Chip Powerhouse Broadcom最近宣布打算以61亿美元的价格收购虚拟化先驱VMware。鉴于Broadcom在先前的收购中（2018年的CA Technologies和2019年的Symantec）差不多，VMware的企业客户感到担忧。
“Following the purchases of CA and Symantec, Broadcom raised prices, decreased support, and stopped investing in innovation,” says Tracy Woo, senior analyst for Forrester. “VMware customers would be wise to have an exit plan,” she cautioned.
IDC分析师Stephen Elliot的看法不同。艾略特（Elliot）并没有建议VMware客户识别出口，而是认为客户应该将其与供应商的关系“加倍”，而要建立更具战略意义的业务合作伙伴关系。
Either way, the deal isn’t expected to officially close until the end of 2023, so enterprises can take a wait-and-see approach before making any decisions.
Broadcom试图向VMware客户和员工保证
Broadcom和VMware高管都意识到了这些问题，并且一直在说所有正确的话，并承诺这次会有所不同。Broadcom在一篇博客文章中说：“我们正在以开放的态度来接近交易过程的关闭计划阶段，同时还从我们以前对CA和Symantec Enterprise的收购中学到的经验教训中汲取灵感。”
在最近的一次市政厅会议上，VMware总裁Sumit Dhawan试图消除VMware 35,000多名员工的担忧。“不要假设。。。这仅仅是因为他们已经完成了Symantec和CA所做的事情，这是他们打算使用VMware做的事情，因为到目前为止，我们已经听到了相反的消息。” Dhawan说。
Broadcom坚持认为，它重视VMware的技术以及VMware与企业客户，超级评分者，系统集成商和渠道合作伙伴的牢固关系。Broadcom说：“我们不想改变任何这些，实际上，我们想拥抱这些关系。”
该公司承诺，这笔交易最终将为客户带来福音，使他们“更大的选择和灵活性，可以在多元化，分布式环境中大规模建立，运行，连接和保护传统和现代应用程序”。
Will Broadcom stifle VMware innovation?
Broadcom的一个潜在危险信号是将VMware的年度利润从三年内的47亿美元增加到85亿美元的目标。Broadcom认为，它可以通过“消除人力资源，金融，法律，设施和信息技术的重复通用和行政职能”来做到这一点。”
Forrester’s Woo is skeptical. “Eliminating duplicative back-office functions doesn’t add up to the nearly $4 billion in additional profits Broadcom seeks. What else will they need to cut?” The worry is that Broadcom will take the scalpel to other areas, such as customer support and R&D.
If Broadcom’s vision of a full-stack, mainframe-to-edge computing powerhouse is to become a reality, the company will need to invest not just in high-value projects, as Broadcom has indicated it will focus on, but also VMware initiatives that are just gaining steam, such as its container management software, Tanzu.
也许，广泛的产品组合，现有的企业依赖性和综合销售渠道将使新的VMware能够实现快速增长的速度，而无需削减人员，支持或创新，但三年内的利润几乎翻了一番。
Plus, there is Broadcom’s track record of hiking prices, trimming operating budgets, and cutting support after acquisitions, a track record which, according to a survey by 451 Research, already worries VMware’s existing customers.
在宣布收购后进行了300多家技术领导者的调查，尽管许多科技领导者认为两家公司之间确实可能存在协同作用，但有40％的受访者对拟议交易产生了负面的感觉。
The top concern from respondents was the same one analysts have been voicing: that Broadcom would stifle innovation.
Broadcom对VMware的其他收购会有所不同吗？
但是，有几个因素指出，未来不一定会遵循Broadcom的往绩，并以前的收购记录。第一个是比例。With a purchase price of $61 billion, VMware is by far Broadcom’s biggest acquisition to date, which puts intense pressure on Broadcom to make it a growing, sustainable operation, rather than milking it dry, as Broadcom has been accused of doing with its prior purchases.
下一个因素是VMware强伙伴生态系统的存在。BroadCom需要与渠道合作伙伴建立关系，或者VMware价值的很大一部分可能会迅速蒸发。
The timing of the deal also comes into play. VMware had been pivoting from being a server virtualization vendor into containers, multi-cloud offerings, and hyperscaler products, so a roadmap that integrates Broadcom’s existing assets in networking, security and AIOps with VMware’s portfolio builds on a transition already in the making.
Finally, a major difference with this acquisition is that VMware products don’t compete with Broadcom’s. “There is not a lot of overlap in these two companies’ portfolios,” says Elliot. “For Broadcom, everything that VMware brings to the table is additive.”
VMware技术已经在大多数企业中根深蒂固，并且公司的客户关系往往受到人们的关注。“ VMware非常粘，” Elliot补充说。“ Broadcom了解了这一点，他们希望维持甚至扩大这种粘性。”
埃利奥特（Elliot）认为，VMware作为虚拟化先驱的独特地位，具有庞大的忠诚客户群，这与以前的Broadcom收购量完全不同，Broadcom的收购具有更重叠的，并且在更具商品化的市场领域。
艾略特说：“您做了这样的交易来改变您的业务，推动增长，与客户建立更好的关系。”“ Broadcom的态度是，他们可以从VMware中学习很多东西。VMware具有非凡的操作实践，可能会影响Broadcom的未来。”
大脑排水会削弱这笔交易吗？
在交易宣布后不久，在VMware市政厅的一家市政厅中，VMware的首席人物Betsy Suttered的第一个问题之一是来自一名雇员，他问：“我为什么要留下？”这意味着，如果Broadcom Strips vmware降低了零件，世界一流的工程师，支持专家以及销售和营销专家的销售。
萨特（Sutter）对该前提提出异议，指出收购可以为员工和客户提供机会。
然而，VMware的几位高管已经离开了公司，来自竞争技术供应商的招聘人员一直在盘旋，并且有很多关于即将在VMware的员工出埃及记的谣言。
“The acquisition is supposed to close by the end of 2023, so this is by no means a done deal. Internal turmoil at VMware could pose problems,” Woo notes.
协同作用可以开放新的商业模式
Broadcom认真对VMware进行投资的一种迹象是，该芯片制造商宣布Broadcom软件小组将在交易结束后重新命名为VMware。
艾略特说：“如果Broadcom和VMware可以结合优势，不仅投资组合的集成使客户有益，而且这些各种产品之间的协同效应可以解锁新的商业模式。”
Broadcom has a vision of transforming itself into a software powerhouse that enterprise customers can rely on from mainframes to networking to security to virtualization to edge computing.
VMwareitself had been pursuing multi-cloud and container initiatives, such asProject Arctic和Tanzu Kubernetes, that align with the vision Broadcom has for the future of its enterprise software group. The idea is that Broadcom’s existing software suite, which includes AIOps, cybersecurity, and enterprise automation solutions, will be tightly integrated with VMware solutions for cloud infrastructure and modern applications.
“Because these two portfolios are so large and important to enterprise production environments, the acquisition creates an opportunity (for Broadcom/VMware) to build stronger customer relationships,” Elliot said. “There’s value in the breadth of portfolio, especially if they can stitch these different products together into a coherent whole.”
VMware客户应该做什么？
For many enterprise customers, their cloud and application infrastructures rely heavily on VMware products, so decoupling would not be easy. However, it’s probably not a bad idea to at least sketch out a potential exit strategy in the event that the worst fears of Broadcom skeptics come to pass.
For most, however, taking a wait-and-see attitude is probably the prudent approach. The deal isn’t slated to close until Q4 2023, which buys enterprises time to assess their options.
Elliot recommends that VMware customers should focus on product planning, future road maps, and better communications to create a more strategic business partnership.
这种方法可能仅适用于非常大型企业。在先前的CA和Symantec收购之后，Broadcom在寒冷中留下了较小的帐户。
即便如此，Broadcom软件组将重新品牌重塑为VMware，而且芯片制造商还为VMware支付了溢价。当交易宣布时，610亿美元的价格标签代表了VMware普通股的收盘价高度44％。
It would be an odd move for Broadcom to pay a premium for an asset it intends to strip down for parts.
Whichever path Broadcom chooses for VMware—milk it for short-term profit or invest in VMware like it’s the new crown jewels—existing customers would be wise to keep their options open.
In the short term, it’s probably a smart bet to take Elliot’s advice and see if you’re able to create the strategic relationship that you want with VMware, but if that doesn’t work out, you’ll have bought yourself the time to develop a thorough exit plan.
(Jeff Vance is an IDG contributing writer and the founder ofstartup50.com这是一个发现，分析和对技术初创公司进行排名的网站。在Twitter上关注他，@JWVance, orconnect with him on LinkedIn）