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Posted 8th April 2025
Following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, there has already been some significant changes to their licencing and pricing models. The most recently announced changes to VMware subscriptions, effective from 10th April, will have a substantial impact on small and medium-sized customers.
The staggering 80% rise in the minimum commitment to CPU licences from 16 to 72 will potentially cost thousands of pounds more per year. If your business will be affected and you are currently looking for VMware replacement options ahead of your next renewal, its important you start your research now.
In this article we’ll delve into the VMware licence changes, implications, key dates and explore viable VMware alternatives.
When Broadcom announced its intention to acquire VM Ware in 2022 it was anticipated to be one of the biggest tech deals in history with a valuation of around $61 billion dollars. Since then we have seen a number of changes aimed at retaining larger customers while making smaller customers less profitable, potentially driving them away, including:
This is the biggest change that has to be announced. The minimum number of cores required for VMware licensing purchases will be increased from 16 to 72. This hugely significant rise comes into effect on April the 10th and will have a dramatic effect on quotes and pricing to make VMware prohibitively expensive for many of its existing customers, with small and medium businesses most affected.
The short story here is that every organisation that uses VMware in any capacity will be affected. Although there will be many cases where businesses don’t have a direct contract with VMware, they can be assured that the relevant third party will be passing this on to end users as soon as they possibly can.
Expert View
Adapting to the new VMware model and living with the new pricing structure just isn’t an option for a huge number of customers. Essentially, you would be expected to commit to pay for a massive number of services that you would never be likely to use, and the numbers don’t add up. Understandably, there has already been an exodus of SMEs away from VMware to alternatives that make much more sense for business efficiency and goals.
Getting your replacement plan in place well before your VMware renewal is due must be a priority. Our knowledge, experience and ongoing research shows us that choosing a version of Microsoft Azure as your virtualisation solution is rapidly emerging as the best new home for ex VMware subscribers. The bottom line is that Azure delivers several advantages and opportunities for a post VMware world, including:
Establishing exactly what elements of Microsoft Azure you need to replace your VMware virtualisation solution depends on what you need to achieve and what type of organisation you are.
What is it? Using Azure VMs and Azure SQL Databases in the Azure cloud removes any on-premises hardware responsibility to dramatically reduce and simplify monthly billing.
Who is it for? This is a great option for small and medium businesses relying on VMware to run a collection of business-critical applications such as CRM, Finance or Email.
Benefits This option keeps all your information secure with global guaranteed uptimes for efficiency and reliability. It will also seamlessly integrate with your existing Microsoft stack and present new opportunities for productivity and analytic apps in a unified way.
See how BCN migrated Southway Housing to Azure
What is it? This represents an on-premises or hybrid approach that still benefits from the simplified management and security advantages, using Azure Hypervisor for seamless VM portability between your infrastructure and the cloud.
Who is it for? This can be a great solution for organisations such as finance, healthcare or any business dealing with sensitive data that requires strict regulatory compliance.
Benefits A local Azure approach will act as the perfect off ramp for those that can’t, or don’t want to, shift to an entirely public cloud way of working. It can offer incremental steps in a productive and secure way instead.
Contact us now for your free BCN Azure Assessment that will identify the best option for your organisation in terms of cloud capability, costs and efficiency. The BCN Azure team will walk you through the choices you have for VMware replacement, highlighting the processes involved and the opportunities that they can also present.
Contact us now for your free BCN Azure Assessment that will identify the best option for your organisation in terms of cloud capability.
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