Court asks AT&T, Broadcom to resolve VMware dispute
Contract negotiations between AT&T and Broadcom over VMware support have fallen apart, but a New York State Supreme Court judge gave parties another month to resolve the dispute.
AT&T and Broadcom have another 30 days to reach an agreement over VMware support contracts before a New York State Supreme Court judge rules on AT&T's request for injunctive relief.
Justice Jennifer Schecter ordered attorneys for AT&T and Broadcom, the owners of VMWare, to write the court by Nov. 22, 2024, to update her on negotiations. She also ordered Broadcom to continue providing VMware support services to AT&T until then, as the parties agreed to previously.
"I'm not going to issue indefinite, wait out the clock relief," Schecter said during initial oral arguments on Oct. 23 for a lawsuit that AT&T filed in late August over breach of contract.
AT&T attorneys argued its contract with VMware was negotiated prior to Broadcom's acquisition of the company and included a two-year extension for support services that Broadcom would not honor.
Broadcom countered that the services covered in the contract do not exist anymore, given changes the company has made to VMware's catalog and its transition to a software subscription model. It also claimed the scope of AT&T's argued damages for not honoring the contract are inaccurate.
Attorneys for AT&T and Broadcom indicated in an Oct. 11 court filing that the two companies had made progress in settlement discussions, but today said those talks fell apart this past week.
AT&T's arguments against Broadcom echo a similar contract struggle faced by other VMware customers, according to Marc Staimer, president and founder of Dragon Slayer Consulting. While some may be emboldened in negotiations should AT&T win, few have the resources for lengthy litigation, he said.
"If they are big enough, I think they could do something similar," Staimer said. "But for most, not so much."
Tangible support
Broadcom attorneys stated in prior court filings that AT&T was attempting to "rewind the clock" so it could access VMware's catalog of products that existed before Broadcom's acquisition.
Broadcom attorney Alison Plessman of Hueston Hennigan LLP said in the Oct. 23 hearing that AT&T is exaggerating how much of its VMware environment is at risk if support runs out.
"They've said that if there's one glitch in their software, that would bring down the entire network," she said. "[With] companies that are as sophisticated as AT&T, there wouldn't be one glitch that would bring down the network."
AT&T hasn't provided Broadcom with an audit on specific VMware software running in its environment, she said. Support for some products might have been discontinued entirely following the Broadcom acquisition, and there wouldn't be a service to offer, she added.
"These support services are gone," she said. "It's a new deal offering different products. It's not as though you're repackaging these support services. … They're gone."
Schecter questioned why the services couldn't exist as Broadcom should have some VMware employees familiar with software purchased by AT&T.
"I don't understand. Are the individuals who work at Broadcom unable to render support services?" she asked. "Do they not have the technological capability to do the exact same work they did [before]?"
AT&T attorney Jonathan Pressment of Baker & Hostetler LLP said AT&T is not planning to remain with Broadcom's VMware offering and is looking to transition migrate off the software, but did not specify a timeline.
Legal action was the only way to make Broadcom negotiate the contract after threatening price increases anywhere between $3 million to $9 million a year, he said.
"Without the threat, there's really no way Broadcom will become more reasonable," he said. "We're asking them to continue providing the same support services today."
Tim McCarthy is a news writer for TechTarget Editorial covering cloud and data storage.
