Rumors, speculation and debunking stories about “done deals” were on the list of things to talk about as John Furrier (@furrier), Stu Miniman (@stu) and John Walls (@johnwalls21), cohosts of theCUBE, from SiliconANGLE Media team, along with guest analyst Marc Farley (@gofarley) of VulcanCast wrapped up day one of VMworld 2016 in Las Vegas, NV.

Hostage negotiations

First up on theCUBE today was Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, Inc. Referring to the company’s acquisition of EMC, he told the team the deal is not completed because China has yet to give its official approval.

“Michael Dell is authentic and so polished. So much is going on that he can’t talk about because he has to balance communication and social. He said that the deal is on track, but not closed,” explained Furrier.

There was much speculation around the table, but ultimately Furrier speculates that negotiations are stalled and more concessions will have to be made. “This is just my gut feeling. [Purely his opinion] I think Michael Dell is being taken hostage by the Chinese from a business standpoint,” stated Furrier.

Rumors persist

Miniman believes the deal is done and just waiting for the baton to pass. He asked Dell if he was going to sell off VMware, Inc., and Dell was adamant that the software company is a critical component to Dell Technologies.

Farley pointed out that prior to the acquisition, rumors persisted that EMC was breaking up the company. He noted that Dell does not have the pressure of investors to sell off units and feels it will stay intact.

VMware going forward

Furrier highlighted the points of the day. He remarked that VMware is aware that the ecosystem is its strategic weapon and it is looking to reboot. Other points of interest were managed cloud being front and center, as well as IoT.

The message Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, put out in the morning’s General Session was cross-cloud architecture, cross-cloud people and cross-cloud services. Furrier sees the company moving to the multi-cloud environment.

“This is going to be a retooling year for VMware,” he commented.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the VMworld 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE