VMware sues Siemens for using unlicensed software • The Register

VMware has sued industrial large AG Siemens’s US operations for alleged use of unlicensed software program and accused it of adjusting its story negotiations.

The case was filed final Friday within the US District Courtroom for the District Delaware. VMware’s complaint [PDF] alleges that Siemens AG’s US operations used extra VMware software program that it had licensed.

Siemens’s use of VMware turned contentious when it tried to rearrange prolonged assist for some merchandise.

On September 9, 2024, Siemens apparently produced an inventory of the VMware software program it used and “demanded that VMware settle for a purchase order order to offer upkeep and assist companies for the listed merchandise.”

The grievance states that record talked about VMware deployments that “far exceeded the variety of licenses it [Siemens] had truly bought.”

Siemens demanded VMware settle for a purchase order order to offer upkeep and assist companies

VMware factors out that Siemens had excellent causes to current an correct record, as a result of mentioning unlicensed merchandise would expose it to authorized peril and overstating the extent of its VMware utilization would imply it paid extra for licenses and assist.

VMware claims it reviewed the record, seen it included unlicensed software program, and knowledgeable Siemens of its findings.

Siemens apparently responded by insisting the record was right, demanded VMware settle for it, and even threatened to sue the virtualization large if it didn’t present assist companies for the listed merchandise.

Siemens felt it had grounds to sue as a result of it had an choice to buy a one-year renewal of assist companies, believed it had exercised it, and felt VMware was not delivering.

VMware says it agreed to supply assist for 30 days “below protest” and since it didn’t wish to disrupt Siemens’s operations.

Siemens, in the meantime, seems to have revisited the record it supplied in September.

In October, VMware claims Siemens “tried to retract the record and to supply as an alternative a brand new record that was nearer consistent with VMware’s information of Siemens AG’s licenses.”

The grievance alleges Siemens “by no means supplied a reputable rationalization of why it will have offered and insisted on the accuracy of the September 9 Listing, if it didn’t signify its precise deployment of VMware merchandise.”

VMware can also be upset that Siemens wouldn’t enable a software program audit and alleges “different extra cooperative and forthcoming clients do [this] with out objection.”

Left unable to study in regards to the true extent of Siemens’s VMware property, and fearing use of unlicensed software program, Broadcom’s virtualization enterprise unit felt it had no possibility however to sue.

The Register sought remark from Siemens however had not acquired a response on the time of publication. We are going to replace this story if we obtain a considerable reply.

VMware desires a jury trial.

Yet one more factor: In 2023, VMware and Siemens teamed to showcase their shared imaginative and prescient for “The Subsequent Period of International Manufacturing Know-how”. We suspect that form of joint presentation is much less more likely to occur whereas this case is in movement.

Obtain and license adjustments

The lawsuit was filed simply three days earlier than VMware announced a change to the way in which clients obtain binaries of its merchandise.

Efficient April twenty fourth, VMware will function a single website for product downloads and clients should purchase a “obtain token” to get their arms on code. Every token is exclusive to the shopper, enabling VMware to establish who downloads what.

Perhaps that might have helped VMware perceive if Siemens was staying inside its license entitlements.

A VMware spokesperson instructed us the change will “guarantee clients and channel companions can entry our newest software program in a safe and dependable method.”

We requested what’s dangerous or unreliable in regards to the present obtain preparations – which use shared URLs – however haven’t acquired a response.

The change will not be simple as a result of some VMware merchandise embody the present URLs for product downloads. Broadcom will supply a script to automate alternative of these URLs.

The obtain tokens can be found within the Broadcom assist portal, a service The Register’s virtualization desk has typically heard will not be all the time dependable.

In different vNews

One other change that could be coming to VMware customers is a brand new minimal licensing requirement that can make 72 cores the smallest allowed buy for vSphere Customary and Enterprise Plus, the server-virtualization bundles .

Early commentary suggests small enterprise clients see this alteration as a hostile motion, because the processors powering their server fleets possess fewer than 72 cores. VMware’s per-core licensing means they’ll need to pay for software program they will’t use.

We’ve seen a number of posts in regards to the 72-core minimal and have requested VMware to substantiate it however are but to obtain a reply.

One factor VMware has confirmed is adjustments to its annual Discover convention, which in most years occupied 4 days throughout August in Las Vegas after which visited Barcelona in October or November for a convention of the identical length.

As of 2025, the Vegas occasion would be the solely four-day confab, and new “Discover On Tour” occasions will run for someday, or one-and-a-half days, in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Sydney, and Mumbai. ®