Navigating VMware transformation in a post-Broadcom world: A guide for leaders

By: Muhammad Waqas

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware marks a transformative shift in the enterprise technology landscape. It’s also a critical juncture for IT and finance executives globally, presenting an opportunity to reassess, optimize and transform their VMware environments.

With the acquisition of VMware, Broadcom introduced new subscription-based licensing and product bundle pricing options. The change promises advanced, integrated solutions. It also invites strategic thinking to maximize the value of your investment, so it helps position your organization for innovation

Enterprises now have multiple pathways for VMware transformation. Let’s delve into the possibilities, each with its own unique set of benefits and complexities. I also offer suggestions on how to choose your approach.

VMware environment optimization

Transformation complexity: Low to medium

Optimizing your on-premises or cloud VMware environment involves upgrading your current IT infrastructure, right-sizing and adopting best practices. This approach allows your enterprise to maximize performance and efficiency while leveraging existing investments.

Why consider it? By fine-tuning your existing VMWare environments, you can achieve immediate performance gains and cost reductions, setting a solid foundation for future enhancements.

Migration to VMware on public cloud  

Transformation complexity: Medium

Moving your VMware workloads to public cloud marries the familiarity and control of VMware with the scalability and flexibility of the cloud. It allows for dynamic scaling of resources, enhanced disaster recovery, global reach and easier integration with high-value cloud-native services like generative AI.

Why consider it? Embracing a cloud operating model can streamline operations and unlock new efficiencies while providing the agility to respond to changing business demands.

VMware to cloud-native VMs migration

Transformation complexity: Medium to high

Transitioning from VMware to cloud-native virtual machines on Azure VM, Google Compute Engine or AWS EC2 may be right for customers who are ready to fully adopt cloud-native services. However, this approach may require some operating system upgrades or application re-platforming, and organizations must be prepared with cloud-native skills.

Why consider it? This option enables your organization to fully leverage the power of cloud innovation, resulting in increased operational efficiency and competitive advantage.

VMware to application modernization

Transformation complexity: Medium to high

Application modernization is about transforming your existing applications to leverage modern cloud architectures and services. This process often involves breaking down monolithic applications into microservices, adopting containers or other cloud-native services, and implementing continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

Why consider it? While complex, this path can lead to faster development cycles, improved application performance and a significant reduction in time-to-market for new features.

VMware on-prem transformation   

Transformation complexity: Medium to high

When it comes to on-premises VMware transformation, adopting other hypervisors and technologies can offer significant benefits. For instance, transitioning to Red Hat OpenShift provides a powerful Kubernetes-based platform for managing virtual machines and containers across hybrid cloud environments. This transformation path offers enterprise-grade security and compliance, coupled with the flexibility to innovate rapidly. Additionally, integrating hypervisors like Microsoft Hyper-V or KVM can enhance virtualization capabilities, improve resource management and reduce costs.

Why consider it? Such transformations can standardize DevOps practices, enhance CI/CD processes and ensure seamless integration of new technologies into your IT landscape, positioning your organization for future growth and resilience. Additionally, on-prem transformation is ideal for workloads with tight compliance restrictions such that they must stay on private cloud.

A hybrid approach

Transformation complexity: Varies (depending on the combination of approaches)

A hybrid approach of combining on-premises optimization with selective cloud migrations often offers the best balance of performance, cost and flexibility. This strategy allows your enterprise to optimize existing environments while gradually transitioning to the cloud, ensuring business continuity and operational agility.

Why consider it? By leveraging the strengths of both on-premises and cloud environments, you can create a resilient, scalable and future-proof IT infrastructure.

How to choose your VMware transformation approach

Each transformation path has its own set of complexities and benefits. The key to successful VMware transformation lies in careful evaluation and strategic planning. Consider your organization’s specific needs and long-term business goals, and the capabilities of your current IT environment.

Here are essential questions to address during each stage of implementation:

1. Define your goals
   • What are your primary business objectives and IT goals?
   • Are you aiming to improve performance, reduce costs, enhance scalability or achieve a combination of these?
   • How will these goals guide your IT transformation strategy?
2. Assess your current environment
   • What is the current state of your applications and VMware infrastructure?
   • Where are the optimization opportunities, and what areas require transformation?
   • How does your existing IT environment align with long-term business goals?
3. Choose the right path
   • Which transformation path aligns best with your organizational needs and capabilities?
   • Should you start with low-complexity optimizations before moving to more complex transformations?
   • What are the risks and benefits associated with each path?
4. Plan and execute
   • What does a detailed implementation plan look like, including timelines, resource allocation and risk-mitigation strategies?
   • Does your IT team have the necessary skills and tools to execute the plan effectively?
   • How do you ensure that all stakeholders are aligned and informed throughout the process?
5. Monitor and adapt
   • How will you continuously monitor the transformation process?
   • What metrics will you use to measure performance and success?
   • How will you gather feedback and adapt your strategy to ensure desired outcomes?

Whether you go for on-premises optimization, cloud migration, application modernization or a hybrid approach, the key is to choose a path that matches with your strategic goals and maximizes the value of your IT investment.

Muhammad Waqas is Canada Cloud Consulting Lead - Consult Partner for Kyndryl.

^{Broadcom Completes Acquisition of VMware. Broadcom. November 2023}