Those who still wish to receive support must purchase subscriptions for new bundled products, often at a higher cost. This drastic change in policy has caused much commotion in the market. For example, the Dutch CIO Platform, together with industry associations from other countries, sent a letter to the European Commission about this issue.

Dispute

Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for managing and developing national roads, waterways, and water bodies, such as tunnels, locks, and bridges. For the management and operation of these infrastructure works, we use VMware virtualization software. We want to be able to rely on the suppliers we work with and expect them to be accountable for the dependency on the software and associated services. 

Therefore, Rijkswaterstaat rejected the offer for the new products and requested Broadcom to continue providing support until we can realize an alternative solution. Broadcom offered a one-year extension of support (SOYR), but that extension is too short to achieve a migration. For this reason, we filed for summary proceedings to demand that Broadcom continue to provide support until we have arranged for another solution.

Ruling

On Friday, June 27, 2025, the summary proceedings judge granted Rijkswaterstaats request. Broadcom must continue to provide us with support for a period of 2 years under the existing conditions and price.

The judge ruled: ‘Unlike Broadcom et al. have stated, there was [thus] no question of free commercial negotiations between two large professional parties; one could say that RWS was in a bind. The judge ruled that RWS must be allowed to part ways with VMware/Broadcom and still receive support during that process. By failing to do so, Broadcom acts in violation of the care that is owed to RWS in social traffic.

The full ruling can be consulted here.

ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:11349, Court of The Hague, C/09/683673 / KG ZA 25-342