Platform9 has written an open letter to VMware customers in an effort to offer them an alternative to what is increasingly becoming an untenable situation for many.

Since Broadcom purchased VMware in late 2023 and immediately began a campaign to maximize profits from the existing user base. The company has charged AT&T 1,050% and, according to AT&T, breached its contract with the telecom company. Broadcom similarly raised prices on other customers by 10x, torched its relationship with suppliers, canceled perpetual licenses, and even sent cease-and-desist letters to perpetual license holders.

In view of Broadcom’s hostile behavior toward existing VMware customers, Platform9 sees an opportunity to offer those customers a better option. Below is the open letter it wrote to VMware customers, shared with WPN by The Rowland Agency.

An Open Letter to VMware Customers

Today we are issuing an open letter to our prospective customers regarding changing policies of our competitor, Broadcom. As long time players in the data center arena, we believe deeply that customer commitments made equal customer commitments honored in the marketplace. It’s this customer-centricity that drove our founding of Platform9 to make private clouds easy and something that continues to guide our leadership to this day.

We have seen a dramatic shift in the virtualization industry since Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in late 2023. What was once a thriving, customer-focused VMware ecosystem has faced sweeping changes in licensing and strategy, often at odds with what was to their benefit.

This started with the changes Broadcom made immediately after acquiring VMware: the cancellation of perpetual license sales and the renewal of Support and Subscription (SnS) contracts. At the time, Broadcom assured everyone that they could continue to rely on their existing perpetual licenses. Broadcom’s message a year ago assured us all that “nothing about the transition to subscription pricing affects our customers’ ability to use their existing perpetual licenses.”

his past week, that promise was broken. Many of you have reported receiving cease-and-desist orders from Broadcom regarding your use of perpetual VMware licenses. These letters, including examples like this one shared by Ars Technica, demand that you remove/deinstall patches and bugfixes that you may be using.

Some of you have noticed that Broadcom’s definition of “licensed support” seems to have changed. Per the notices, perpetual licenses only cover “zero-day” security patches. Regular security patches, bugfixes and minor patches can only be used if you now pay for an ongoing subscription. Far from being “able to use perpetual licenses in a safe and secure fashion,” you find yourself required to run unpatched software that you bought in good faith.

This may feel shocking. You may have relied on VMware solutions for years, and these notifications mark a departure from a trusted relationship with yet another breach of trust in a growing list of policy changes, including high renewal quotes and increasing minimum core counts.

Customers need a strategic enterprise-class alternative to move to today.

Platform9 is the virtualization platform enterprises can trust for this transition.There’s no need to remain tethered to VMware when we provide a proven, trustworthy private cloud solution.

e have been serving customers at Platform9 for more than a decade now and we built Private Cloud Director with the same genuineness that made VMware special. Our team built the heart of VMware’s first entry into private cloud – vCloud Director – that has been tapped as a foundation for enterprise computing and has evolved to a core element of Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation.

We deliver the critical capabilities you are seeking including:

– A familiar experience. If you’re a seasoned vAdmin, it won’t take you long to navigate to the new platform.
– The names may be different, but all the tools you are accustomed to using to manage a virtual environment are in Platform9.
– You do not need to abandon your infrastructure investments to switch. Platform9 supports every major storage platform, so no forced refresh or outlay to an expensive HCI architecture. Use what you already have and know!
– Any type of migration is complex, and migrating from VMware is no different. Platform9 has taken a lot of the pain out of the migration withvJailbreak. It is the best migration tool in the industry, and it will do the job in weeks.

You can see just how easy it is to use Platform9 with the Private Cloud Director Community Edition.

If you are weary of continued reliance on VMware solutions with these unending licensing changes, and want an alternative that prioritizes customers, please reach out to our team today to discuss an onramp to Private Cloud Director.

Broadcom is well-known for aggressively monetizing its business divisions, but the company appears to have miscalculated in its handling of its VMware acquisition. Its action—which can only be described as declaring war on existing VMware customers—may end up completely devaluing its acquisition and being a boon for its competitors.