Why Broadcom audits feel different.
Since the VMware acquisition closed, Broadcom's licensing compliance operation has changed posture. Audit letters arrive faster, scope is broader, and the methodology applied to VMware, Symantec, CA, and Carbon Black deployments is unforgiving of even minor configuration mismatches. The commercial intent behind most enquiries is no longer pure compliance — it is conversion. A formal audit is a vehicle for moving the customer onto VCF subscription pricing at the highest possible run rate.
Generic SAM consultancies are not built for this. They treat Broadcom like any other publisher. They negotiate on price after the claim has been accepted. By that point the dispute is already lost.
What an effective defence actually does.
An effective Broadcom defence challenges the audit itself — its scope, its methodology, the data the auditor is entitled to collect, and the contractual basis for each claim line. It produces a counter-position backed by primary contract evidence, technical deployment data, and a parallel commercial model. It then runs the settlement track in parallel with the technical track so the customer never negotiates from a position of having already agreed the numbers.
That is the model we run. Below is the structure of an engagement.