Data Center

VMware Acquisition: Two Years Later

For businesses that are uncomfortable with the new licensing rules, the options have become clearer.

Zane Tower is a hybrid data center solutions advisor at CDW.

When Broadcom acquired VMware two years ago, many longtime VMware users were thrown into uncertainty. The most jarring change came when Broadcom eliminated perpetual licenses, which allowed businesses to use VMware software indefinitely for a one-time price, even after official support ended. In their place came a subscription-based model requiring ongoing payments and limiting access to current, supported versions. For organizations that had relied on VMware for decades, this shift was both disruptive and costly.

At the time, the alternatives were limited. A handful of companies offered competing solutions — Microsoft with Hyper-V and Nutanix with its hyperconverged platform — but the landscape was still in flux. Two years later, the options have matured, giving businesses a clearer sense of where to go next if they’re ready to move on from VMware.

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For Those Who Want Familiarity: Microsoft Hyper-V

For many small and midsized organizations, Microsoft Hyper-V has become a natural alternative to VMware. Unlike VMware’s current subscription-only model, Hyper-V provides a perpetual license structure that more closely mirrors what VMware offered in the past. Customers pay for the hypervisor up front, with optional ongoing costs for Software Assurance and System Center (roughly equivalent to the old vCenter and support renewals). This gives businesses a predictable model without having to repurchase their licenses every year.

Hyper-V also provides more flexibility with existing infrastructure. Organizations that already own a storage area network can keep using it, rather than being forced to adopt a hyperconverged model. That’s a major factor for businesses that have invested heavily in physical storage and don’t want to rip and replace recent hardware.

For Those Ready to Replace Hardware: Nutanix and HPE

If your organization is open to a more fundamental refresh, hyperconverged infrastructure platforms such as Nutanix and VM Essentials from HPE, built on technology it acquired when it purchased Morpheus last year, offer compelling paths forward.

Nutanix remains the leader in HCI, appealing to organizations that want simplicity and scalability. Everything from compute to storage lives within identical server nodes. That uniformity makes Nutanix ideal for workloads such as virtual desktop infrastructure or for distributed environments that don’t have dedicated IT staff at every location. The platform’s node-based architecture also offers high resiliency and simplified management.

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HPE’s Morpheus-based offering is newer but gaining traction quickly. It’s one of the few alternatives that supports both three-tier and hyperconverged architectures, giving businesses more deployment options. Initially, HPE’s solution was tied to its own hardware, but it has since expanded compatibility to include Dell and other major vendors — a sign of HPE’s long-term investment. While it still lacks full integration with many third-party backup tools and requires downtime to expand clusters, those limitations are expected to ease with upcoming releases.

Another emerging option is Proxmox, an open-source hypervisor that’s increasingly attractive to organizations seeking maximum control and minimal licensing costs. Proxmox is flexible and comparatively inexpensive but requires a hands-on approach; support and troubleshooting often depend on an active online community rather than vendor-managed assistance. For small IT teams comfortable managing their own systems, it can be an appealing, low-cost alternative.

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The Case for Sticking With VMware

Plenty of businesses will find that remaining loyal to VMware still makes the most sense. About 60% to 70% of the companies I talk to end up doing just that after considering the alternatives, even though some appealing options exist.

In fact, even though Broadcom recently announced plans to discontinue VMware’s “Standard” tier — leaving only Foundation and Cloud Foundation options, at roughly four to seven times the cost per core — many users are willing to stick with the horse they know, hoping Broadcom revises its pricing or licensing down the road.

Others see VMware as more than just a hypervisor. Broadcom is pushing VMware toward becoming a full-fledged enterprise platform — akin to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud — complete with advanced automation, orchestration and networking. For large enterprises with complex, multisite environments, VMware still delivers unmatched integration and feature depth.

For businesses considering a change, the decision often comes down to balancing cost, complexity and comfort. Each path requires thoughtful planning and technical expertise.

This article is part of BizTech's AgilITy blog series.