VMware Resellers and Migrants Face Burdensome Migration
Support Concerns
The management at a food manufacturer recently received a disheartening message from a vendor support team. After filing a support ticket, the ticket was automatically moved to Ingram, with Broadcom informing the company that it wasn’t big enough to receive direct support. The response times from Ingram were a week or longer, and in December, Ingram announced a severe reduction of its VMware business (VMware still works with other distributors, like Arrow).
Support Concerns Preceded Ingram’s Announcement
Support concerns from VMware resellers started before Ingram’s announcement. An anonymous reseller reported that it had to wait a month on average for VMware quotes through a distributor, compared to "two to three days" pre-Broadcom. The Register, citing VMware customers, also reported that Ingram was having difficulties handling "the increased responsibilities it assumed," citing VMware customers.
Migration is Burdensome
In a January Gartner research note entitled "Estimating a Large-Scale VMware," Gartner analysts detailed the burdens expected for large-sized companies moving off of VMware. The note defined a large-scale migration as a "concerted program of work covering the migration of a significant portion of virtualized workloads" that "would likely represent 2,000 or more" VMs, "and/or at least 100 hosts." That’s a much larger migration than the food manufacturer’s 300 VMs, but Gartner’s analysis helps illustrate the magnitude of work associated with migrating.
Gartner’s Estimate
Gartner’s note estimated that large-scale migrations, including scoping and technical evaluation, would take 18 to 48 months. The analysts noted that they "expect a midsize enterprise would take at least two years to untangle much of its dependency upon VMware’s server virtualization platform."
Estimated Costs
The analysts also estimated migration to cost $300 to $3,000 per VM if the user employed a third-party service provider. Critically, the report adds:
- It is highly likely that other costs would be incurred in a large-scale migration. This includes acquisition of new software licenses and/or cloud expenses, hardware purchases (compute, storage), early termination costs related to the existing virtual environment, application testing/quality assurance, and test equipment.
Conclusion
The heavy costs—in terms of finances, time, and staff—force customers to face questions and hesitations around leaving VMware, despite many customers facing disruption from Broadcom-issued changes to the platform.
FAQs
Q: How long does a large-scale migration of VMware take?
A: According to Gartner, large-scale migrations, including scoping and technical evaluation, would take 18 to 48 months.
Q: How much does a large-scale migration of VMware cost?
A: Gartner estimates migration to cost $300 to $3,000 per VM if the user employs a third-party service provider. Other costs, such as software licenses, hardware, and early termination costs, may also be incurred.
Q: Why do customers face hesitation around leaving VMware?
A: The heavy costs—in terms of finances, time, and staff—force customers to face questions and hesitations around leaving VMware, despite many customers facing disruption from Broadcom-issued changes to the platform.
