Broadcom Legacy Perpetual Contracts
Introduction – Broadcom and Legacy Perpetual Licenses
Broadcom’s acquisitions of software companies, including VMware, CA Technologies, and Symantec’s Enterprise division, have left many enterprises holding legacy perpetual licenses for critical software.
A perpetual license grants you the right to use the software indefinitely – you paid upfront and, in theory, you own that version for life.
However, under Broadcom’s ownership, the real issue has become ongoing support and maintenance for those licenses. Read our complete guide to Broadcom Subscription vs Perpetual Licensing: How to Choose the Right Model.
Broadcom has shifted strongly toward subscription-based licensing, which means customers with older perpetual contracts need to be vigilant.
How Broadcom handles these contracts will determine costs, support access, and the future roadmap for your software assets.
In this guide, we outline Broadcom’s policies regarding legacy perpetual contracts and their implications for owners of VMware, CA, and Symantec software.
We also provide strategies to protect your investment, including negotiation tactics to keep your perpetual license viable and avoid being forced into unwanted subscriptions.
The tone here is strategic and a bit skeptical – as any savvy customer should be when navigating Broadcom’s licensing approach.
How Broadcom Treats Perpetual Licenses
Broadcom’s policy toward existing perpetual licenses can be summed up as “honor the use rights, but make support costly and nudge customers toward subscriptions.”
If you have a perpetual license, you retain the right to run the software version you own indefinitely. Broadcom cannot revoke that basic right – you paid for the license, so you can continue using the software in perpetuity.
However, perpetual means you own only the current software (and whatever versions you had access to up to your last maintenance renewal). It does not entitle you to any new features, versions, or updates beyond those originally covered.
In practice, Broadcom will still offer you support and maintenance on your legacy perpetual product – but likely at a much higher price than you’re used to.
Many customers notice that annual maintenance quotes are rising steeply (often well above the traditional 3-4% inflationary increase). It’s not uncommon to face 8–10% (or more) year-over-year maintenance fee increases on legacy contracts.
Broadcom may justify this by claiming increased costs or added value, but the effect is that keeping your perpetual license “current” with support becomes more expensive each year.
Furthermore, Broadcom tends to restrict new features and enhancements to subscription customers. If the software evolves, perpetual license holders might only receive critical patches or security updates (and only if they pay maintenance).
Major upgrades or innovative new capabilities are typically packaged into Broadcom’s subscription offerings and not made available to perpetual licensees.
Over time, this creates a feature gap: your perpetual software might fall behind what subscription users get, even if you stay on support.
Broadcom’s long-term support roadmap for perpetual products is also limited. While they haven’t flat-out canceled existing perpetual licenses, they provide little assurance about how long support will continue.
Often, the strategy is to gradually push customers off perpetual by making it less and less attractive:
- Steep maintenance costs increase with each renewal cycle.
- No significant updates – just bare-minimum support.
- Potential end-of-life timelines that eventually force a decision.
In short, Broadcom will honor your right to use what you bought, but they’re doing everything to steer you toward a subscription model for continued value.
How to do the business case, Calculating TCO for Broadcom Licensing – Perpetual vs Subscription.
Example – VMware Perpetual Owners Under Broadcom
A current high-profile example is VMware. If you own VMware software under a perpetual license, you can still run your existing VMware products – Broadcom’s acquisition doesn’t invalidate your licenses.
However, Broadcom has moved swiftly to end new perpetual sales and even standard support renewals for VMware’s perpetual licenses. As of early 2024, customers can no longer purchase new VMware perpetual licenses or renew support contracts beyond their current term.
Essentially, when your existing support agreement expires, Broadcom expects you to transition to a subscription if you wish to continue receiving support, updates, or access to new VMware versions.
For VMware perpetual license holders, this means you can keep using your VMware software on the last version you have, but future innovations will likely bypass you. Broadcom is poised to deliver VMware’s new features and product enhancements only through subscription-based offerings or SaaS solutions.
Your “perpetual” VMware license remains valid for the version you own, but if vNext of that product comes out with improvements, your perpetual contract doesn’t grant you access. In practical terms, perpetual ownership = frozen in time at the feature set you last paid for.
Another impact VMware customers are seeing is sharply higher support costs. Broadcom has reportedly increased VMware maintenance renewal quotes substantially (by 50% or more in some cases), aware that customers have limited options if they want to remain supported.
Some organizations have been blindsided by huge renewal quotes or policies that include no reductions in support levels: even if you now need fewer licenses or cores, Broadcom might insist you pay for the original count.
This aggressive stance is designed to make the subscription transition appear comparatively attractive (or simply pressure customers into paying up).
The VMware case serves as a warning: even though your perpetual license lets you run your software indefinitely, staying on that path with Broadcom will come with escalating costs and eventual roadblocks. Without a subscription, VMware users risk running outdated software or losing official support entirely.
Broadcom has even taken a hard line in enforcing compliance – for example, warning customers that using software without an active support contract violates the terms.
In summary, VMware perpetual customers should plan carefully: either negotiate to keep support manageable or prepare to operate without Broadcom’s help (or leave the VMware platform on your own terms).
Read how to trade in licenses, Broadcom Subscription Conversion – How to Trade In Perpetual Licenses for Maximum Value.
CA & Symantec Precedent
Broadcom’s approach to VMware isn’t without precedent. When Broadcom acquired CA Technologies (2018) and Symantec’s Enterprise software business (2019), it followed a similar playbook for legacy perpetual contracts.
Broadcom initially honored existing CA and Symantec perpetual licenses, meaning customers could continue using their software. However, the cost of maintenance and support was quickly ratcheted up for those legacy products.
Many CA and Symantec customers received maintenance renewals with dramatic price increases or changed terms.
In some cases, Broadcom simply eliminated the option of staying on perpetual support. Symantec customers, for instance, found that after Broadcom took over, certain products could no longer be renewed under their old contracts – to receive updates (such as antivirus definitions or patches), they had to move to a new subscription contract. Broadcom would essentially say: “Sure, you have a perpetual license to Symantec Endpoint Protection, and you can keep using it.
However, we will not renew your support for that product. If you want the latest threat updates or any help, you need to buy our subscription service.”
This tactic forced many long-time customers onto Broadcom’s terms.
For CA Technologies’ software (such as mainframe and enterprise tools), Broadcom honored the perpetual licenses but often bundled them into new deals or pushed multi-year subscriptions for support.
Large customers who thought they had fixed terms with CA sometimes had to fight to enforce those terms. (In fact, a few large enterprises have taken legal action when Broadcom tried to impose new fees not in the original contract.)
Over time, the pain of high maintenance costs and fear of losing support led the majority of CA and Symantec users to convert to Broadcom’s subscription licensing or seek alternatives.
The few who held out on perpetual likely did so with either a very strategic negotiation or because they had no immediate replacement and chose to pay Broadcom’s rising fees temporarily.
The key lesson from CA and Symantec is that Broadcom will not outright cancel your perpetual license, but they will make life difficult for perpetual customers.
Expect annual maintenance hikes, reduced flexibility, and constant pressure to consider “new licensing models” (their code for subscriptions).
Broadcom has a track record of being rigid in pricing and terms post-acquisition, especially with customers seen as captive.
Knowing this history arms you to be proactive if you’re a VMware customer today – you can predict Broadcom’s moves and plan accordingly.
Risks of Staying Perpetual
If you decide to remain on your legacy perpetual license under Broadcom without switching to a subscription, be aware of the risks and downsides:
- Escalating Maintenance Costs: The annual maintenance fees are likely to rise faster than your IT budget. Broadcom often applies significant annual increases (well beyond standard inflation). Without a cap, you might face double-digit percentage increases at each renewal. Over a few years, the cost to “stay current” on support can snowball, erasing the financial benefit that perpetual licenses used to have.
- No Access to New Versions or Features: By staying perpetual, you forgo new features, versions, and innovations. Your software will get security patches (if you pay maintenance), but major improvements will bypass you. This can leave your environment lagging technologically. In fast-evolving areas like virtualization and security, not having the latest capabilities can harm your competitiveness or efficiency. It may also become harder to find expertise or compatible add-ons for an outdated version.
- Potential Security and Compliance Exposure: Along with feature stagnation comes the risk of running outdated software that may not receive timely security patches. If Broadcom decides not to issue certain updates to perpetual users, you could be exposed to vulnerabilities. Additionally, falling out of vendor support may raise compliance issues in regulated industries – auditors don’t look kindly on critical systems being unsupported or outdated.
- End-of-Life and Limited Support Roadmap: Broadcom could eventually retire support for your product’s perpetual version altogether. If they announce that in two years they’ll stop supporting the old version, you might have limited options (either upgrade to a subscription, switch products, or run without support). Staying on a perpetual license for too long risks being caught in a dead end – with the product potentially reaching end-of-life, you’d have to scramble to migrate to Broadcom’s timeline. In short, you lose control over long-term planning.
- Diminishing Negotiation Leverage: The longer you hold onto a perpetual license while Broadcom prefers subscriptions, the more your leverage may diminish. Broadcom’s sales focus will be elsewhere, and you might not get much attention unless you’re committing significant spend. If many customers switch to the perpetual version, you may become an outlier with limited community or peer support and minimal influence on the product’s future direction.
In weighing these risks, consider the nature of the software in question. If it’s something static that truly doesn’t need updates, you might tolerate some of these issues.
However, for most enterprise software, staying indefinitely on a legacy version is a risky proposition. That’s why it’s crucial to either negotiate protective terms with Broadcom or develop an exit/transition strategy.
Negotiation Tactics for Perpetual License Owners
If you plan to maintain your perpetual licenses under Broadcom for the foreseeable future, strong negotiation is your best ally.
Since Broadcom’s default motion is to increase fees and push you toward a subscription, you need to proactively secure terms that protect you.
Here are some tactics and contract terms to consider when negotiating as a perpetual license owner:
- Cap Annual Maintenance Increases: Insist on a limit to how much Broadcom can raise your maintenance fees each year. For example, negotiate a clause that caps maintenance fees at an annual increase of 3–5%. Without a cap, you’re exposed to potentially huge uplifts. Even a moderate cap provides budget predictability and curtails the “surprise” 10%+ jumps Broadcom might otherwise try.
- Multi-Year Price Locks: Where possible, lock in your maintenance pricing for multiple years to ensure stability. Committing to a 2- or 3-year renewal term at a fixed (or capped) rate can prevent year-by-year price creep. Broadcom may be open to this if you sign and pay for multiple years up front. In return, you get stability – no renegotiation every year and no drastic jumps for the term’s duration.
- Guaranteed Support Term Length: Get Broadcom to commit in writing to support your product for a minimum number of years. This is crucial if you’re concerned they might drop support for perpetual licenses. For instance, ensure the contract states that, as long as you continue to pay maintenance, Broadcom will provide support and patches for at least X years (or until a specific date). This protects you from the scenario of Broadcom suddenly saying, “We won’t support that product after next year,” leaving you stranded.
- Renewal and Loyalty Discounts: Promote continuity of discounts or incentives for long-term maintenance customers. If you’ve been paying support for many years, use that as leverage: request that Broadcom not penalize you with big hikes but instead perhaps offer a loyalty discount or at least keep your renewal close to last year’s price. Another angle is negotiating that if you renew for multiple years, you receive a small percentage discount or a freeze on increases as a reward for your commitment.
- Roadmap Visibility and Notification: Given the uncertainty around product roadmaps, it’s wise to include a contractual clause requiring Broadcom to inform you well in advance of any changes to your product’s status. For example, negotiate a “roadmap disclosure” clause: Broadcom must give at least 24 months’ notice of any plan to discontinue support or significantly alter the licensing model for your product. This doesn’t guarantee they won’t end support, but it forces transparency so you aren’t caught off guard. It gives you two years to plan an alternative if Broadcom decides to discontinue perpetual support.
When negotiating these terms, be prepared for pushback – Broadcom’s default contracts may not include such concessions.
However, if the deal is important (and especially if you’re a sizable customer), you have leverage to ask. Emphasize that without these protections, you have to consider other options (like not renewing or seeking third-party support).
Broadcom would rather keep you as a paying customer, even on a perpetual basis, than lose you entirely in many cases.
Sample Contract Clauses (Plain Language): To illustrate, here are examples of clauses you might insert into your agreement to reflect the above protections:
- Maintenance Fee Cap: “Annual maintenance fees shall not increase by more than 3% year over year.”
- Support Guarantee: “Vendor shall provide support and security patching for the licensed perpetual products through the full term of maintenance agreed upon.”
- Roadmap Disclosure: “Broadcom will notify Customer at least 24 months in advance of any plans to discontinue support for the software under a perpetual license or require migration to an alternative licensing model.”
Legal teams can refine the exact wording, but the goal is to document these principles in writing.
Including such clauses creates accountability and can be invoked if Broadcom attempts to deviate from the agreed-upon terms.
Alternatives – Third-Party Support
What if Broadcom’s maintenance fees become unpalatable, or they won’t agree to reasonable terms? One alternative for legacy perpetual license owners is to consider third-party support providers.
Third-party software support companies (independent of Broadcom) specialize in offering maintenance and technical support for enterprise software at a lower cost.
For customers of CA, Symantec, or VMware products who feel Broadcom maintenance is overpriced, this route can yield significant savings – often 50% or more off the vendor’s support fees.
Third-party support is particularly viable if:
- Your software environment is stable and does not require new features. Perhaps you’re running a mature version, and your main concern is keeping it running reliably and securely for a few more years, rather than receiving upgrades.
- Broadcom’s support offers diminishing returns. If the official support is mainly providing you with patches (which are sparse) and you have no expectation of meaningful updates, a third-party can often handle break-fix support and guide you through workarounds just as well.
However, you should weigh the risks of third-party support too:
- You will lose access to official vendor updates and patches. Broadcom typically will not allow you to download new fixes without an active contract. Third-party firms may develop their own fixes for certain issues, but they won’t have access to Broadcom’s proprietary code. In security terms, you might rely on them to mitigate vulnerabilities via configuration or custom fixes.
- Broadcom may refuse to provide support to you later (or charge significant penalties). If you leave Broadcom support for a couple of years and later decide you need an upgrade or want to return, Broadcom may require you to backpay for maintenance or purchase new licenses. Essentially, it can be a one-way door unless you’re prepared for a potentially costly re-entry.
- No new versions: Obviously, a third-party cannot grant you rights to a newer version of the software. You’ll be frozen on whatever version you have. If your business later decides you need features from a newer release, you’ll have to migrate to a different solution or negotiate a new license with Broadcom.
Despite these caveats, many organizations running legacy CA or even VMware vSphere have found third-party support to be a useful stopgap or bargaining chip.
The cost savings can be reallocated to fund a future migration or other projects.
Also, bringing a quote from a third-party support provider to Broadcom can sometimes encourage Broadcom to sharpen its pencil on a renewal quote (they’d rather keep you, even at a lower price, than see you walk away entirely).
Just make sure that if you threaten to go third-party, you’re truly willing to do it – Broadcom might call your bluff.
In summary, third-party support is an option to keep your perpetual license running at a lower cost if Broadcom’s terms are unreasonable.
It works best for organizations that have a plan (or timeline) to eventually replace or upgrade the software in question, allowing you to use third-party support as a bridge to get there without overpaying in the interim.
Checklist – Perpetual License Survival Strategy
For enterprises that choose to stick with their legacy perpetual licenses under Broadcom, here’s a quick survival checklist.
Use this as a guide to harden your contract and strategy against any unwelcome surprises:
- ✅ Cap Maintenance Uplifts: Don’t leave annual price increases open-ended. Obtain a 3–5% cap in writing to prevent exponential growth in support costs.
- ✅ Lock in Multi-Year Terms: Whenever possible, negotiate multi-year maintenance renewals with fixed pricing. This avoids yearly battles and secures support continuity.
- ✅ Demand Advance Notice: Ensure your contract includes a roadmap or EOL notification clause (e.g., 24 months’ notice before support termination) so you have time to react to any Broadcom policy changes.
- ✅ Explore Third-Party Support: Benchmark Broadcom’s quote against third-party support options. If a third-party can support your software for much less, you have an alternative in your back pocket (and leverage to ask Broadcom to reconsider their price).
- ✅ Plan Your Exit (Just in Case): Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Maintain an internal roadmap for migrating or upgrading away from the perpetual software if Broadcom’s changes make it untenable. This might mean proactively exploring replacement products or cloud alternatives, so you’re not caught flat-footed if forced to transition.
By following this checklist, you can extend the life of your perpetual licenses on terms that are as favorable as possible.
The key is being proactive: once you’re under Broadcom’s umbrella, inertia can be costly. It’s better to negotiate and plan than to react when you’re cornered.
FAQs on Broadcom and Perpetual Contracts
Q: Will Broadcom end perpetual licenses?
A: Broadcom will not void your existing perpetual license – your right to use the software you already bought is safe. However, Broadcom has effectively ended the sale of new perpetual licenses across its portfolio, and it may eventually discontinue support for perpetual licenses. In other words, you can continue using your perpetual software. Still, Broadcom may stop providing updates or renewals for it, thereby rendering its practical usability obsolete unless you convert to a subscription. Think of it as Broadcom ending support for perpetual licenses, rather than revoking the licenses themselves.
Q: Can I still renew maintenance on VMware perpetuals?
A: As of now, Broadcom has made it very difficult to renew support on VMware perpetual licenses. They announced that after the acquisition, customers won’t be able to renew standard support contracts for existing VMware perpetual licenses beyond their current term. There may be limited exceptions or temporary extension deals for some clients, but the general policy is not to renew perpetual support – Broadcom prefers that VMware users are on subscription contracts. Always check with your Broadcom/VMware account manager for the latest policy, but be prepared to choose between moving to a subscription or forgoing official support when your current maintenance term ends.
Q: When should I consider third-party support?
A: Consider third-party support if Broadcom’s maintenance fees become exorbitant or if Broadcom is winding down support for your product. Ideal timing occurs when you have a stable environment on a mature software version that you intend to run for several years without major changes. For example, if you’re content with your current VMware setup or CA software version and just need it to be stable until you can transition, third-party support could save money. Additionally, if Broadcom issues an ultimatum (a huge price hike or a drop-dead support date), obtaining a third-party support quote is advisable. Just weigh it against the risks – the lack of official updates and potential difficulty revisiting it later. It’s a strategy best used when you have a long-term plan (or as leverage in negotiations with Broadcom).
Q: What if Broadcom announces my product’s end-of-life?
A: If Broadcom announces an end-of-life or end-of-support date for the perpetual version of your product, you should immediately assess your options and timeline. Typically, you’d have to either upgrade to a Broadcom subscription offering (if one exists as a successor) or migrate to a different solution before that date. Use any notice period to your advantage: push Broadcom for migration assistance or discounts, and evaluate alternatives in the market. If you have a clause requiring advance notice (as we recommended), you should have up to two years to execute a plan. The worst move is doing nothing – start planning as soon as EOL is on the horizon.
Q: Do I have any leverage with a perpetual license if Broadcom pushes me to subscribe?
A: Your main leverage is the ability to say no and continue using what you have (at least for a while). Because a perpetual license means you aren’t legally forced to shut off the software, you can use the prospect of staying on your current version (or turning to third-party support) as a negotiation chip. Broadcom understands that some customers will prefer to maintain their perpetual licenses rather than accept unfavorable subscription terms, especially if they have already budgeted for the owned model. Make it clear that you have alternatives – whether that’s running the software without Broadcom’s involvement, finding another vendor, or using external support. This might make Broadcom more willing to offer better pricing or concessions to secure your subscription. Essentially, don’t be afraid to walk away – if Broadcom truly “pushes,” your perpetual license means you can walk (at least until you’re ready for a different solution). Just ensure you’re prepared for the drawbacks of that path (such as no official support).
5 Actionable Tips for Perpetual License Customers
- Cap Maintenance Uplifts in Writing: Always include a clause limiting maintenance fee increases (e.g., no more than 5% per year). This protects your budget from unwelcome surprises.
- Negotiate Multi-Year Support Commitments: Secure a multi-year term for support with fixed pricing or capped increases. In exchange for your commitment, insist on price stability and a guaranteed support period.
- Secure Roadmap Disclosure Obligations: Obtain Broadcom’s agreement to provide advance notice of changes. For instance, ensure the contract states that you’ll be notified 24 months in advance of any support discontinuation or major licensing change, allowing you sufficient time to react.
- Compare Broadcom vs. Third-Party Support Costs: Do the math – obtain quotes from third-party support providers and compare them to Broadcom’s maintenance cost. If Broadcom’s value proposition doesn’t justify its price, you’ll know and can negotiate or switch accordingly.
- Leverage Your Perpetual Contract: Remember that your perpetual license is a form of leverage. If Broadcom is pushing a subscription aggressively, use the fact that you have the right to stay on your current software as a bargaining chip. You can say “no” to a bad deal – even if only to buy time. Use that leverage to extract better terms or plan a graceful transition on your schedule, not just Broadcom’s.
By following these tips, you’ll be better positioned to handle Broadcom’s tactics around legacy contracts. The goal is to retain as much control as possible over your IT assets, despite Broadcom’s push towards subscriptions.
With careful negotiation and contingency planning, you can navigate the Broadcom era while maximizing the value of your legacy perpetual licenses and minimizing disruption to your business.
Read about our Broadcom Licensing Assessment Service.
