VMware Licensing Changes Demystified

VMware is an enterprise-tier virtualization tool used in data centers, cloud, and on-premises infrastructure. Its recent acquisition by Broadcom has led to some structural changes, and VMware software will change to a subscription model. Subscription changes will affect licensing options, operational budgets, and the way administrators manage the software.

Overview of VMware Licensing

Licensing VMware was critical to stay in line with local laws and regulations, but subscription-based licensing changes the way administrators must deploy instances. Broadcom recently acquired VMware, and now VMware's licensing options have been restructured into two primary subscription packages with two additional subscriptions. Many of your current licenses will fall into one of these packages, but you first must identify which subscription covers all the features you currently use.

The unified licensing model eliminates the need for businesses to have licenses for each VMware product. Businesses can now pay for an umbrella subscription and use VMware components as needed. A single key now represents a license for several products.

Recent Changes in VMware Licensing

Businesses working with VMware had over 160 products to choose from in the past, but now, VMware bundles solutions into four packages. Components are covered by each subscription package. The four bundles are:

• VMware Cloud Foundation
• vSphere Foundation
• vSphere Standard
• vSphere Enterprise Plus

Businesses also have add-ons available such as vSAN, Live Recovery, Private AI Foundation, vDefend Firewall, Avi Load Balancer, and Tanzu Platform. The Pure Storage plugin for vSphere and vVols plugin support the new products under the new subscription model. The change in licensing aims to give clients a cloud-like experience on premises. Businesses can also create a hybrid environment with VMware cloud components incorporated with their own internal infrastructure.

Impact of VMware Licensing Changes on Businesses

The biggest impact to businesses is the move to VMware Cloud Foundation for a majority of their services. VMware Cloud Foundation now bundles virtualization (vSphere), storage (vSAN), networking (NSX), and cloud management (vRealize Suite) into a single integrated offering. This bundling allows businesses to deploy hybrid cloud environments faster with preconfigured, fully compatible components. While this reduces complexity in procurement and deployment, it means higher initial costs compared to purchasing only the components you need.

Enterprise businesses can get access to NVIDIA AI Enterprise, which is a platform for data science and models to build artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. NVIDIA AI Enterprise solutions let businesses offload their compute power for machine learning to the cloud to save money and leave their infrastructure free for other computing tasks.

Shift toward Subscription-based Licensing

Subscription models mean continuous payments for businesses rather than a single payment for a license. Businesses should assess the cost of a subscription and include it in their technology budget. A VMware subscription is necessary for current customers to continue receiving support, updates, and patches.

How to Adapt to VMware Licensing Changes

For a large enterprise, it's important to fully audit the environment to identify all VMware products in use and count the number of license purchases. The subscription model provides a single key, but businesses must ensure that they purchase all necessary products in the new business package. For some businesses, new subscription prices might be substantially higher than buying licenses.

Consultants might be necessary to build a budget for the new subscription model, or switching to a new platform might also be necessary. Pulling products in-house also has costs. Staff costs might go up to support internal infrastructure. Any changes in infrastructure such as storage requirements should also be reviewed to stay compliant with regulatory requirements.

Conclusion

Changing to a subscription model is a huge financial change for VMware customers. Any enterprise business must identify the number of licenses and VMware products currently in use to stay covered with a new subscription. If costs are too high for subscriptions, an even larger project of switching to a new service might be necessary. Audit your environment, and take the time to determine financial costs, including an overview of compliance efforts.

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