VMware vSphere Express: A Welcome Change of Direction, But Read the Small Print
Broadcom is listening. That’s good news for VMware customers. But does vSphere Express really deliver the flexibility organisations have been asking for?
It’s something of an understatement to say VMware has experienced a turbulent couple of years following the acquisition from Broadcom. Significant changes to licensing, product packaging and commercial models have left many organisations reconsidering their virtualisation strategies – and partners such as us!
At Meridian IT, we’ve experienced this from both sides of the coin. Having been on the receiving end of the partner agreement shake up, we’ve also recently migrated our own internal infrastructure to HPE Morpheus VM Essentials (VME) and have been helping customers make similar transitions. (click here to read about how that went!
You’d be forgiven for thinking we’d be critical of Broadcom’s latest announcement – but it’s quite the opposite.
We always give credit where it’s due.
On 4 November, Broadcom announced VMware vSphere Express, a new entry-level offering aimed at organisations with smaller virtualisation environments, and I think it’s a genuinely positive step.
For all the criticism Broadcom has received, this announcement suggests the company has been listening to customers who simply don’t need the complexity or extensive functionality of VMware Cloud Foundation – score 1 for the voice of the customer!
Built on vSphere 9, Express offers familiar capabilities including vMotion, High Availability, Distributed Switch and streamlined patch management. Meaning that organisations who simply want reliable, enterprise-grade virtualisation, there’s now a respectable offering that, based on the initial numbers, shouldn’t hurt the bank balance anywhere near as much as before.
As always, VMware remains an incredibly capable platform, and providing customers with more choice should be welcomed.
However, the licensing model tells a slightly different story.
The Devil Is in the Detail
While vSphere Express looks attractive at first glance, several restrictions deserve closer attention.
- A fixed 128-core package
Early channel information suggests Express is sold as a fixed 128-core subscription, rather than being licensed according to actual consumption. That means an organisation running 48 cores would likely pay the same as one running 128.
For smaller businesses, that’s a chunky over-spend in a world that’s focussed on right-sizing.
- Limited scalability
Reports also suggest customers may be restricted to purchasing a single 128-core package. This means that, if your infrastructure grows beyond that threshold, moving to a more comprehensive VMware offering would become necessary.
For organisations planning infrastructure investments over several years, that’s worth considering – is moving to vSphere Express simply kicking a can down the road?
- “Brand new customers only!”
Most of us are old enough to remember the old nationwide adverts with the slogan “Brand New Customers Only!” – and that, sadly, is what appears to be happening here. Early reseller information indicates Express may be primarily intended for new customers or organisations that haven’t purchased VMware products within the previous three years.
Existing VMware customers may require explicit Broadcom approval.
If confirmed, this would be a curious restriction for a product seemingly designed to address concerns raised by VMware’s established customer base – we’ll try to keep this updated with more information when we have it.
- A reduced feature set
Express also comes with functional limitations, including the reported absence of Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), GPU/vGPU support and certain advanced management capabilities – not wholly unsurprising of an entry-level offering, but this could be significant for some organisations.
It’s worth emphasising that some of these licensing and eligibility details currently originate from channel reporting rather than published Broadcom licensing documentation. Please do reach out to Meridian IT if you are looking to evaluate vSphere Express or other virtualisation solutions.
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Would Express Have Changed Our Decision?
It’s an interesting question, and one that I expect a lot of businesses who have already moved away from VMware will be asking themselves.
At Meridian IT, our move to Morpheus VME wasn’t simply about replacing VMware or reducing licensing costs.
We evaluated multiple solutions, both from a virtualisation stand-point and a hardware standpoint, making no secret of the fact we landed on HPE’s PCBE (now named PC3000) for our hosting platform. It provides us with flexibility, insights and dynamic scaling – and included Morpheus VME ‘in the box’.
Would vSphere Express have changed our decision?
It would have stopped us to consider, without a doubt, but as an MSP who hosts dynamic workloads with a demand-driven ecosystem, we need something that flexes with us and our customers, so probably not.
But fundamentally it would have made us reconsider a departure from VMware. And that’s really the point.
The right virtualisation platform isn’t necessarily the one with the most features, the lowest headline price or the biggest market share. It’s the one that best fits your organisation’s requirements.
A Positive Step, With Questions Remaining
I’m genuinely pleased to see Broadcom responding to feedback from smaller VMware customers. Like most things in life, competition is healthy, customer choice matters, and a more accessible VMware offering is good news for the entire industry.
But our recommendation is always to look beyond the headlines and in to your specific requirements. For some, vSphere Express could be exactly what they’ve been waiting for, for others, the licensing restrictions may reinforce the case for evaluating alternatives.
Ultimately, the biggest positive from this announcement isn’t necessarily vSphere Express itself. It’s the recognition that one virtualisation strategy doesn’t fit every customer.
And that’s something I think the entire industry can get behind.
Are you considering your options and want to know more? Then reach out to see how Meridian IT can help you understand what virtualisation platform suits you now, and in to the future.
