Broadcom narrows VMware cloud provider program; 11:11 Systems keeps buying ex-partners

Broadcom's multi-year overhaul of its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program has removed many former partners, and a Broadcom executive told SDxCentral on April 28, 2026 that the next 12 months will be a "defining period" for the ecosystem. Ricky Cooper, Broadcom's vice president for CSP and OEM sales, said the program is now focused on partners that can support VMware Cloud Foundation 9 and private cloud, and acknowledged that not all customers are fully aware of the changes. Consolidation is under way: 11:11 Systems acquired Australia's Digital Sense earlier in 2026, its seventh purchase of a former VMware partner.

Many businesses do not license VMware directly. They run on a hosting provider, private cloud or MSP that does. If that provider has been dropped from Broadcom's program or acquired, the pricing, contract terms and support model behind your servers may change, sometimes at renewal.

Ask your hosting or private cloud provider plainly whether they remain an authorized VMware cloud partner, what tier they hold and how Broadcom's changes affect your price at renewal. If your provider was acquired, request the new owner's terms in writing. If you are concerned, use the next renewal window to price alternatives, including other VMware partners, public cloud or another hypervisor, so you have options.

The same report cited a partner whose margin on VMware resale fell from 10 to 15 points to 5 to 6 points. Squeezed margins usually show up somewhere, so watch for changes in support levels as well as price.

Sources

1.SDxCentral ↗sdxcentral.com

Vendor in this insight

VMware

Server virtualization, software-defined networking, and HCI platform — acquired by Broadcom for $61B in 2023. VMware vSphere remains the dominant enterprise hypervisor running ~70% of virtualized workloads in enterprise data centers globally. Broadcom converted VMware's perpetual licenses to subscription-only in 2024, forcing all customers into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bundles — causing widespread price increases of 3-10x and accelerating migration to Nutanix and Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. VMware's end-user computing (Workspace ONE, Horizon VDI) was sold to KKR and rebranded as Omnissa in 2024. Despite Broadcom controversies, vSphere remains deeply entrenched and is the primary infrastructure platform for healthcare, financial services, and government data centers.

View vendor profile

Does this affect your business?

Our advisors can help you figure out the right move, at no cost.

Talk to an advisor

Broadcom narrows VMware cloud provider program; 11:11 Systems keeps buying ex-partners

More on Cloud Infrastructure

Azure to raise VM and storage prices in several regions and legacy VMs by about 25%

Gartner: 55% of enterprises will test VMware alternatives by 2029, up from 25%

Microsoft and AWS preview private Azure-to-AWS interconnect at up to 100 Gbps