What staying on VMware really costs (and what a serious exit looks like)
Since the ownership change, bundled licensing, contractual minimums and price hikes have turned a stable cost item into a budget risk. Migration isn't the answer for everyone — but everyone should know their numbers. Here's how to line them up, and how the OpenShift alternative works.
The real bill isn't (just) the license
The correct comparison isn't "old license vs new license": it's 3-5 year TCO. That includes mandatory bundles (paying for components you don't use), per-core minimums, hardware refreshes tied to compatibility lists, and the risk-cost of a vendor that has shown it can change the rules mid-game.
On the other side: migration isn't free. Count project days, team enablement, possibly a double environment during transition. That's why step one is always an honest inventory: how many VMs, which dependencies, what can be containerized and what can't.
The alternative: VMs and containers on one platform
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization runs your VMs as they are — disks, networks, habits — next to containers, on a single platform. No rewrites: the included Migration Toolkit for Virtualization discovers the vSphere environment, plans and migrates in waves, rollback always ready.
- VMs move with warm migration: replicas while they work, cutovers in short windows.
- The team's virtualization skills stay valid: the base changes, not the trade.
- New workloads (containers, AI) are born on the right platform: one operational cycle.
- If you run IBM Power: OpenShift runs natively there too, next to your ERP data.
The method that works: waves, not big bang
The successful migrations we run all share the same shape: inventory and a wave plan (by risk and dependencies), a measured pilot, then successive waves with the business always on. The first production wave — small, measured, reversible — is worth more than any theoretical business case.
What if staying is the right call?
It happens: small environments, freshly renewed contracts, dependencies on VMware-only products. Even then you need the numbers — to negotiate the next renewal better. Our assessment produces exactly that: inventory, comparative 3-5 year TCO and a wave plan for if and when you decide to move.