At VMworld US in San Francisco in August, Pat Gelsinger and Joe Beda were on stage to announce VMware Tanzu as a portfolio of products and services for customers that want to build, run and manage their applications on Kubernetes. Now here we are at VMworld Europe in Barcelona having made rapid progress toward our VMware Tanzu vision:
RUN enterprise Kubernetes. We are fast converging on a single, ubiquitous Kubernetes runtime. We are committed to providing customers with an upstream-aligned rendition of Kubernetes that they can deploy at the edge, on public clouds and on-premises, including fully embedded in vSphere. On that point, we announced Project Pacific—our effort to embed Kubernetes in vSphere—has reached beta.
MANAGE Kubernetes for Developers and IT Operators. We introduced VMware Tanzu Mission Control (TMC) as a single policy and management engine for all Kubernetes clusters (whether those clusters live on VMware or another cloud). As we demo that offering to enterprises leveraging Kubernetes across multiple teams and clouds, I see eyes light up. And when we explain how TMC APIs will allow operators to enable developer self-service, it really clicks. Tanzu Mission Control is already in limited deployment with a set of design partners.
BUILD a modern software supply chain. We believe that Kubernetes creates opportunities to drive developer productivity. For example, Bitnami allows developers to grab applications and components to quickly assemble and deliver their own applications on Kubernetes. Now we’ve announced Project Galleon to allow enterprises to bring the Bitnami catalog into their organization, apply customizations (OS, configurations, agents, etc.) and make a curated, continuously maintained set of components available to their developers. When the Pivotal acquisition closes, we’ll have a number of new products, services and talent to super-charge the BUILD portion of the portfolio.
Let me pick up on this last pillar, because while the acquisition is pending, I get a lot of questions about the future of the Pivotal Platform. Since Pivotal and VMware already share many customers, I know from experience that enterprises value Pivotal Application Service (PAS) for the ‘CF Push’ experience that automates infrastructure configuration and gets code into production faster. We are intent on introducing that ‘CF Push’ experience to Kubernetes.
The Pivotal team has been transparent about their efforts to support PAS on Kubernetes in addition to virtual machines. Working with them, we see opportunities to both more tightly integrate the PAS experience with our Kubernetes runtime AND make PAS components more modular—that choice is expected by our enterprise customers.
After the deal closes, as our organizations come together and we evolve our collective portfolio, we will adhere to the following principles:
- Open source aligned. The VMware Tanzu portfolio depends on healthy open source communities. We are committed to be a top contributor to open source projects AND to building foundational technologies like cluster lifecycle management in the open alongside the community.
- Cloud neutral. VMware’s connection to all major cloud providers puts us in a unique position to help customers avoid lock-in to any one environment. That’s why our Kubernetes runtime can be run anywhere, and Tanzu Mission Control can manage any Kubernetes cluster, regardless of where it resides.
- Modular components. While we will continue to invest in an integrated PAS stack, we will also introduce discrete, modular components. Principled APIs and clean interfaces between systems will allow customers to build infrastructure and processes that match their needs.
- Easily consumed. The greatest value we can offer customers right now is the ability to start with their current infrastructure. PKS allows customers to get started with Kubernetes today in vSphere and native public clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure) with a consistent and enterprise ready solution. With Project Pacific, customers get benefits from Kubernetes in vSphere without any additional training or coding. And when customers need help, they’ll have access to the largest cadre of cloud native services experts, in Pivotal Labs or at their site via Kubernetes Instructors and Architects.
- Community focused. Bringing together the communities around vSphere and Kubernetes will have huge positive impacts for our customers and partners; beyond that, we will bring the communities around Bitnami, Spring and Cloud Foundry closer to Kubernetes for even greater impact.
We are excited about the VMware Tanzu portfolio, and we’ve seen it cause ripples and reactions amongst competitors. We want to be very clear about our intent to lead our customers forward as their strategic partner in application modernization.
There’s no need to wait. Customers can get started now with PKS, request to join the next wave of Project Pacific beta and get an early look at Tanzu Mission Control. It’s awesome to see such rapid progress, so let me close by offering my respect, appreciation and thanks to the VMware and Pivotal team members who have been working so hard to make VMware Tanzu possible!
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding the proposed acquisition of Pivotal Software by VMware, such as: the growth opportunities and expansion of VMware’s offerings associated with each acquisition and potential benefits to VMware and its customers. These forward-looking statements are subject to applicable safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (1) the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to closing the proposed acquisition (including the failure to obtain necessary regulatory approvals) in the anticipated timeframe or at all; (2) uncertainties as to the outcome of the vote by Pivotal stockholders to approve the Pivotal acquisition; (3) the possibility that the acquisition does not close; (4) the possibility that competing offers may be made; (5) risks related to the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed acquisition, including the possibility that the expected benefits from the proposed acquisition will not be realized or will not be realized within the expected time period; (6) the risk that the business will not be integrated successfully; (7) disruption from the transactions making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; (8) negative effects of this announcement or the consummation of the proposed acquisition on the market price of VMware’s common stock, credit ratings and operating results; (9) the risk of litigation and regulatory actions related to the proposed acquisition; (10) other business effects, including the effects of industry, market, economic, political or regulatory conditions; and (11) other unexpected costs or delays in connection with the acquisition. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including VMware’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
Additional Information about the Pivotal Acquisition and Where to Find It
This communication may be deemed to be solicitation material in respect of the proposed merger with Pivotal (the “Pivotal Merger”). This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy VMware securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval. The proposed Pivotal Merger will be submitted to Pivotal’s stockholders for their consideration. In connection with the proposed transaction, Pivotal has filed a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The preliminary proxy statement contains important information about the Pivotal Merger and related matters. Promptly after being filed with the SEC, the definitive proxy statement and a proxy card will be mailed to Pivotal’s stockholders.
BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION, INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF PIVOTAL ARE URGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. The preliminary proxy statement, the definitive proxy statement, any amendments or supplements thereto and other relevant materials, and any other documents filed by Pivotal with the SEC, may be obtained once such documents are filed with the SEC free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, Pivotal’s stockholders may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC through the Investors portion of Pivotal’s website at pivotal.io/investors or by contacting Pivotal’s Investor Relations Department via e-mail at ir@pivotal.io.
Pivotal, VMware, Dell Technologies Inc. and certain of their respective executive officers, directors, other members of management and employees, may under the rules of the SEC, be deemed to be “participants” in the solicitation of proxies from Pivotal’s stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may be considered “participants” in the solicitation of proxies will be set forth in Pivotal’s preliminary and definitive proxy statements when filed with the SEC and other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction, each of which can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above when they become available. Information regarding certain of these persons and their beneficial ownership of Pivotal’s common stock is also set forth in Pivotal’s preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on October 10, 2019 and Pivotal’s proxy statement for its 2019 annual meeting of stockholders filed on May 3, 2019 with the SEC, which may both be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.
