The VMware Tax Man Cometh…

Last month, Patrick Kennedy over at ServeTheHome highlighted the impact of reported price increases which Broadcom is foisting upon customers who may be locked in to the VMware ecosystem. Customers who have not had “the talk” with their account team yet regarding renewals or required license conversions to maintain support services may be in for sticker shock. There have been an abundance of newer YouTube videos which compare VMware alternatives against the current virtualization king. Now is the time to take inventory of VMware-backed platforms within your environment to determine the next steps when the new VMware licensing quote arrives. There are still plenty of gaps between the current market leader’s capabilities and the other virtualization offerings on the market. Solving for these gaps may bring about a total cost which exceeds the new Broadcom-inspired licensing costs (e.g., data protection solutions, disaster recovery capabilities, vendor-provided appliance templates or certifications for alternative hypervisors). For smaller organizations, making the move to something new will be the only logical outcome based on budgetary considerations.