Broadcom Signs 10-Year VMware Software Agreement With NTT DOCOMO

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO ), which designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, announced on October 19, 2026, that it has signed a 10-year agreement with NTT DOCOMO, INC. to continuously advance the private cloud that will underpin DOCOMO’s digital services over the next decade, with VMware Cloud Foundation at its core.

The release identifies the agreement as Broadcom Japan’s first 10-year comprehensive agreement covering licenses, technical assistance, and maintenance support for VMware products, a first-in-Japan status qualified as of October 20, 2026. The VMware products and related technical assistance and support covered by the agreement include VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware Avi Load Balancer, VMware vDefend, and VMware Tanzu Platform, together with Support Account Manager, Technical Account Manager, and VCF Forte Support services.

Since 2019, VMware, now Broadcom, has worked with DOCOMO to build and operate its private cloud with VMware Cloud Foundation at its core. Under the new agreement, the two companies will align their long-term technology roadmaps to strengthen DOCOMO’s service infrastructure.

Broadcom stated that the agreement will enable DOCOMO to continue delivering reliable digital services to its customers amid a rapidly changing business environment marked by the expanding use of AI and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Through the agreement, the company said it will combine DOCOMO’s operational expertise in large-scale infrastructure with its own technology and engineering resources to further improve the continuity, security, and delivery speed of DOCOMO’s service infrastructure.

Three Technical Focus Areas

With VMware Cloud Foundation at the core, Broadcom said it will drive technical collaboration and operational excellence across three focus areas.

Under Continuous Service Availability, DOCOMO will use VMware Cloud Foundation to strengthen its ability to rapidly upgrade and maintain systems without service interruptions. Unified management of servers, storage, and networking will enable flexible capacity expansion to support future service growth, and autonomous placement and scaling of system resources based on usage will maintain stable service quality even during traffic spikes. VCF Forte Support, which offers Broadcom’s highest-level service-level objectives, will help sustain continuous system operations.

Under Proactive Security and Resilience, aimed at countering increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and emerging AI-driven threats, DOCOMO will strengthen rapid and continuous security measures by using VMware Cloud Foundation capabilities that enable timely patching together with predictive anomaly detection. Continuous visibility across the entire system, combined with AIOps initiatives, will enable early detection of and rapid response to anomalies. Close engagement with dedicated Support Account Managers and Technical Account Managers will enable DOCOMO to quickly incorporate the latest technologies and security measures.

Under Accelerated Service Delivery, DOCOMO will use VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service, the native VMware Cloud Foundation Kubernetes runtime, to run virtual machines and containers on a common platform and apply development and operations automation to streamline everything from environment provisioning to service delivery. Automating development, testing, and release processes will enable new services and features to be rolled out in shorter cycles, according to the release, allowing DOCOMO to respond quickly to evolving customer needs and market conditions.

Next-Generation Platform Plans

Building on the long-term agreement, Broadcom said it will embark on evolving DOCOMO’s service infrastructure into a next-generation platform that brings together virtual machines, containers, and AI. Using the VMware Cloud Foundation-based private cloud platform, the two companies will jointly drive the automation and advancement of AI-driven operations, which the release states are expected to contribute to further improvements in service quality and delivery speed.

Broadcom said it will continue to collaborate with DOCOMO to ensure the service infrastructure evolves through the flexible adoption of new technologies, in anticipation of future shifts in technology and the business environment such as the expanding use of AI, new AI-driven threats, 6G, and IOWN.

Hiroshi Ishimaru, general manager of DOCOMO’s Service Design Department, said VMware products have long been used across a range of the company’s systems and that through the long-term comprehensive agreement DOCOMO will further strengthen its technical collaboration with Broadcom. “At DOCOMO, we are enhancing our service infrastructure to ensure the stability and security that allow customers to use our digital services with peace of mind, while enabling it to respond flexibly and quickly to changes in technology and the market,” Ishimaru stated, adding that DOCOMO aims to build a service infrastructure that delivers new value to customers more quickly and reliably, with an eye toward future technological advances such as the expanding use of AI.

Paul Turner, chief product officer of Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation Division, said the two companies have built a strong technical collaboration over the past seven years and that the agreement takes the relationship further, reflecting a shared commitment to continuously enhancing DOCOMO’s service infrastructure over the long term. “With VMware Cloud Foundation at the core, Broadcom will provide a private cloud platform that runs virtual machines, containers, and AI workloads on a common foundation,” Turner stated, adding that Broadcom’s engineering teams will work closely with DOCOMO’s so the company can continue to deliver secure, reliable digital services quickly.