IBM sold the contracts of hundreds of VMware customers. It did not answer questions.
IBM has sold the contracts of "hundreds" of customers who rent VMware systems on IBM's cloud to 11:11 Systems, a cloud provider and Broadcom partner, The Register reported on 8 October.
VMware is the software many companies use to run their servers as virtual machines.
Broadcom, which owns VMware, kept only the partners that commit fully to VMware Cloud Foundation, its main bundle, The Register reported. Providers that lost partner status must stop running VMware-based clouds by March 2027. IBM stopped seeking new customers for its VMware service in October 2025.
For 11:11 it is the eighth purchase of a VMware service provider. Its chief executive Brett Diamond said: "The customers we manage are very large multinationals and Fortune 5000s who want to stay on VMware."
IBM did not respond to The Register's questions about the deal or about customers who are not moving to 11:11.
The customers did not pick 11:11; IBM sold their contracts. The Register's report does not say whether the price or the service terms changed with them, or what happens by March 2027 to those who are not moving.
Who should decide where your workloads go when your provider sells your contract?
Image: AI-generated.
Sources
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For your next steering committee
- 1Ask which exit clauses your largest software and services contracts carry, and when each can be used.
- 2Ask what leaving would cost, in money and in months.
- 3Ask who reads the contract when a dispute starts, and whether they have read it before.
Issue 01 of the ERP LEADERS brief puts a timeline, the three-number review and six questions on one page. Read issue 01
Welcome back. · Issue 01
