You may already have heard about the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom. High-level summary? They’ve decided to end the sale of perpetual licenses for VMware products, moving to a subscription model/bundling, and reducing the number of Resellers and Cloud Service Providers. Existing contracts will continue to receive support as outlined in their contractual commitments, but there will be no option to renew once they come to term.
This is a big deal, so many organizations rely on VMware to virtualize their applications, servers, storage, and networks. They’ve helped boost efficiency and flexibility while reducing IT expenses. All that remains true but expect the cost to increase for both on-prem users and those sourced through Cloud Providers. However, VMware is not the only game in town.
Customers may also look to move towards a managed Cloud offering, which may be built using VMware virtualization. It will open the door for many of you to have conversations around ROI utilizing what they have today, or moving towards one of our Managed Cloud Providers that can manage the virtualization layer, plus offer additional services like Helpdesk, virtualized desktops, additional security, patch management, and more. Our team at US Service Center can help look at migration costs, ongoing monthly costs, and additional services your customers may wish to take advantage.
When will this change really impact your customer?
New subscription models for VMware will mean an increase in audits conducted on their part to ensure compliance. Knowing what you have and managing inventory will become critical, with an expected increase in administrative/reporting requirements that may be too large a burden for some IT teams. These changes will be most painfully felt when current VMware customer’s contracts expire, and they see their options presented at the time of renewal.
Can someone else manage this?
Finding an alternative sourcing option for VMware or a completely different virtualization solution may just be the start. We are in a service trade, whether it is an MSP to meet existing needs (using existing solutions), working directly with a Cloud Provider (that offers Cloud-based VMware Cloud Provider with Public and Private options), or perhaps a Hyperscaler/Public Cloud option such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). MSP, Managed Cloud Providers, and suppliers who offer Hyperscaler/Public Cloud options offer the expertise, variety of solutions, and consultative services that may make staying with existing solutions possible while offering a blueprint for evolving approaches that may include moving to a completely different solution(s). These and the freedom to address your evolving requirements on your own timetable are all compelling reasons to move away from directly sourcing solutions and/or adopting additional solutions on top of VMware. There are so many ways to get to the best solutions for you and your organization, and the best way to deliver them.
