VMware: Switching to Broadcom alternatives costs up to 3000 dollars per VM

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Switching from VMware to other virtualization platforms can cost companies up to 3,000 US dollars per virtual machine. This was the result of a study by IT market researcher Gartner. A complete migration from Broadcom's platform takes between 18 and 48 months and ties up personnel in the areas of system architecture, security, and databases as well as the procurement department. Switching also involves risks and additional costs.

Live migrations cost three times as much

For a migration with interruption of operations, the analysts calculate costs of between 500 and 1000 US dollars for each VM. Live migrations are two to three times as expensive. Per terabyte of storage space, an amount of 50 to 150 US dollars is added. The costs for new hardware and software, as well as the testing of applications and equipment are not yet included. The analysts base their calculations on a company that operates more than 2000 virtual machines on over 100 servers via an external service provider.

The total also does not consider lower productivity due to changes in company processes and training in the use of new software. In addition, managers must expect that the availability, reliability, and security of the virtual machines will initially be lower. Existing contracts with customers who have been promised low downtimes, for example, will be more difficult to fulfill.

Smaller companies more willing to switch

If companies want to determine the scope of the tasks required, they need to assign between seven and ten full-time employees in the first month. In the following nine months, they will need up to six people to evaluate the VMware alternatives. The remaining personnel requirements depend on the number of VMs and the complexity of the change. For medium-sized companies, the analysts anticipate a period of around two years to resolve the dependencies on Broadcom and complete the switch.

iX-Workshop: Hands-on: Migration from VMware to Proxmox

In the Hands-on: Migration from VMware to Proxmox workshop, IT administrators will learn how to set up and manage a highly available Proxmox VE cluster in conjunction with a Ceph storage system. They will familiarize themselves with the basic concepts, best practices and troubleshooting methods.

Although companies are considering switching from VMware, little has happened so far. “Everyone is asking what others are doing, but ultimately no one is really doing anything,” Gartner analyst Michael Warrilow told The Register. Senior Director Tony Harvey takes a more differentiated view of the situation: “There are customers who are leaving VMware. However, these are predominantly small and medium-sized companies,” he notes. Their infrastructure is less complex than that of larger companies. “For them, the changeover is more complex and pricier.”

Warrilow attributes the difficult switch to the perception of VMware. Customers see Broadcom primarily as a supplier of a virtualization platform. However, the company also provides its customers with network services, storage, and management applications. The changeover for these components is more difficult than changing the hypervisor, and must therefore be considered first.

Broadcom boss expects customers to return

Warrilow also advises companies to make a planned switch to alternatives such as OpenShift virtualization from Red Hat as soon as possible. Because Broadcom is now awarding two- or three-year contracts, a new license agreement is inevitable for most customers until the switch is complete. Although the future pricing of VMware products is still unclear, analysts see a trend: “I don't know Broadcom's plans, but I wouldn't be surprised to see further price increases in the future,” says Harvey.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan is unimpressed by the willingness to change. The customers who have complained are in the minority, he tells the Financial Times. Instead, he accuses them of acting short-sightedly and expects a return. “Once the initial anger has faded and customers think about what services they are getting from us, they will return,” says Tan. “We are quite satisfied with the current results,” he adds.

(sfe)