VMware Customers Are Scared, Should You Be?

Should you leave VMware after the buyout by Broadcom?

BIG questions. By now, you have heard that Broadcom is buying VMware or at least it’s in the works. This news sent shockwaves through the computer industry, raising concerns among VMware customers worldwide. The sale isn’t complete yet, but when it goes through what does that mean for you? Do you stay with VMware, or do you have to start looking for a new partner to handle your Virtualization needs?

As a technical sales engineer, I understand the fear and uncertainty that arises when a trusted technology partner undergoes a significant change in ownership. In this article, we will delve into the implications of the VMware buyout by Broadcom, address the fears of VMware customers, and provide insights to help you make an informed decision about your VMware investment.

Understanding the Buyout

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of both companies. Broadcom, a global technology leader, is renowned for its expertise in semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions. VMware, on the other hand, is a pioneer in virtualization and cloud computing. In fact, it serves as a cornerstone for many organizations’ IT infrastructures.

But let’s be honest, for the last few years VMware’s support has either been vanishing or, at best, has been in rapid decline. As someone who has had to look for support from them many times during migrations and in IT admin support roles, I can say from personal experience, that support was very hard to access. Once accessed, the quality of engineering assistance was terrible.

In fact, one of my clients dropped their end-point management system completely in favor of Intune because the support was so bad. Good for me because I was paid to perform the move, bad for VMware because they lost a substantial customer.

So, for myself and others in the VMware consulting world that I communicate with, it seemed the writing was on the wall that they were ripe for a buyout. It makes sense.

Product Development and Innovation

While there may be concerns, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware could also be seen as an opportunity for growth and development. For example, it might result in the implementation of a better support system for customers.

Broadcom’s extensive expertise and resources could potentially drive accelerated innovation within VMware’s product portfolio. Does Broadcom have the chops to rebuild or re-invent VMware’s support and product line? I have spoken with some clients that have not had the best experience with Broadcom support either.

So, can they pull off some kind of miracle? I mean, that’s what we’re really talking about here. VMware’s product is rock solid and is an industry staple for virtualization. It is their support that went down the toilet over time. And have you tried to navigate their website lately? Try to open a ticket or find an existing one? These are the things that Broadcom needs to address and resolve quickly to rebuild customer loyalty with VMware. Any kind of “product innovation” should come after that.

Exploring Alternatives

Given the uncertainties surrounding the buyout, some VMware customers may contemplate exploring alternative solutions. Evaluating available options is a prudent approach to ensure the continued success of your organization’s IT infrastructure. However, it is essential to carefully consider the implications and challenges associated with migrating away from VMware. Moreover, what would you migrate to? Hyper-V? Azure? Kubernetes? All have their positives and negatives. And no matter what, you will need to retrain IT staff and buy new hardware for any on-premise solution.

Migration Challenges

Migrating from one virtualization platform to another is a complex and resource-intensive process. It involves meticulous planning, potential disruptions to ongoing operations, retraining of staff, and ensuring compatibility with existing systems and applications.

So, will the majority of VMware customers migrate away? I don’t think so. Maybe it could happen as a last resort as was the case with my client.

Moreover, the costs and risks associated with such a transition should not be underestimated. If you are undertaking a migration of on-premises installations of VMware, you will likely need to purchase a new hardware platform. In addition, you will have to use the new vendors’ migration or cloning tools to move your servers and systems. As someone who has done this, I’ll say right away: it’s a huge task with many, many details to plan and test.

When a migration route is considered, a likely alternative to VMware is Hyper-V. There are good tools for cloning and or converting a VMware guest to Hyper-V. For cloud migrations, it would be less work and possibly lower cost because no new hardware would need to be purchased. But the level of work around planning, testing, and migrating would still be the same.

Conclusion

The buyout of VMware by Broadcom has undoubtedly stirred concerns among VMware customers. While uncertainties exist, we can speculate about some of the changes that might happen. For one, the acquisition presents an opportunity for enhanced product development and innovation.

However, the first thing that VMware needs to do is fix their support model and customer-facing website usability ASAP. An urgent overhaul of those two things could do a lot to fix their damaged reputation. This should happen whether the Broadcom deal goes through or not. If the deal does happen, that would be my number one recommendation to Broadcom on day one.

It goes without saying that mergers and acquisitions in technology usually prompt organizations to look at other options moving forward. Nonetheless, exploring alternatives should be done thoughtfully, considering the complexities and costs associated with any migration. Look at the broad picture from all sides and don’t hesitate to consult experts who have dealt with similar projects. Trust me, they can save you a lot of headaches.

Change is coming, but it doesn’t need to be scary. Want to know more? Let’s talk.

About Chuck

Charles Arconi is a Principal Architect at iShift who has 25+ years of IT experience architecting and deploying cloud-based email and communication technologies. For the last 10 years, Chuck’s primary focus has been migrations: data to the cloud, email to Office 365, archiving data to cloud, etc. He is an accomplished technologist who likes direct interactions with clients, speaking, explaining, and strategizing about technology with them.

He also is a think-out-of-the-box kind of guy who likes to challenge mainstream practices and design innovative methodologies for the sake of efficiency, effectiveness, and usefulness. Every month Chuck will offer his take on cloud industry news, cloud-native technologies, and practices, and share his original insights about best practices in cloud computing. You can follow Chuck on LinkedIn or contact him directly at [email protected].

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