Been keeping up with the news lately? If so, you’ll already be aware that the VMware acquisition by Broadcom was officially completed late last year.
As we all predicted, this has created significant disruption, resulting in significant layoffs, changes to the structure and cost of licenses for their 500,000+ existing customers, and the closure of VMware’s partner program.
Many are left unimpressed with these changes, with the potential extra costs they will bring about, and the inflexibility of their licensing. Loyal VMware resellers who have been left behind by Broadcom are also dissatisfied, with a chunk of their revenue now at stake.
If any of this sounds like you, we understand your concern. Stay with us for a complete breakdown of VMware’s new package and channel program changes, advice on what steps affected customers and resellers should take next, and available alternatives.
What’s happened already in the VMware acquisition?
Keeping in line with its behavior on previous acquisitions, Broadcom has made major changes to VMware’s company structure, channel program, and licensing model.
To start, nearly 3,000 VMware employees have been laid off from their positions. Similarly, Broadcom has announced the closure of the VMware partner program, with the tech giant stating its plans to transition it over to its new invite-only Broadcom Advantage Partner Program from February 5th, 2024.
On the customer front, Broadcom has also introduced a far less flexible licensing model than VMware previously offered. Gone are individual products and perpetual licensing, to be replaced by subscription-only bundles called VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or vSphere Foundation (VVF). Additionally, standalone vSphere Standard, and vSphere Essentials Plus products are still available, however.
What do Broadcom’s licensing changes look like for existing customers?
Though there will be a reduction in the solution’s initial subscription price, this only tells part of the story. It’s unclear at this stage whether customers will really be saving money with their new licensing structure or not.
It should be noted that their two newly introduced packages, vSphere Standard and vSphere Essentials Plus, do not support any add-ons. Should customers require vSAN for example, they would be required to upgrade to either the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or vSphere Foundation (VVF) package.
For vSphere Enterprise Plus, VMware’s highest tier VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) would be required, costing customers more, and bringing with it a host of features that aren’t wanted or needed.
Additionally, those wishing to access vSAN by itself, or any of VMware’s other popular products such as Aria Suite and NSX Networking would also have to purchase the VCF or VVF subscriptions to be able to do so.
What advice is there for partners not included in Broadcom’s new program, or unhappy with their new subscription models?
The closure of the VMware partner program has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those not invited to join Broadcom’s Advantage Partner Program.
With there seemingly no way of helping their existing VMware customers renew or upgrade their licenses after February 5th, locked-out partners are left with two options; let go of these customers, or search for alternative solutions.
Looking at VMware alternatives
Currently, there are a plethora of alternatives available for customers and partners unwilling to settle for what Broadcom has offered them.
And while having some options has its benefits, having too many can be confusing, particularly if the customer’s knowledge of the market is limited. What if the new solution in question is more expensive, has inferior specifications, or offers less flexibility in its licensing model, forcing extra features that aren’t wanted or needed?
Partners will also have their own set of concerns. What if an alternative vendor’s program doesn’t have the same benefits as VMware? What if the vendor doesn’t offer training or support? Or worse, isn’t as competitive as VMware, resulting in customers leaving for another partner in search of a better offering?
Look to StorMagic as the solution to your VMware woes
Whether you’re a VMware customer or partner, we’re confident StorMagic can offer you a genuine alternative and minimize any disruption you may face.
VMware customers: Add an “S” to your vSAN and move from VMware vSAN to StorMagic SvSAN
It’s no secret that being acquired is a risky business. So why risk your business? Consider adding an “S” to your virtual SAN and benefit from simplicity, stability, security, and savings!
StorMagic SvSAN is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution, ideal for edge, ROBO, and small datacenter deployments. Running on any x86 server, SvSAN turns underlying storage into a highly available shared storage system with clusters of just two nodes (versus vSAN’s minimum of three). It sits on top of your hypervisor (new or existing) and is fully compatible with major hypervisors (vSphere, Hyper-V, and open-source Linux KVM). Learn more about why 2 is better than 3 in edge environments in our blog post.
Analyst firm DCIG conducted an independent analysis of SvSAN and vSAN and shared their thoughts in this report. Download the report to explore the differences between the two products in more detail and see how SvSAN may work for you.
Some differences between vSAN and SvSAN include:
- VMware vSAN has very stringent hardware requirements.
- VMware vSAN requires hardware from VMware’s approved, certified vendor list
- vSAN also necessitates that organizations use identical hardware and software configurations on each server in the cluster
- SvSAN can use different servers in the cluster and requires much less disk space, processor capability, and memory
- vSAN only supports one hypervisor, VMware vSphere
- SvSAN supports VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and open source Linux KVM
- vSAN recommends at least 3 servers for high availability (HA)
- SvSAN requires only 2 servers and has a witness that can support up to 1000 clusters
- vSAN requires a network switch to guarantee network bandwidth
- SvSAN can be configured for back-to-back configuration to further minimize costs
- vSAN witness cannot be shared in a stretched cluster architecture
- SvSAN witness can be shared across stretched clusters
What about vSphere?
VMware vSphere is the dominant hypervisor and certainly part of the crown jewels of VMware. As of January 18th, VMware announced that all editions of vSphere except subscription-only versions of Standard and Essentials Plus are at their end of life. This means that they are no longer available for purchase and customers in need of a renewal will be offered alternative subscription products to suit their needs.
SvSAN provides flexibility on this front, with identical code running on vSphere, Hyper-V, or Linux KVM. SvSAN also provides support for containers, so as customers move away from hypervisors completely, SvSAN can move with them.
VMware Partners: Join a 5-star program that cares about your bottom line as much as you do!
At StorMagic, we pride ourselves on offering resellers who partner with us value, providing access to an extensive partner program designed to set your business up for success. Enjoy full product training, and campaign content that positions you as a source of truth with your customers, enhancing your sales effectiveness through:
- The offering of a highly available HCI solution at one of the lowest price points in the industry
- A reliable, lightweight, two-node solution that addresses your customers’ critical requirements for seamless operations, ensuring no unplanned downtime
- Flexible, capacity-based licensing options that cater to a diverse range of customer budgets, computing environments, and industries
At the end of the day, your success is ours. And don’t just take our word for it. Our partner program has been awarded 5 stars by CRN 5 years in a row.
Check out our partner page for more information.
Change Can be Good
Although the VMware acquisition is still causing a lot of unrest for partners and customers, it has also presented an opportunity to rethink strategies and consider alternatives. Both VMware partners and customers can take this opportunity to assess the landscape and build for the future.
A future that we at StorMagic would be glad to help you build!
