VMware, in a strategic move announced on December 11, 2023, has embarked on a transformative journey aimed at streamlining and modernizing its portfolio. Over the past two years, the company has made significant strides in simplifying its product offerings and transitioning from the traditional perpetual licensing model to a subscription-based model. This shift reflects VMware’s commitment to providing greater flexibility, scalability, and value to its customers while also accelerating innovation and simplifying deployment and management processes.
As part of this evolution, VMware has introduced two key subscription software offerings: VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation. These solutions serve as comprehensive platforms for customers seeking to harness the full potential of their infrastructure. VMware Cloud Foundation integrates essential components such as vSphere, vSAN, and NSX, along with the comprehensive Aria management and orchestration suite, now enriched with new services. On the other hand, VMware vSphere Foundation caters to data center optimization needs in traditional vSphere environments, offering Tanzu Kubernetes Grid alongside Aria Operations and Aria Operations for Logs as standard features.
To complement these foundation offerings, VMware provides optional advanced add-ons designed to address specific use cases and enhance the overall customer experience. These add-ons cover a range of areas including storage, security, disaster recovery, and Generative AI, among others, offering customers the flexibility to tailor their solutions according to their unique requirements.
As a result of this portfolio simplification initiative, many previously standalone VMware software solutions will now only be available as part of VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation. This consolidation not only helps customers extract more value from their VMware investments but also enables VMware to accelerate the delivery of new innovations.
Furthermore, VMware, in collaboration with Broadcom, plans to introduce a “Bring Your Own License” capability. This initiative will allow customers to purchase subscriptions of VMware Cloud Foundation from Broadcom and deploy them flexibly across VMware validated hybrid cloud endpoints and on-premises data centers, providing greater agility and choice.
Alongside these changes, VMware has also announced the End of Availability (EOA) for several standalone products listed in the provided table. While these products will no longer be offered as standalone offerings, some may still be available as part of VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation packages. Customers currently utilizing these discontinued products will continue to receive support until the end of their subscription term, after which they will be required to transition to the new offerings.
It’s important to note that VMware will continue to support customers through this transition process, offering active support for the duration of their support contracts. For existing customers who have purchased the discontinued products but are not up for renewal, no immediate action is required. However, at the time of renewal, customers are encouraged to work with their VMware representatives or partners to align their requirements with VMware’s updated portfolio offerings.
In summary, VMware’s strategic realignment of its product portfolio represents a significant milestone in the company’s evolution towards a more agile, customer-centric approach. By simplifying its offerings, embracing a subscription-based model, and facilitating greater flexibility and choice, VMware aims to empower its customers to thrive in an increasingly dynamic and demanding digital landscape.
Source: VMWare Blog
