VMware by Broadcom License Optimization

VMware by Broadcom Options Moving Forward

Many VMware customers are exploring new hypervisor options, including both virtualization and containerization and on-premises or in the cloud, as they refine their long-term IT strategies. With Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware raising concerns about potential price hikes, organizations are evaluating various cost scenarios. One common scenario is we the comparison Current Environment with VMware Perpetual Licensing costs to the Current Environment with New VMware Subscription costs—both with and without consolidation of the existing environment. Additionally, they are assessing the cost of a New VMware Subscription alongside a hardware refresh, as well as considering virtualization alternatives such as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV), and transitioning to a public cloud provider like AWS. To facilitate a smooth transition and avoid potential cost increases under VMware’s new core-based licensing model, it is crucial for businesses to optimize their current and future server/cloud footprint and licensing agreements. This proactive approach ensures they are not overpaying while they develop and implement their future infrastructure plans.

An example of VMware optimization

Optimizing a VMware environment by migrating existing VMs from older processors to newer, more efficient ones, either on-premises or in the cloud, can significantly enhance performance while reducing the number of cores required. This strategy allows organizations to maintain the same performance levels with fewer cores, thereby reducing the overall core count and cost of per core licensing. As a result, companies are better positioned in negotiations with VMware by Broadcom, particularly under the new core-based licensing model. This optimization can be evaluated in the context of several scenarios: comparing the Current Environment VMware Perpetual Licensing Cost to the Current Environment with New VMware Subscription Costs (both with and without consolidation of the existing environment), as well as the New VMware Subscription Cost with an Intel Xeon Gen 5 Refresh. Additionally, alternatives such as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) with an Intel Xeon Gen 5 Refresh and transitioning to AWS should also be considered. To ensure complete optimization across these scenarios, we use our Composite Performance Metric (CPM), which measures and verifies the relative performance of each core and processor, guaranteeing that every migration step maximizes performance efficiency. For instance, optimizing to newer processors could lead to substantial cost savings in various licensing models, as demonstrated in the potential savings below.