Broadcom’s play to acquire VMware could strengthen its enterprise focus
Security experts on Monday were somewhat mixed on what the pending acquisition of VMware by Broadcom would mean for the cloud security industry.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg on Sunday and has since been widely reported in the mainstream media. VMware's market value is reportedly some $40 billion.
If the deal moves forward, it would follow similar security acquisitions by the chip maker, which acquired CA Technologies in 2018 for $18.9 billion. Broadcom also purchased Symantec in 2019 for $10.7 billion. While it kept the software portion, Broadcom sold Symantec’s Cyber Security Services business to Accenture within five months in early 2020. Frank Dickson, who focuses on security and trust at IDC, pointed out that the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom would essentially create overlapping endpoint security portfolios (see chart).
