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      Proxmox gives VMware ESXi users a place to go after Broadcom kills free version

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · 17:15

    Proxmox gives VMware ESXi users a place to go after Broadcom kills free version

    Enlarge (credit: Proxmox )

    Broadcom has made sweeping changes to VMware's business since acquiring the company in November 2023, killing off the perpetually licensed versions of VMware's software and instituting large-scale layoffs . Broadcom executives have acknowledged the " unease " that all of these changes have created among VMware's customers and partners but so far haven't been interested in backtracking.

    Among the casualties of the acquisition is the free version of VMware's vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi. ESXi is "bare-metal hypervisor" software, meaning that it allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single piece of hardware while still allowing those operating systems direct access to disks, GPUs, and other system resources.

    One alternative to ESXi for home users and small organizations is Proxmox Virtual Environment , a Debian-based Linux operating system that provides broadly similar functionality and has the benefit of still being an actively developed product. To help jilted ESXi users, the Proxmox team has just added a new " integrated import wizard " to Proxmox that supports importing of ESXi VMs, easing the pain of migrating between platforms.

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      After 114 days of change, Broadcom CEO acknowledges VMware-related “unease”

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 15 March - 19:14

    A Broadcom sign outside one of its offices.

    Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Justin Sullivan )

    Broadcom CEO and President Hock Tan has acknowledged the discomfort VMware customers and partners have experienced after the sweeping changes that Broadcom has instituted since it acquired the virtualization company 114 days ago.

    In a blog post Thursday, Tan noted that Broadcom spent 18 months evaluating and buying VMware. He said that while there's still a lot of work to do, the company has made "substantial progress."

    That so-called progress, though, has worried some of Broadcom's customers and partners.

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      VMware admits sweeping Broadcom changes are worrying customers

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 15 February - 21:33

    The logo of American cloud computing and virtualization technology company VMware is seen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on March 2, 2023.

    Enlarge (credit: Getty )

    Broadcom has made a lot of changes to VMware since closing its acquisition of the company in November. On Wednesday, VMware admitted that these changes are worrying customers. With customers mulling alternatives and partners complaining, VMware is trying to do damage control and convince people that change is good.

    Not surprisingly, the plea comes from a VMware marketing executive: Prashanth Shenoy, VP of product and technical marketing for the Cloud, Infrastructure, Platforms, and Solutions group at VMware. In Wednesday's announcement , Shenoy admitted that VMware "has been all about change" since being swooped up for $61 billion . This has resulted in "many questions and concerns" as customers "evaluate how to maximize value from" VMware products.

    Among these changes is VMware ending perpetual license sales in favor of a subscription-based business model. VMware had a history of relying on perpetual licensing; VMware called the model its "most renowned" a year ago .

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      Broadcom-owned VMware kills the free version of ESXi virtualization software

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 13 February - 22:27

    Broadcom-owned VMware kills the free version of ESXi virtualization software

    Enlarge (credit: VMware)

    Since Broadcom's $61 billion acquisition of VMware closed in November 2023, Broadcom has been charging ahead with major changes to the company's personnel and products. In December, Broadcom began laying off thousands of employees and stopped selling perpetually licensed versions of VMware products , pushing its customers toward more stable and lucrative software subscriptions instead. In January, it ended its partner programs , potentially disrupting sales and service for many users of its products.

    This week, Broadcom is making a change that is smaller in scale but possibly more relevant for home users of its products: The free version of VMware's vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi, is being discontinued .

    ESXi is what is known as a "bare-metal hypervisor," lightweight software that runs directly on hardware without requiring a separate operating system layer in between. ESXi allows you to split a PC's physical resources (CPUs and CPU cores, RAM, storage, networking components, and so on) among multiple virtual machines. ESXi also supports passthrough for PCI, SATA, and USB accessories, allowing guest operating systems direct access to components like graphics cards and hard drives.

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      VMware customers face uncertain future as Broadcom ends VMware partner programs

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 10 January - 23:53

    VMware logo on a glass building

    Enlarge (credit: Getty )

    VMware's new owner is ending the virtualization and cloud computing company's partner programs. It's unclear who or how many current partners will be able to sell VMware-related offerings after April 2024, leaving potential for tens of thousands of businesses to be disrupted.

    Broadcom, which closed its VMware acquisition in November, told The Register in late December that “effective February 5, 2024, Broadcom will be transitioning VMware’s partner programs to the invitation-only Broadcom Advantage Partner Program.” This signaled the end of VMware's partnerships with solution providers, resellers, and distributors. But today’s news reportedly reveals a final closure date for the cloud services provider partner program, which debuted in 2019.

    Today, The Register reported that Broadcom recently shared an end-of-partnership date specifically for VMware cloud service provider partners, which work with VMware through the VMware Partner Connect Program that launched in 2020.

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      Broadcom ends VMware perpetual license sales, testing customers and partners

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 12 December - 22:04

    The logo of American cloud computing and virtualization technology company VMware is seen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on March 2, 2023.

    Enlarge (credit: Getty )

    Broadcom has moved forward with plans to transition VMware , a virtualization and cloud computing company, into a subscription-based business. As of December 11, it no longer sells perpetual licenses with VMware products. VMware, whose $61 billion acquisition by Broadcom closed in November, also announced on Monday that it will no longer sell support and subscription (SnS) for VMware products with perpetual licenses. Moving forward, VMware will only offer term licenses or subscriptions, according to its VMware blog post .

    VMware customers with perpetual licenses and active support contracts can continue using them. VMware "will continue to provide support as defined in contractual commitments," Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager for VMware's Cloud Foundation Division, wrote. But when customers' SnS terms end, they won't have any support.

    Broadcom hopes this will force customers into subscriptions, and it's offering "upgrade pricing incentives" that weren't detailed in the blog for customers who switch from perpetual licensing to a subscription.

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      Broadcom cuts at least 2,800 VMware jobs following $69 billion acquisition

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 1 December - 20:16

    Broadcom cuts at least 2,800 VMware jobs following $69 billion acquisition

    Enlarge (credit: VMWare)

    Broadcom announced back in May of 2022 that it would buy VMware for $61 billion and take on an additional $8 billion of the company's debt, and on November 22 of 2023 Broadcom said that it had completed the acquisition . And it looks like Broadcom's first big move is going to be layoffs: according to WARN notices filed with multiple states (catalogued here by Channel Futures), Broadcom will be laying off at least 2,837 employees across multiple states, including 1,267 at its Palo Alto campus in California.

    As Channel Futures notes, the actual number of layoffs could be higher, since not all layoffs require WARN notices. We've contacted Broadcom for more information about the total number of layoffs and the kinds of positions that are being affected and will update if we receive a response. VMware has around 38,300 employees worldwide.

    The WARN notices list the reason for the layoffs as "economic," but provide no further explanation or justification.

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      Raspberry Pi 5, available for preorder, is faster and has a custom I/O chip

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 28 September - 14:54

    RP1 chip on the Raspberry Pi 5 board

    Enlarge / The Raspberry Pi 5's custom I/O chip, the RP1, is the result of $15M in investment over seven years. It unlocks far more data and storage capabilities in the single-board platform. (credit: Raspberry Pi)

    Nearly everything on the Raspberry Pi 5 has improved over the 4 model, particularly the way you can buy it. In a first for the single-board company, the 5 is available for preorder today from approved resellers , before it's generally available by the end of October.

    Perhaps most importantly, the 5 is being prioritized for individual buyers rather than commercial partners.

    "We’re incredibly grateful to the community of makers and hackers who make Raspberry Pi what it is; you’ve been extraordinarily patient throughout the supply chain issues that have made our work so challenging over the last couple of years," writes Raspberry Pi founder and CEO Eben Upton. "We’d like to thank you: we’re going to ringfence all of the Raspberry Pi 5s we sell until at least the end of the year for single-unit sales to individuals, so you get the first bite of the cherry."

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      Apple développerait une puce combinant Wi-Fi, Bluetooth et 5G

      news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Sunday, 15 January, 2023 - 11:00

    apple-iphone-14-pro-live-06-140x105.webp

    Apple cherche à réduire sa dépendance aux fournisseurs, en développant en interne ses propres composants électroniques. Ça devrait bientôt être le cas pour la puce qui combine Wi-Fi, Bluetooth et 5G, au grand désespoir de Qualcomm et de Broadcom.

    Apple développerait une puce combinant Wi-Fi, Bluetooth et 5G