Survey: VMware Users Actively Reducing Their Footprint
▼ Summary
– More than two years after Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, customers continue to face significant disruption, primarily due to price increases and uncertainty about Broadcom’s plans.
– A recent survey of 302 IT decision-makers found that 88% still find the Broadcom-VMware transition disruptive, with price hikes cited as the top driver by 89% of respondents.
– Other major disruptive factors include concerns over support quality, the shift from perpetual licenses to subscriptions, changes to the partner program, and forced product bundling.
– While initial reports suggested extreme price increases, the survey indicates a more varied reality, with 14% seeing costs at least double and a majority reporting increases under 50%.
– Despite these varied increases, 85% of surveyed companies remain concerned that VMware will become even more expensive under Broadcom’s ownership.
The landscape for VMware users continues to shift dramatically following Broadcom’s acquisition, with a significant number of organizations actively working to reduce their dependence on the platform. A new survey highlights the ongoing challenges of price increases and strategic uncertainty, driving many to explore alternative solutions. This movement represents a critical juncture for enterprise IT infrastructure, as companies weigh the costs of vendor lock-in against the complexities of migration.
A recent report from CloudBolt Software, titled “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning,” delves into these struggles. The company, which provides hybrid cloud management tools, surveyed 302 IT decision-makers at large North American firms in January to understand their pain points. While the sample is limited, the findings offer a revealing snapshot of the current sentiment among VMware’s customer base.
The overwhelming majority—88 percent—of respondents still find the transition to Broadcom ownership disruptive. This disruption stems from several key factors. Topping the list are price increases, cited by 89 percent of those surveyed. Close behind are widespread uncertainty about Broadcom’s future plans (85 percent) and concerns over the quality of support (78 percent). Other significant drivers include the shift from perpetual licenses to subscriptions (72 percent), alterations to the VMware partner program (68 percent), and the forced bundling of products (65 percent).
While early anecdotes after the acquisition featured stories of costs skyrocketing by as much as 1,000 percent, the survey data presents a more varied, though still impactful, reality. Fourteen percent of respondents reported their VMware expenses have at least doubled. A further 12 percent saw increases between 50 and 99 percent, while 33 percent experienced hikes of 24 to 49 percent. Notably, 31 percent reported more modest increases of less than 25 percent.
Even with these somewhat moderated price hikes, financial anxiety persists. A striking 85 percent of those surveyed expressed concern that VMware will become even more expensive in the future. This pervasive worry about escalating costs is a powerful motivator for companies to reassess their virtualization strategy and actively seek ways to diminish their VMware footprint, despite the inherent challenges of migrating critical workloads.
(Source: Ars Technica)
