Enterprises reevaluate virtualization strategies amid Broadcom uncertainty

This dilemma of whether to absorb the Broadcom price hikes or embark on the arduous and risky journey of untangling from the VMware ecosystem is triggering a broader C-level conversation around virtualization strategy.

“For enterprises navigating this uncertainly, the challenge isn’t just finding a replacement for VMware. IT shops of all sizes see Broadcom’s actions as an opportunity to rethink their approach to virtualization, cloud strategy and IT modernization,” says Steve McDowell, chief analyst at NAND Research.

Elliot says that server virtualization has been taken for granted for a long time, and the Broadcom-driven wake-up call is forcing organizations to reevaluate their virtualization strategies at the board level. “That kind of strategic conversation hasn’t happened for years. Customers are saying, ‘What can we do as this platform emerges from VMware. How do we think about this relative to our multi-cloud strategy and private cloud and the efficiencies we can gain? Let’s talk about risk reduction. Let’s talk about platform strategy.’ This is an opportunity to identify business value. It’s triggering this plethora of swim lanes.”

Check the waters before diving in

While there are multiple alternatives to the VMware platform, none of them are as good from a feature perspective, and there’s a risk associated with moving off a tried-and-true platform.

In estimating the cost of a large-scale VMware migration, Gartner cautions: “VMware’s server virtualization platform has become the point of integration for its customers across server, storage and network infrastructure in the data center. Equally, it is a focus of IT operational duties including workload provisioning, backup and disaster recovery. Migrating from VMware’s server virtualization platform would require untangling many aspects of these investments.”

It would take a midsize enterprise at least two years to untangle much of its dependency upon VMware, and it could take a large enterprise up to four years. Even then, the cost associated with planning and executing the migration might eat up any savings associated with lower licensing costs and might introduce additional risk, says Gartner.