AWS has told ITPro it remains committed to working with Broadcom after the two companies clashed over VMware licenses.
Broadcom hit out at the hyperscaler in a public spat last week, revealing it will no longer be allowed to sell VMware licenses amid claims it attempted to undercut the firm with its own offering.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan made the decision clear in a blog post, stating that VMware Cloud on AWS will remain on the market but will no longer be sold by the Amazon-owned firm.
“Here’s what’s really going on,” Tan said. “VMware Cloud on AWS is no longer directly sold by AWS or its channel partners. It’s that simple.”
What this meant, Tan added, is that customers who purchased VMware Cloud on AWS from the hyperscaler will now need to work with either Broadcom or an authorized Broadcom reseller going forward.
“Customers who have active one- or three-year subscriptions with monthly payments that were purchased from AWS will continue to be invoiced by AWS until the end of their term,” Tan wrote.
Tan’s post was a public response to speculation surrounding the future of VMware Cloud on AWS that was prompted by AWS’ push to move its customers away from VMware.
The CEO dispelled these suggestions as rumors, attempting to ease fears that the service may be “going away”.
"I’m pleased to report the service is alive, available, and continues to support our customers' strategic business initiatives just as it always has,” Tan said.
Such rumors gained traction after AWS began advertising an alternative to Broadcom’s popular virtualization software on its website as part of a platform dubbed ‘AWS VMware Migration Accelerator’.
Amazon EC2 was the specific alternative, with AWS stating that customers would receive credits in migrating their workloads to the platform, as well as reduced costs and risk.
“With years of experience helping VMware customers at scale, you can expect optimized performance, enhanced security, reliable operations, and significant cost-savings in your migration to AWS,” AWS stated.
The firm advertised specific cost savings as part of the migration scheme dependent on the number of virtual machines (VMs) customers decided to migrate.
A spokesperson for AWS said that despite the clash, the company intends to "continue working closely with Broadcom to serve our mutual customers".
"We remain committed to helping customers take full advantage of the best cloud services for their business, including VMware Cloud on AWS,” the spokesperson added.
Tensions have been raised throughout the industry following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, with the company having axed several popular services and causing widespread unrest in the channel community.
Tan announced similar changes at Broadcom in a blog post earlier this year, garnering further criticism from Cloud Infrastructure Providers in Europe (CISPE), who stated that the firm’s pricing model changes were “anti-cloud”.
