In this first episode of Across the Tech Pond, technology journalists David Marshall (VMblog), Neil Hughes (Tech Talks Daily Podcast Host), and Antony Savvas (IT Europa, IoT Now and VanillaPlus) deliver their unfiltered take on VMware Explore 2025 in Las Vegas.

Key Topics Covered:

• Broadcom’s Bold Vision vs. Reality Check
  • Did CEO Hock Tan’s keynote reassure worried customers and partners?
  • Why VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF9) is positioned as the “private cloud solution of the future”
  • The controversial shift from individual products to bundled subscriptions
• The Lawsuit Drama Tesco vs VMware: Lawsuit over licensing disputes 
  • How perpetual license holders are fighting back against forced subscription models
  • Why major customers like AT&T have taken legal action
• Show Floor Reality
  • Attendance dropped from 26,000 peak to estimated 3,000-5,000 attendees
  • Missing major sponsors and backup vendors signal industry uncertainty
  • Why competitors AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud had the biggest booths
• AI Integration Announcements 
  • Private AI services bundled free with VCF subscriptions
  • New partnerships with Canonical and NVIDIA for AI workload optimization
  • Tanzu lakehouse offering and developer productivity improvements
• Future Predictions 
  • Will there be a VMware Explore 2026 event?
  • The “cloud repatriation” trend: Are enterprises really moving back from public cloud?
  • Why 87% of VMware’s largest 10,000 accounts renewed (but what about the other 490,000 customers?)

The Honest Take:

Our hosts don’t hold back on the challenges facing Broadcom’s VMware strategy. While the private cloud vision makes technical sense given rising public cloud costs and AI sovereignty concerns, the execution raises serious questions about customer trust and partner ecosystem health.

Highlights:

Walmart partnership announcement (but weren’t they already a customer?)

Why smaller companies feel abandoned by Broadcom’s enterprise focus

The missing day-two keynote and how it affected content depth

Nutanix CEO claims 2,700 new customers are ex-VMware migrations

About the Hosts:

David Marshall: VMblog founder and VMware expert based in Austin, Texas in the US

Neil Hughes: Host of Tech Talks Daily podcast and writer for Cyber News

Antony Savvas: European technology journalist covering MSPs and system integrators for IT Europa, IoT Now, and VanillaPlus

This candid discussion provides insider perspective for IT professionals navigating the post-acquisition VMware landscape. Whether you’re considering VCF9 migration or evaluating alternatives, this episode delivers the real talk missing from vendor marketing.

Subscribe to the Across the Tech Pond audio podcast series for more honest tech conference coverage and industry analysis from both sides of the Atlantic.

Jump right In:
00:00 Opening
00:07 Introductions
01:49 Hock Tan and Keynote Discussion
07:07 VMware by Broadcom Product Announcements Discussed
16:28 VMware VCF Customers – Walmart
17:57 Lawsuit Discussion – AT&T / Tesco
22:46 VMware Explore 2025 Mood and Numbers
30:02 Is this the Last VMware Explore Event?
35:00 Wrap Up

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