New Rimini Street Survey of VMware Customers Reveals Strong Desire to Maximise Value of Perpetual Licences

Rimini Street, Inc., a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support and innovation solutions and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP, and VMware software, recently announced the findings of the report, “Insights and Strategies on VMware: Navigating the Evolving Hypervisor Market.” The Rimini Street-sponsored research was conducted in Q3 2024 amongst 110+ VMware customers, exploring how they are navigating changes in pricing structure and new subscription bundling since Broadcom’s acquisition of the hypervisor provider.

The analysis of the data revealed that nearly all VMware customers surveyed are proactively seeking paths to take control of their VMware roadmap, focusing on opportunities to lower cost, buy more time, and bring greater stability to the organisation amidst turbulent changes in the hypervisor market.

Customers Seek to Maximise Value of Current VMware Software While Assessing Hypervisor Options

The majority of survey respondents to Rimini Street’s survey (79%) stated their current perpetually licensed VMware software meets their business needs. With VMware customers being compelled to give up their perpetual licences and switch to a subscription model, along with changes in how products are bundled, the resulting significant price increases for many customers has led to organisations seeking alternative hypervisors.

However, the survey results also indicate 99% of the respondents would consider continuing to utilize current perpetually licensed software if they could acquire support.

Given these dynamics, customers are motivated to seek VMware alternatives over time. 96% of survey respondents to Rimini Street’s study stated they see value in roadmap services to help assess VMware alternatives. In fact, 98% of respondents are already using, planning to use or considering alternatives for at least a part of their VMware estate. With growing concerns around market uncertainty and Broadcom policies, 92% of those surveyed anticipate additional VMware price increases within the next 12–18 months.

“Giving up control over perpetual licences due to forced vendor subscription models is like turning in keys to your paid-off home to rent the same house from a landlord. The results of this survey highlight that while VMware customers are happy with their software, they are concerned with price increases and changes in licencing, and are seeking alternative strategies.” says Rodney Kenyon, Group Vice President of Rimini Custom™.

He added: “With our award-winning, industry-leading support, Rimini Street has helped thousands of organizations around world extend the life and value of their current enterprise software releases, including VMware. For organisations that prefer to maintain their existing VMware environment rather than pursue an alternative solution, third-party support offers a powerful option. We provide clients with comprehensive support and optimisation for their current software while also helping them define and execute strategic roadmap plans.”

Rimini Street Findings Identify AI and Cloud Hypervisor Market Transformation

71% of respondents identify cloud-native solutions as the top influence on the hypervisor market, with 70% of respondents citing AI as a major impact. The hypervisor landscape is undergoing a transformation, led by new cloud-native technologies, Artificial Intelligence innovations, and new computing options. With notable changes coming to market in the next few years, perpetual licensees have greater incentive to keep running their systems longer as they explore new solutions to meet their evolving needs.

In addition to support, Rimini Street provides expert guidance and roadmap services to help VMware customers evaluate and determine the best strategy to optimize costs and reduce complexity.

Access the full, comprehensive Rimini Street report, “Insights and Strategies on VMware: Navigating the Evolving Hypervisor Market,” here.