A Year of Progress and a Shift to Execution
When I stepped into this role a year ago, much of our time with partners was focused on portfolio changes and clarifying what it meant to operate within the new model. Those were necessary conversations as we reset the foundation of Broadcom’s partner ecosystem. Today, our conversations are about scaling execution with a focus around helping customers deliver outcomes.
Partners are now focused on scaling the capabilities required to meet accelerating demand for modern private cloud. That means designing and deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environments at scale, helping customers solve real business challenges, and supporting the next wave of workloads, from traditional applications to containerized and AI-driven environments.
Building a Partner Ecosystem Designed for Outcomes
We have sharpened our focus on a partner ecosystem that is aligned, highly capable, and invested in customer success. We simplified partner motions and strengthened alignment across sales, technical teams, and operations to create a more effective model.
This was about improving execution and ensuring that partners who engage are positioned to deliver meaningful outcomes for customers. The foundation is now in place.
What Partners Can Expect in 2026
As we move forward, our priorities are clear: value, outcomes, and adoption.
Demand for modern private cloud continues to grow, and in the Commercial segment we recognize the need for flexibility. In light of broader market dynamics, including server cost pressures and overall cost-to-deploy, we are rebalancing our approach to ensure partners can meet customers where they are.
This includes a renewed focus on VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) as an important entry point for Commercial customers, enabling them to modernize their infrastructure, optimize existing investments, and take a more incremental path toward full VCF adoption over time.
Success will be defined by partners who can guide customers along this journey, starting with the right foundation, then expanding into areas like automation, Kubernetes, software-defined storage, and private AI as their customer's needs evolve.
In 2026, we are guiding partners to:
- Strengthen technical and services capabilities to support both VVF-led entry points and full VCF adoption
- Lead customers through a phased modernization journey, aligned to cost, complexity, and business priorities
- Deliver predictable, repeatable outcomes through proven architectures and services
- Drive adoption of VCF and its expanding capabilities, including storage, networking, security, and Kubernetes, at the right pace for each customer
Partners who can lead customers up this value curve will deepen their strategic relevance and drive long-term growth.
Scaling Capability Through Enablement and Experience
To support this shift, Broadcom is making targeted investments in partner enablement.
We are expanding the Knights program to build deep technical expertise, scaling our Activation events for both sales and technical audiences, and introducing more hands-on experiences such as VCF Experience Days to accelerate customer adoption.
At the same time, we are aligning sales plays around real customer priorities, storage optimization, networking, security, and workload modernization, while enabling partners to expand into areas like competitive displacement and workload repatriation over time.
We are also seeing momentum in partner-led customer success stories. Amplifying these outcomes, through co-authored content and industry engagement, will be a key part of scaling the ecosystem’s impact.
Navigating Today’s Environment and Where We Are Focused
Customers are operating in a dynamic environment, including cost pressures driven by factors like server market shifts and memory pricing. Our focus is helping partners guide customers through this with practical, high-impact solutions.
This includes:
- Leveraging memory tiering to optimize infrastructure efficiency
- Driving greater utilization of existing investments in vSAN, VKS, and core platform capabilities
- Expanding focus on lateral movement security with vDefend to provide the visibility and protection customers need
- Supporting containerized workloads and private cloud-based AI initiatives
These are immediate, actionable opportunities for partners to deliver value while helping customers manage cost and complexity.
A More Focused, More Impactful Ecosystem
We will continue to focus on what is working, where partners are winning, and how customer success translates into sustained growth.
Private cloud is a platform strategy requiring thoughtful planning, phased adoption, and continuous optimization. That is why we are prioritizing partners who bring deep expertise and a commitment to delivering outcomes across the entire customer lifecycle.
This evolution is about creating:
- More value per partner
- Better outcomes per customer
- Durable, long-term growth across the ecosystem
The opportunity ahead is significant, and together with our partners, we are well positioned to lead it.