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How to help customers navigate changes to VMWare with Broadcom

Jordon Baker, Digital Marketing Lead

On December 11, 2023, VMWare officially announced the discontinuation oftheir Perpetual Licenses and SnS Support contract renewals. Going forward, VMWare will exclusively offer subscription licenses for products which have been discontinued.

These changes are the conclusion of the recent purchase of VMWare by Broadcom, as they aim to make things simpler and more innovative for their customers. Their commitment is that these changes will transform the way IT works for enterprises and the mid-market, by giving them more options and benefits than ever before.

Here is what you need to know about the upcoming changes:

Streamlined Portfolio for Enhanced Value:

Under Broadcom’s leadership, VMWare is set to undergo a significant simplification of its product portfolio. This strategic move aims to address longstanding feedback collected from customers and partners regarding the complexity of offerings and go-to-market strategies. By streamlining the portfolio, VMWare aims to empower businesses of all sizes to derive maximum value from its solutions, facilitating easier adoption and management.

Transition to Subscription Licenses:

One of the most notable changes is the complete transition of all VMWare solutions to subscription licenses, following the wider market trend across all other global software providers. This shift marks the end of Perpetual licenses, Support & Subscription (SnS) renewals, and hybrid purchase programs. Instead, customers will have access to subscription-based models, providing greater flexibility, scalability, and predictability in their IT investments. Additionally, the introduction of a bring-your-own-subscription license option underscores VMWare’s commitment to enabling seamless integration with hybrid cloud environments, as this is fast becoming the default standard for most businesses and their evolving workloads.

Elevated Bundle Offerings for Greater Impact:

Within the VMWare Cloud Foundation division, customers can expect to see a revamped lineup of offerings designed to cater to diverse business needs. This includes flagship solutions such as VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF), which offers enterprises a robust hybrid cloud platform for running business-critical and modern applications securely and efficiently. Furthermore, the introduction of VMWare vSphere Foundation (VSF) provides mid-sized and smaller businesses with a simplified yet powerful enterprise-grade workload platform, integrating intelligent operations management for enhanced performance and visibility.

Unlocking Subscription Benefits:

The transition to subscription licensing heralds a new era of flexibility and agility for VMWare customers. By embracing a subscription-based model, businesses can access continuous innovation, expedited deployments, and predictable cost structures. This shift aligns with industry trends and customer preferences, ensuring that VMWare remains a market leader, and at the forefront of delivering value and driving digital transformation initiatives to their customers.

Preparing for the Transition:

As these changes now take effect, it is essential for customers to prepare accordingly. This may involve reviewing their existing inventory of perpetual licenses, understanding their renewal dates, and taking a holistic view on the available subscription offerings.

How can Ultima support you?

To support our customers navigating these changes we are offering our customers free of charge VMWare License Assessments with our experts to independently review your options, helping you evaluate & understand the changes and ensure that customers maximise the value available in the new software subscriptions.

Lastly, in order to generate a new subscription quote under the new licensing model, we will need the following information as the quote criteria is now different (Note: Licensing units are now based on total CPU cores, which has changed from the previous CPU socket model):

Product (i.e. vSphere, vSAN)
Number of servers
Number CPU sockets
Number of cores

Our intention is to ensure that all customers are fully aware of their options and that we can empower them to make an education decision around their VMWare Licence estate.