VMware, Broadcom & Your Real Strategic Options
When Broadcom acquired VMware, it wasn’t just another tech acquisition. It signalled a structural shift in how enterprise virtualisation will be packaged, priced, and positioned — particularly with the push towards VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as the strategic destination.
For many organisations, the question now isn’t “Should we modernise?” it’s:
- Do we double down on VMware?
- Do we move to something like Nutanix?
- Do we go open source?
- Do we finally move everything to public cloud?
- Or is this the moment to rethink the whole stack?
Let’s cut through the noise.
1. Stay with VMware – But Be Intentional
VMware is still a very strong platform.
Technically:
- Mature
- Enterprise-grade
- Deep ecosystem
- Proven operational model
VCF bundles compute, storage (vSAN), networking (NSX) and lifecycle management into a single stack. For some organisations, that consolidation genuinely simplifies operations.
The challenge isn’t capability. It’s commercial control.
Broadcom’s model is clear:
- Fewer SKUs
- Subscription-led
- Larger, strategic customers
- Increased account consolidation
If you stay with VMware, the question becomes: Are you extracting full value from the entire stack or are you paying VCF pricing for features you won’t operationalise?
Many organisations historically ran vSphere only. Moving to VCF changes both architecture and cost structure.
Staying is valid but only if:
- You review licensing properly
- You rationalise clusters
- You optimise usage
- You align infrastructure strategy with real business outcomes
How C4C’s IDEAL Framework Applies
Identify: We audit your current VMware estate to understand actual utilisation, licensing gaps, and technical debt.
Decide: We model multiple scenarios: VCF consolidation, hybrid approaches, or alternative platforms with transparent TCO comparisons.
Execute: We lead vendor negotiations on your behalf, leveraging our vendor-side experience to secure optimal commercial terms.
Adopt: We help you activate underutilised features (NSX, vSAN, Tanzu) to justify the investment rather than paying for shelf-ware.
Lifecycle: We establish proactive refresh cycles and optimisation reviews to prevent future cost creep.
Case Study
Recently, we helped a global enterprise customer save 37% on their VMware renewal.
The approach:
- Comprehensive estate audit revealing significant over-licensing and unused capacity
- Cluster consolidation strategy reducing footprint without impacting performance
- Feature activation roadmap identifying VCF capabilities they’d paid for but never deployed (NSX micro-segmentation, vSAN data services)
- Negotiation ownership — we led discussions with Broadcom directly, using our vendor-side experience to navigate their new commercial structure
The result wasn’t just cost savings. It was a clearer strategic roadmap that aligned infrastructure investment with actual business priorities.
This is what independence looks like in practice, More here
2. Nutanix – A Strong Alternative
Nutanix is a credible enterprise platform.
Strengths:
- Integrated HCI model
- Strong management plane (Prism)
- AHV hypervisor included
- Simpler commercial story than legacy VMware estates
For some customers, particularly mid-sized enterprises or those refreshing hardware anyway, Nutanix can be a pragmatic move.
However, and this is important every platform introduces a new form of gravity.
The risk isn’t Nutanix today. The risk is:
- Deep platform commitment
- Operational dependency
- Reduced negotiating leverage over time
We’ve seen this movie before in enterprise tech.
That doesn’t make Nutanix a bad choice. It just means it’s not a magic escape from lock-in, it’s a different lock-in model.
3. Open Source – Ready or Romanticised?
Open-source virtualisation stacks (Proxmox, KVM-based platforms, OpenStack) are often raised as the “break free” option.
Technically? They work.
Strategically? It depends.
Questions you must ask:
- Do you have internal engineering depth?
- Who owns support at 02:00 during a critical outage?
- What does enterprise support actually cost?
- How does compliance and audit view the stack?
Open source removes vendor margin, but it shifts responsibility internally.
For some highly capable IT teams, this is empowering. For others, it introduces operational risk that outweighs licensing savings.
Open source is viable but it is not “free infrastructure”.
4. Public Cloud – Moving the Problem, Not Removing It
Hyperscalers like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud offer incredible capability.
- Elasticity
- Global scale
- Platform services
- Innovation velocity
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If you lift and shift an inefficient on-prem estate into the cloud, you’ve just made it someone else’s problem at a higher monthly cost.
Public cloud works best when:
- Applications are redesigned
- Architectures are modernised
- FinOps discipline exists
- Consumption is actively managed
Otherwise, you risk:
- Uncontrolled spend
- Egress costs
- Complexity creep
- New forms of lock-in (this time API-level)
Cloud is powerful but it is not a financial magic trick.
5. The Question Most People Aren’t Asking: Should VMs Still Be the Centre?
While many organisations are debating hypervisors, a more strategic question is emerging:
Are we optimising yesterday’s architecture?
Virtual machines solved consolidation and hardware efficiency.
Containers solve:
- Portability
- Scalability
- Faster release cycles
- Infrastructure abstraction
If you are modernising applications anyway, the infrastructure discussion changes dramatically.
In that world:
- Kubernetes becomes the control plane
- Infrastructure becomes a commodity layer
- Portability increases
- Vendor leverage improves
But again this isn’t a silver bullet.
Containerisation:
- Requires engineering maturity
- Changes operating models
- Demands platform thinking
- Introduces its own complexity
Modernisation isn’t cheaper. It’s strategic.
And if you’re not planning it, your infrastructure choice may anchor you to legacy longer than you realise.
The Real Issue: There Is No Universal Right Answer
Every organisation’s position is different:
- Technical debt profile
- Skills maturity
- Regulatory environment
- Growth plans
- Risk appetite
- Commercial leverage
The worst decision right now is a reactive one.
The best decision is an informed one.
The C4C Perspective
At C4C, we’ve sat:
- On the vendor side
- On the partner side
- On the customer side
We understand how pricing is structured. We understand how roadmaps are shaped. And we understand where the marketing slides don’t tell the full story.
Why Our Vendor-Side Experience Matters
Many of our team spent years inside Dell Technologies, NetApp, Pure Storage, and other enterprise vendors. We’ve:
- Built SKU bundles and pricing models
- Negotiated channel agreements
- Designed competitive positioning strategies
- Managed enterprise account teams
That insider knowledge is now working for you, not against you.
We know the negotiation levers. We know the discount structures. We know which “strategic initiatives” actually have budget flexibility and which are genuinely fixed.
And we have no quota to hit.
When we lead a Broadcom negotiation or evaluate a Nutanix proposal, we’re not trying to hit a sales target. We’re applying decade-plus vendor experience to secure the best possible outcome for your organisation.
How the IDEAL Framework Drives Real Outcomes
As outlined in our approach, our role isn’t to push a product — it’s to ensure measurable value from technology decisions and to support procurement with strategic technical clarity.
Identify — What are you really trying to achieve?
Decide — What does good look like in 3–5 years?
Execute — What is the true total cost of ownership?
Adopt — Where is the real risk?
Lifecycle — Where is the genuine leverage?
Sometimes the answer is: Stay on VMware and optimise.
Sometimes it’s: Move to Nutanix during refresh.
Sometimes it’s: Hybrid cloud with discipline.
Sometimes it’s: Re-architect and modernise.
But there is no silver bullet.
Final Thought
Broadcom hasn’t broken VMware.
But it has forced a strategic conversation that many organisations had been delaying.
This isn’t just a licensing discussion.
It’s an opportunity to reassess infrastructure strategy properly — not just at the hypervisor layer, but at the application layer too.
The organisations that benefit most from this reset will treat it not as a procurement problem — but as an architectural inflection point.
And that’s where independent, commercially-aware advisory really matters.
Want to discuss your VMware strategy?
We offer a no-obligation infrastructure review where we:
- Audit your current estate
- Model alternative scenarios
- Provide transparent TCO comparisons
- Identify optimisation opportunities
VMware Strategy Renewal Support
hello@c4cgroup.co.uk No sales pitch. Just clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions About VMware After Broadcom
Has Broadcom increased VMware pricing?
Many organisations are reporting higher costs due to subscription restructuring and bundled VCF models.
What are the main alternatives to VMware?
Nutanix, open-source virtualisation (KVM, Proxmox), and public cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure.
Is VMware Cloud Foundation mandatory?
Broadcom is strongly positioning VCF as the primary commercial model, although some legacy options may still exist.
Should we migrate away from VMware?
It depends on workload profile, licensing exposure, and long-term strategy. There is no universal answer.