HPE offers year of free software to challenge VMware
▼ Summary
– HPE announced a promotion offering its “VM Essentials” virtualization software for free for up to one year as a lower-cost alternative to VMware.
– The promotion includes one free year of VM Essentials licenses, a year of HPE Zerto for $1 for migration, and 0% interest financing through HPE Financial Services.
– VMware prices have risen sharply since Broadcom eliminated perpetual licenses and shifted vSphere pricing to a per-core basis.
– HPE claims VM Essentials can deliver up to 90 percent cost savings over VMware and reduce vendor lock-in.
– VM Essentials is available only through channel partners, contrasting with Broadcom’s reduction of VMware resellers.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is making a bold play for disgruntled VMware customers with a new promotion that offers its virtualization software at no cost for a full year. The announcement, made at HPE’s Discover event in Las Vegas this week, targets end users and resellers who have grown frustrated with Broadcom’s aggressive pricing changes since acquiring VMware.
Under the offer, customers can access “HPE Morpheus Software,VM Essentials” for free for “up to one year,” according to a press release. HPE’s website explicitly positions the platform as a VMware alternative, featuring a hardware virtual machine (HVM) hypervisor alongside unified management tools. The software allows users to “manage VMware ESXi and HVM clusters from one console and migrate when you’re ready,” the company states.
The full promotion goes beyond just free licenses. “New VM Essentials customers can receive up to one free year of licenses for VM Essentials, a year of HPE Zerto for $1 to support non-disruptive migration to HPE virtual machines, and 0 percent interest on software through HPE Financial Services,” HPE announced, referencing its financial services arm that helps IT teams manage costs.
The timing is no coincidence. Since Broadcom took over VMware, prices have soared. The company eliminated perpetual licenses and forced customers into expensive bundled packages. Broadcom also shifted vSphere licensing from a per-socket model to a per-core basis, a move that sparked widespread backlash. For context, HPE recommends charging $600 per CPU socket per year for VM Essentials, a stark contrast to Broadcom’s new pricing structure.
“Customers are feeling quite a bit of pain in the change that some of the virtualization companies have put there, specifically Broadcom,” said Jeremiah Jenson, VP of HPE’s North American channel and partner ecosystem, in an interview with CRN. He claimed that VM Essentials could deliver up to 90 percent cost savings compared to VMware while also helping to “eliminate vendor lock-in and simplify hybrid IT.”
Broadcom declined to comment on the promotion when contacted by CRN.
HPE is also running a separate limited-time offer from March 1 to June 30. Customers who purchase an AMD server along with a one-year VM Essentials license can receive a free year of the software via rebate.
Notably, VM Essentials is sold exclusively through channel partners. This approach stands in direct opposition to Broadcom’s strategy, which has dramatically slashed the number of resellers authorized to sell VMware products.
(Source: Ars Technica)