VMware, for years one of Silicon Valley's darlings, has struggled to find its place in the new world of cloud computing. Skepticism over its long-term viability continues because of unprecedented challenges, and some execution and strategic missteps. However, it keeps delivering growth and sound financial performance, contradicting critics. Part of this is due to the growing maturation of the software-defined data center (SDDC) and the increasing popularity of infrastructure-as-code (IaC). This report helps infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals understand the issues affecting VMware and its pundit-defying staying power.