Wow, it has been a wild ride with VMware by Broadcom over the 2024 year with so many sweeping changes in portfolio simplification and licensing changes. However, I don’t have to write about how this has not been taken well with many VMware customers and has left many customers looking elsewhere for their virtualization needs. However, in a simple but massive bit of news, Broadcom is announcing they are bringing back VMware vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus! Very cool. Let’s dive more into the details of this news.
TL;DR
- What: Broadcom is bringing back the VMware vSphere Standard and Enterprise licenses and providing a 2.5x increase in vSAN storage with VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF)
- When: Starting November 2024
- Why: Broadcom has listened to customers and what they need in terms of licensing and capabilities in the environment
The news
Starting this November 2024, Broadcom is including new options in the VMware portfolio. They are set to increase vSAN capacity by 2.5x with 250 GB per core for customers of vSphere Foundation. I have personally seen a lot of vSAN customers pivoting back to traditional storage due to the sticker shock with VMware vSAN pricing per 100 GB previously.
This will likely be a welcomed change for VMware customers that are potentially looking to benefit from HCI solutions in the VMware portfolio and may help to regain some of the momentum back towards the HCI offerings that I think has been greatly stifled with the previous pricing.
They are also letting customers know they are flexible in the subscription length, pricing, and payment methods for customers to help with their needs on the fiscal side.
See the official blog from Broadcom here: Bringing More Value and Options to the VMware Cloud Foundation Portfolio.
VMware vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus are back!
I think, however, if there is a piece of news that is worth getting excited about in this bit of news from Broadcom, it is they are bringing back vSphere Standard and vSphere Enterprise Plus offerings for those that want compute virtualization.
According to Broadcom, the upgrade of vSAN storage per core, “…paired with VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus and vSphere Standard options, caters to customers focused on compute virtualization, thereby giving more tailored choices within the VCF portfolio.“
Below, you can see the infographic provided by Broadcom showing how the new offering is positioned in the overall portfolio of products, including VMware vSphere Foundation and VMware Cloud Foundation. They position the vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus licenses as Compute virtualization offerings for Enterprise compute engine.
What does this mean?
I think Broadcom has realized the gravity of the changes they have made over the past year on the customer base and certainly have lost many many customers as a result. I think this is likely being introduced to help soften customers who simply don’t want everything offered in VMware vSphere Foundation or VMware Cloud Foundation.
It gives customers the option to simply run the compute virtualization software they have always ran in their enterprise datacenter without having to buy into additional licensing like vSAN, NSX, or the VMware Aria suite.
Will this be enough to swoon customers that have already started considering a move from VMware to a different hypervisor (Nutanix has been greatly benefiting, as is many open-source solutions like Proxmox and XCP-ng)? Only time will tell. However, I would say this is definitely a positive development for organizations that have decided to stick with VMware vSphere in the data center and should help with the enormous license costs that many have seen when considering the uplift to VVF or VCF.
Wrapping up
If you are like me, the news of Broadcom bringing back VMware vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus is both surprising and welcomed. I think VMware vSphere is the best hypervisor out there, but organizations also need not only features but solutions that align with their budgets. The initial reaction to the license changes made by Broadcom this year from the VMware pricing was sticker shock. However, hopefully, once we see the pricing on the VMware vSphere Standard and vSphere Enterprise Plus, this will help to soften the increases, providing more of what SMBs and smaller enterprises are looking for.
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