Nervous About Where VMware Is Going? Here Are Some Paths Forward

When chipmaker Broadcom acquired VMware for a cool $61 billion this past November, one of the first questions from many companies was how the acquisition would change VMware’s pricing. 

Those questions were answered a month later when Broadcom announced it was transitioning VMware to a subscription-based model. From the blog post announcing the move, published on December 11: 

While the post went on to assure customers that their current contracts for VMware would be supported through their completion, the writing was definitely on the wall. VMware would soon be too pricey for all but its most valuable—and largest—customers.  

If this news comes as a surprise to you, you’re not alone. We’ve heard from some of our customers that they didn’t realize just how the change in pricing would affect them. 

The good news is that most current VMware customers likely have one to three years to adjust to this new reality, depending on when they last signed their licensing agreement. But very soon, many organizations will have to make a tough decision: Either start paying more than they used to for VMware or develop a new strategy. 

That’s where we can help.

Two paths forward

For organizations that want—or need—to stay in VMware, the first option we can help them with is purchasing its usage directly through a cloud provider like Microsoft.  

This option comes with a couple of caveats, though. For one, purchasing through a cloud provider changes the license model to a recurring subscription. Second, it requires migrating to a VMware solution environment offered by a cloud partner such as Azure VMware Solution (AVS). This migration should be approached with a trusted cloud services partner such as Redapt, who has years of experience and is certified specifically for VMware migration activities.  

The other option we can provide is to take an organization’s VMware environment and translate it into a new cloud-native environment. In this situation, Microsoft provides solutions and tools to help minimize any disruptions with this translation process.  The benefits of this approach are two-fold:

• It allows organizations to sever ties with VMware quickly.
• Organizations still have dynamic and flexible control of their server environments, only in a new cloud-native platform.

Redapt has been performing successful cloud migration for years, and this experience ensures we can conduct this move to cloud-native very quickly and with minimal disruption. This allows your internal team to continue focusing on current business priorities during the migration.

The clock is ticking

Broadcom’s decision to upend VMware’s traditional pricing model is unfortunate but not unexpected. It’s just business. 

But even if your organization still has a year or two left on your VMware licensing agreement, you must develop a strategy as soon as possible. Otherwise, you’ll be forced into a much pricier subscription-based model to keep your current environments up and running. 

Whether you license VMware directly through a cloud provider to keep your VMware environments intact or modernize to a cloud-native approach, we can help you plan and execute a solution that fits your needs without significantly impacting your organization’s bottom line. 

We look forward to meeting you and helping you better understand your options. Schedule a clarity call with one of our experts today to learn more about your options.