News
AT&T has claimed that Broadcom made it an provide to increase prices by 1,050 percent, and may be influencing assorted distributors to make a migration harder.
The claim of the colossal price hike came in an email [PDF] filed in evidence by AT&T in its case alleging Broadcom hasn’t honored a contract that would allow the carrier to acquire an additional two years of strengthen companies and products for its VMware estate.
The email was penned by AT&T executive vice chairman and general manager Susan A Johnson and appears to be addressed to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
“After a 10 plus year strategic relationship with Broadcom … I am sad to report that we appear to be at an impasse on our VMware deal,” Johnson wrote on August 19. “The latest provide that we have acquired would put us at an average of $REDACTED per year for a 5 year deal, the place we currently pay $REDACTED per year to enhance previously purchased perpetual licenses with a suitable to renew strengthen thru September, 2026.
“This proposed annual increase of +1,050 percent in one year is extreme and certainly not how we expect strategic partners to engage in doing business with AT&T.”
Another filing [PDF], which details the views of vice chairman of global know-how and operations David J Brickhaus, rebuts Broadcom’s byassertion that AT&T makes exhaust of hundreds old and unsupported VMware software. Brickhaus admits AT&T does exhaust some discontinue-of-existence code, but completely on three percent of its servers that don’t pace mission-critical software and can’t be upgraded to pace more contemporary VMware products.
Brickhaus’s testimony also accuses Broadcom of mischaracterizing AT&T’s migration plans.
“My team and others at AT&T have been exploring a possible migration away from the VMware software since Broadcom announced in December 2023 that it would force customers to employ a new, more costly subscription model for its VMware software licenses,” the filing reads.
- VMware reportedly probed by Japanese anti-monopoly police officers
- AT&T intends to quit VMware, Broadcom claims in legal broadside
- AT&T sues Broadcom for ‘breaking’ VMware strengthen extension contract
- Research suggests extra than half of VMware customers are having a gaze to transfer
AT&T’s migration quandary
Another filing [PDF] reviews the views of AT&T vice chairman of global know-how planning, Gordon Mansfield, regarding the work required to migrate from VMware to an alternative product.
Johnson’s letter of August 19 states “the cost to migrate away from VMware (projected at $40-$50M) has a very quick payback and strong IRR [internal rate of return], especially given the high licensing costs proposed. As a result, we are planning to prioritize investment to migrate off of VMware.”
Mansfield’s filing gives a assorted gaze and states “VMware software is embedded in the products that AT&T purchases from its vendors and uses to keep the network functioning. Because of this, AT&T cannot make a unilateral decision to end use of the VMware software. Instead, AT&T must work with its vendors to replace the VMware software and develop a different solution.”
AT&T has investigated doing so “since at least December 2023,” and Mansfield rates that effort as requiring “a significant investment in engineering work to replace the VMware software, which will be costly and time-consuming.”
True choosing a VMware alternative and getting it ready for lab checking out may take a year, Mansfield argued, and it may take years to total a migration.
He then dropped the next nugget:
Your wager about that assertion is as suitable as ours, dear reader. The docket for the case lists several paperwork that are now sealed – and subsequently available completely to participants within the case.
The case continues – indeed it is yet to reach court docket. ®
