No more VMware: cloud service Anexia hosts 12,000 virtual machines itself
Anexia is another customer turning its back on Broadcom. It is saving money on VMware licenses and hosting its 12,000 virtual machines itself.
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The Austrian cloud provider Anexia has migrated 12,000 virtual machines from VMware to a kernel-based open-source system. The company cited Broadcom's increased license costs as the reason for this, which had limited its competitiveness. Anexia now hosts the virtual machines itself, using the infrastructure of its hosting service, Netcup. Anexia's customers also include German companies such as TeamViewer and Lufthansa.
VMware license costs threaten Anexia's existence
Following the VMware takeover by Broadcom, license fees rose sharply, Anexia CEO Alexander Windbichler told The Register. He feared that the competitiveness of his company would be restricted because customers would not accept the price increase. Windbichler does not give specific figures, but speaks of a situation that threatens the existence of the company. At the same time, the new license conditions provided for the costs to be paid in advance via a fixed two-year contract. Previously, Anexia had paid for the booked services in the following month.
Instead, Windbichler decided to migrate the virtual machines before the new conditions came into force. To do this, Anexia used the KVM platform of its subsidiary Netcup. Little changed for the cloud service provider's customers, as the company integrated the new KVM machines into the existing VM management tool, Anexia Engine. Anexia had already been using NetApp storage, which is independent of VMware. It was therefore sufficient to convert the virtual drives and assign them to the new VM. However, this sometimes required parallel operation of both VMs.
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Trust in Broadcom is lost
Windbichler is critical of Broadcom's strategy and its dealings with VMware customers, and does not believe that the company will be successful. Trust in Broadcom is lost, says the Anexia CEO in the report. He speaks of other VMware customers who are also dissatisfied with the conditions and are seeking other options. The British cloud service Beeks, for example, has switched from VMware to the open-source alternative OpenNebula.
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