Broadcom's VMware Bundling: Value Proposition or Cost Trap?

Broadcom's shift to subscription bundles for VMware software, following its acquisition, has angered smaller customers who report cost increases of 8 to 15 times. Broadcom counters that 87% of its top 10,000 customers have adopted VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), arguing many weren't fully utilizing the bundled components. Customers are discovering VCF's capabilities in configuration, security, and cost management, previously unavailable with their piecemeal solutions. However, industry analysts remain skeptical, suggesting aggressive sales tactics may have forced purchases of unnecessary software. The situation highlights ongoing enterprise exploration of private and hybrid cloud strategies, driven by concerns over public cloud costs and data sovereignty.