloud environment.