The announcement of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware at the end of 2023 has created a lot of controversy, and for a long time it has been unclear what exactly this means for VMware users. It has now become increasingly clear what this means for the VMware product portfolio, and the licensing structure.

Key changes  

VMware has stopped selling one-time (perpetual) licenses. Existing customers will receive support as long as a current support contract runs. After that, they must switch to a subscription model that includes support. For additional and/or new licenses, only the new subscription model is available. Additional licenses can no longer be purchased under existing ELA contracts either.    

The new subscription model is a prepaid subscription that can be taken out for 1, 3, or 5 years. The new billing model is based on the number of cores, with a minimum of 16.   
Stopping the sale of perpetual (perpetual) licenses is part of an overarching simplification of the VMware product portfolio. This means that VMWare has greatly reduced the sale of individual products and now provides only composite software bundles.   

In addition, VMware has stopped selling a number of products that are also no longer available in a composite bundle. See also VMware blog.  

The available bundles to choose from are:  

- VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF). Add-on options are available for both bundles. The Cloud bundles are particularly intended for large deployments/ Enterprise environments where Enterprise Plus and NSX (VCF bundle) are used.  

- VMware vSphere Standard (VVS) and the VMware vSphere Essential Plus Kit (VVEP). VVEP is limited to a maximum of 3 hosts with a maximum of 96 cores. A number of Add-ons are also available for these.   

For a detailed overview of the bundles and what is included see overview of VMware bundles. 

What does this mean for you as a VMWare user?  

What impact Broadcom's acquisition of VMware will have for you depends on the products you currently use.  

The following steps are important to clearly identify the impact:  

- Inventory of the VMware products in use.  

- Required functionality compared to the new available subscription bundles.  

- Future developments: this is particularly important for licenses that are due to expire. Are there specific business requirements? For example, is there a Cloud Strategy where services will eventually be migrated to the Cloud?  

Once we have gone through these steps, it becomes clear which VMware bundles are most suitable for you. Should it turn out that VMware no longer offers the right solution for you, BPSolutions can advise you on what alternatives are available. Together we can determine what the best solution is for you: both technically and financially. Would you like more information? Then please contact us.