VMware drops the lowest tier of its partner program – except in Europe
VMware drops the lowest tier of its partner program – except in Europe
The 'Registered' tier is being scrapped, but Europe remain unaffected - with Broadcom saying that there are "no program changes to announce in Europe".
Published on 2nd June 2025
Broadcom’s VMware business unit has dropped the lowest tier of its channel program, a move one analyst has said will benefit its rivals.
The virtualisation pioneer currently operates a four-tier channel program spanning Pinnacle, Premier, Select, and Registered partners.
On Sunday the business unit announced the retirement of the Registered tier.
A blog post written by Brian Moats, Broadcom’s Senior Vice President for Global Commercial Sales and Partners, states VMware made the decision because “the vast majority of customer impact and business momentum comes from partners operating within the top three tiers.”
Laura Falko, Broadcom’s Head of Global Partner Programs, Marketing & Experience, told The Register “The vast majority of these [Registered] partners are inactive and lack the capabilities to support customers through VMware’s evolving private cloud journey. That’s why the Registered tier is being retired to ensure every active partner meets a higher standard of technical, sales, and service readiness.”
Falko said that VMware will give Registered partners 60 days’ notice before deauthorisation and then “work proactively with affected customers to transition them to qualified partners in the new ecosystem, ensuring continuity and support throughout the change.”
VMware has also introduced new requirements for partners in its remaining tiers.
The virtualisation giant will require Pinnacle and Premier partners to maintain dedicated sales and technical resources, and to “execute joint business plans with VMware to ensure alignment and delivery with mutual results.”
The Broadcom business unit is also “beginning the process of transitioning partners who no longer meet the minimum program requirements or have not demonstrated consistent engagement,” suggesting even Pinnacle, Premier, and Select partners are not safe.
VMware were asked to define “consistent engagement” and Falko told said it includes “regular deal activity”, ongoing participation in joint sales activities, staying up to date with training, and “sustained, proactive commitment to a partner’s VMware customer base.”
Falko was also asked what these changes mean for users of VMware’s vSphere products, the server virtualisation bundles that Virtzilla has of late de-emphasised in favour of its Cloud Foundation private cloud bundle.
Her response was that nothing will change for vSphere customers but added: “The focus on value realisation for customers subscribing to VMware Cloud Foundation reflects a broader move to simplify, integrate, and modernise customer environments with and through our partners. Customers will be better supported by partners who can guide them toward this modern private cloud model.”
Moats described the changes as “a pivotal moment.”
He wrote, “For customers, it means access to a stronger, more capable partner ecosystem—one built to support IT modernisation, fast-track AI initiatives, and strengthen cyber resilience, all powered by VMware Cloud Foundation.”
Yet more change
VMware has already made big changes to its partner program, including dropping some cloud service providers.
The company later modified those changes, because they meant some customers would lose access to cloudy resources.
Mega-distributor Ingram Micro did not appreciate VMware’s changes and ended its relationship with the virtualisation giant.
“Broadcom seem intent on destroying what was one of the most successful partner ecosystems in the industry,” said Gartner VP Analyst Michael Warrilow
“Reducing the number of partners will only further galvanise the industry to find alternatives,” he added. “These partners will rush in to the waiting hands of Microsoft and Nutanix and AWS.
Warrilow said interest in VMware alternatives is so high clients want advice about them every day.
“The tragedy is that [VMware’s hypervisor] ESXi remains loved,” he said, adding “That’s becoming less relevant with every inflated quote [Broadcom] sent to a customer.”
Broadcom is not the only vendor changing channels. In early May, Microsoft also announced a plan to “deepen our investment in partners who are delivering transformational impact with customers, aligned to our strategic imperatives.”
VMware’s private cloud push accelerates
VMWare’s channel changes come as the organisation prepares to deliver Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9), the bundle of products it says will allow users to build private clouds that are cheaper to operate and more efficient than comparable public cloud infrastructure.
Ahead of that release, VMware has published a licensing document that includes a requirement for customers using version 9 to provide a “compliance report” every 180 days detailing their licenses and usage of VMware software. Failure to submit the report may “result in features and functionalities of the management plane of the Software will be degraded and/or blocked in addition to support entitlements for this Software being suspended.”
The company has also advised that some older hardware won’t support VCF 9.
Several social media posts have claimed that VCF 9 will retire VVOLs, a storage management feature. VMware has not responded to a request for comment on the matter. A senior technical team member at one of VMware’s main storage partners, whose role does not permit them to make comments to the media, said that those posts are not entirely inaccurate.
VMware’s annual user conference commences on August 25th it is expected that VCF 9 will debut at the event.
