Broadcom EMEA CTO: 'When it comes to building private clouds, we are first'

Corporate evolution

Since those first steps, the organization has passed through several hands – including former parent company Dell EMC and equity stakeholder Silver Lake – until ending up with Broadcom, which finalized the acquisition of VMware in November 2023. Looking back, Baguley considers that the company’s philosophy “has not changed” since its origins. “All we have done has been to complete” the solutions portfolio, he said. “We have gone from choosing an operating system to being able to run any application anywhere and on any cloud by virtualizing storage.”

“Everything we have done for customers over this time is simply to give them more options to manage their needs, from the sovereign cloud to the edge without forgetting the intrinsic security in all our products.” They have done so, moreover, without overlooking simplicity: “We choose to empower people in a scenario where talent and technical skills are emerging as a challenge.”

In the 25 years of the company’s existence, the transformation has been undeniable. “We have evolved, we have refined those appendages that were not perfect.”

Since the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, the organization has integrated the business units that previously advanced in isolation. “Computing, networks, storage and security management used to operate in silos,” Baguley said. Now, however, the great change they have experienced is that those silos have disappeared, the roadmap of all those individual components is driven under the heading of VCF. “We are seeing how our approach is already happening through customers.”

Championing private cloud

Asked about his position in the global market compared to competitors, Baguley is proud of the latest VMware innovations highlighted at the event, particularly related to the VCF platform. 

“When it comes to building private clouds, we are the first. There is no one who can offer you a profile as broad and complete as ours.” However, Baguley, aware of the high competitiveness of the industry in which they operate, maintained that “if you look back at the history of technology, there have always been failures, barriers, stories where people have been too arrogant … As a technologist I am always aware that we cannot sit back, we must continually think about how to be relevant, strategic.”