VMware Global Response to COVID-19

Ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, customers and partners is always our top priority.

VMware is actively monitoring the ongoing developments of the COVID-19 outbreak and taking precautions to address the safety of our employees and the business needs of our key customers, vendors and others who are in VMware facilities. Some of the steps VMware has taken include:

• We are strongly encouraging employees to work from home as part of VMware’s business continuity strategy. While we are actively preparing for the gradual re-opening of some offices, we expect that most employees will continue working from home for the foreseeable future. We will initially re-open offices with a reduced capacity. This will minimize potential infection and exposure to the virus and give us time to establish new in-office social distancing norms, increased cleaning and disinfection and adoption of new Health and Well-Being Guidelines for VMware employees.
• VMware’s service delivery and supply chains are being monitored regularly by the Global Crisis Management Team to determine our ability to adequately handle business functions and to meet corporate, customer, and stakeholder obligations.

VMware Crisis Management Teams will continue providing ongoing assessments, establishing strategic objectives for outbreak response, and informing VMware senior management of outbreak status.

The VMware Crisis Management Teams are following the VMware Contagious Illness Response Plan, which provides guidelines, processes, and procedures for responding to and managing the occurrence of a contagious illness outbreak that affects VMware facilities world-wide. The information and procedures presented in the plan are based on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other authoritative sources.

VMware Discovery Center and Briefing Centers

VMware Briefings Centers and the VMware Discovery Center in Palo Alto remain closed. During this time, the global briefing teams are operating an extensive virtual briefing program. We will continue to assess the situation and adjust or extend, as more information is available. In the event that you have an appointment, a member of the team will contact you to reschedule for a future date or as a virtual briefing.

VMworld 2020 Update

Over the past several weeks, VMware leadership has been monitoring and evaluating the situation around COVID-19 to ensure the company is taking the necessary measures to protect the health and wellbeing of VMworld 2020 attendees, customers, partners and employees. As a result, VMware has made the difficult but important decision to make VMworld 2020 a global, digital event September 29 – October 1, and cancel the physical events currently scheduled in August for San Francisco and November for Barcelona. Learn more here: https://www.vmworld.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you expect COVID-19 to impact the availability of VMware products and solutions?
A: No. We do not expect COVID-19 to impact the availability of VMware products and solutions.

Q: Do you expect COVID-19 to impact Global Services Support and Professional Services?
A: Global Services Support and Professional Services have a comprehensive Business Continuity plan in place. Learn more here: https://www.vmware.com/support/covid19-response.html

Q: Do you anticipate any issues fulfilling customer software orders due to supply chain issues?
A: No. As most VMware’s offerings are software, we should not have any issue fulfilling orders.

Q: Do you anticipate any issues fulfilling customer hardware orders due to supply chain issues?
A: Some VMware SD-WAN hardware appliances are on backorder as a result of supply chain issues. As a result, we are extending the option to update existing orders with different appliances where inventory is more readily available. Customers may contact special email hotline with questions related to backordered appliances. Please send an email to sd-wan-hotline@vmware.com with your questions and include the order number, urgent quantities, and contact information. We will do our best to respond within 48 hours.

Q: What offers are available from VMware to assist customers in need?
A: We recognize that COVID-19 presents challenges for customers. We have some options to help you, and we are offering these to all customers. Please reach out to your VMware sales contact for more information.

Q: What is VMware doing to assist customers with the challenges related to IT operations and strategic planning?
A: The current business environment has created a climate of uncertainty leading to challenges for IT operations and strategic planning. While customers look to resume regular business at some point in the near future, they need stable, non-disruptive operations now to help with that transition to a desired future state. To help customers with that transition, we are extending the general support period for vSphere 6.7 by 11 months to October 15, 2022. Originally, vSphere 6.7 was scheduled to reach EoGS (End of General Support) on November 15, 2021.

Learn more here: https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2020/06/announcing-extension-of-vsphere-6-7-general-support-period.html

Q: Are there online/remote options to take VMware certification exams?
A: Yes. We are thrilled to announce that remote proctoring of exams, delivered by Pearson VUE, will be available starting Monday, April 20, 2020. Remote proctoring allows our testing candidates to take their exams from ANY secure location. With artificial intelligence combined with live monitoring, these new exam options offer the most up-to-date technology, including enhanced security features such as face-matching technology, virtual ID verification, session monitoring, browser lockdown, recording, and more.

This will be a permanent offering from the certification team, regardless of the availability of in-person testing centers in the short- or long-term. The cost per exam for our candidates remains the same.

You can see more about how the remote proctored solution works by visiting this site: https://home.pearsonvue.com/vmware/onvue.

Q: What measures have you taken to hinder a further global spread of COVID-19?
A: Ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, customers and partners is always our top priority. Given the evolving nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and new cases continuing to be identified in countries and communities around the world, we’ve updated our COVID-19-related travel restrictions and put new guidelines in place for group meetings/events. With increased travel and gathering restrictions, we hope to not only protect our employees and their families from unnecessary exposure but also contribute as a global citizen to minimizing the spread of infection.

Additionally, as part of VMware’s business continuity strategy, our employees are strongly encouraged to work from home. We will continue to assess the situation and adjust or extend, as more information is available..

Q: How does VMware prepare for these kinds of situations? Does VMware have a business continuity plan?
A: Crisis Management Teams are following the VMware Contagious Illness Response Plan, which provides guidelines, processes, and procedures for responding to and managing the occurrence of a contagious illness outbreak that affects VMware facilities world-wide. The information and procedures presented in the plan are based on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other authoritative sources.

Q: If specific offices are closed and the VMware workforce is impacted greatly due to COVID-19-related concerns, how will this impact VMware operations?
A: We expect no impact to VMware operations should specific offices be closed due to COVID-19-related concerns. The foundation of VMware’s business is grounded on our ability to run, manage, connect and protect any application on any cloud and on any device. As such, we are ideally suited to work in a virtual environment as needed, and help our customers and partners do the same.

Q: What are we asking employees to do to minimize the threat of infection?
A: VMware has a team in place that meets regularly to review recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other authoritative sources.

For any employee or contractor who has: 1) traveled to a high risk area 2) had contact with someone who has been in one of these locations recently; or 3) had contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus (for example, a family member, friend, acquaintance, etc.), we ask that the person work from home for a period of 14 days from the time they returned to their home location. In addition, they should immediately meet with their health care provider as per local health authority directives if they fall ill. If this happens, we are also asking that the employee notify their manager as well as HR Source/ Local HR as soon as is possible.

Q: What steps has VMware put in place to minimize any potential contagion in their office?
A: We are now strongly encouraging all employees to work from home as part of VMware’s business continuity strategy. We will continue to assess the situation and adjust or extend, as more information is available. While we are actively preparing for the gradual re-opening of some offices, we expect that most employees will continue working from home for the foreseeable future. We will initially re-open offices with a reduced capacity. This will minimize potential infection and exposure to the virus and give us time to establish new in-office social distancing norms, increased cleaning and disinfection and adoption of VMware’s new Health and Well-Being Guidelines.

Q: Do you expect any supply chain issues with vendors VMware works with to impact VMware operations?
A: We do not anticipate issues incurred by our vendors to impact VMware operations.

Q: How can VMware help customers enable their employees to work remotely, maintain productivity, increase connectivity, and provide for continuous secure access to applications regardless of the endpoints?
A: For more information on our business continuity solutions, visit https://www.vmware.com/solutions/business-continuity. 

Q: Where may I go if I have additional questions?
A: For COVID-19-specific questions, please email: COVID19_Questions@vmware.com. For customer service-related questions or product support please visit Contact Support, or contact your VMware sales representative.

Update on Events and Meetings
We value our participation in important industry events, meetings, and other gatherings. However, given the evolving nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and new cases continuing to be identified around the world, we’ve put new guidelines in place for group meetings/events. This means that many VMware-hosted events will be moved to a virtual format, postponed, or cancelled. And VMware employees may be restricted from attending events or meetings hosted by others.

VMware continues to assess conferences that we are sponsoring or have a booth or other trade-show presence, and working with those show organizers and VMware teams to determine next steps.

Information on some of specific events are listed below. This list will be updated on a regular basis: