Robert Key’s Post

A major enhancement in VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 is the new capability called the ‘flexible Bill of Materials (BOM)’, which enables selecting specific versions of certain components during a workload domain upgrade. This streamlines the upgrade process, reducing the number of maintenance operations required and minimizing downtime. In previous VCF releases, the process would require two maintenance operations: one to upgrade and a second to apply an async patch. In contrast, the flexible BOM in VCF 5.2 simplifies the process, reducing the administrative burden and potential for issues. If you'd like to know more then you read the following blog: https://lnkd.in/esadYagK #vmware #broadcom #vcf

The latest release of VMware Aria Operations provides key functionality that helps you better do all these things for your VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware vSphere Foundation, vSAN per TiB, and Legacy License Keys. https://lnkd.in/gCnHKQ97

We're always thrilled to receive endorsements from tech leaders! 🌟 Brandon Lee from Virtualization How To highlighted Faddom's capabilities, stating, "Faddom offers insights for asset discovery, change management, and vulnerability detection tasks, delivering actionable insights typically within a day of deployment." Additionally, he valued that Faddom is agentless, streamlining deployments across both on-premise and cloud environments: "So you don’t have to deploy hundreds or thousands of agents..." Learn how Faddom can streamline your IT operations. ⬇ 🚀 https://lnkd.in/dYe_KJkQ

✳ Big Changes in the Virtualization Landscape  Recent changes to VMware licensing are pushing organizations to reassess their virtualization strategies.    ✳ VMware: To Stay or Not to Stay?  While VMware remains the right solution for many, now is the time to consider how these changes affect your organization, especially for education and nonprofit organizations facing significant impacts.     ✳ Exploring Alternatives  Feel locked into VMware? Fear not. A wide range of SaaS offerings and alternative products can provide the flexibility and features you need without the VMware constraints. It’s possible you may not even need a virtualized solution.     ✳ Need Guidance?  At HBS, we specialize in navigating these complex decisions, offering personalized advice and support to ensure your technology aligns perfectly with your organizational goals.     Contact us to explore all your options and make the most informed decision in this evolving virtualization landscape. https://lnkd.in/duvenNBc #VMware #Virtualization #StrategicPlanning #HBS 

🌪️Amidst the whirlwind of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, it's no surprise that uncertainty has been swirling among IT leaders. The initial communications might have left us all scratching our heads, but we're getting on top of it, and information about expected licensing changes is slowly trickling in. 💼 We're here to shed some light on the situation and navigate these changes together! 💡 💰 Cost Impact: The big question on everyone's mind is about the cost implications. While the uncertainty might tempt you to consider alternatives, hold tight! Allow us to guide you through and keep you informed every step of the way. Depending on what products you already consume will determine if your costs will increase, remain similar or even decrease 💰. Remember, switching hypervisors is no small feat! Areas to consider include: What is the impact on business operations? What new skills are required? How will any change impact data protection and business continuity? Are there any application supportability concerns? Do any applications need to be rearchitected? The answers to these questions will have further cost and operational impacts. We can help you explore all the implications. 🔍 🤔 What are the alternatives, you ask? The main options would be Azure, Hyper-V, Nutanix, KVM, but importantly don't forget about Proact Managed Services! Let us take the licensing problem off your plate, make it our responsibility. 🛠️ 🔍 What's changing with Licensing? VMware's been working hard to simplify its portfolio and licensing, with the goal (like everything in life) is to move you to a subscription based model. The Broadcom acquisition is simply accelerating this process. To soften the impact, they have decided to bundle in more components into the license options. 🚀 There are four core license bundles now available, including: 1.      VMWare Cloud Foundation, aimed at Enterprise customers, includes – vSphere Enterprise Plus, vSAN, Aria, NSX, HCX, and more 2.      VMware vSphere Foundation, aimed at SME customers, includes – vSphere Enterprise Plus, vSAN, Aria 3.      VMWare vSphere Standard, includes vSphere Standard and vCentre Standard 4.      VMWare vSphere Essentials Plus, includes vSphere Essentials Plus and vCentre Essentials (3 hosts maximum)   Interestingly, products like Aria (aka vRealize Operations) have always been fantastic but the purchase costs previously put many off. With today’s sustainability 🌍 drive along with focus on cost reductions, tools like this can be used to assess, optimise and reduce your infrastructure spend and associated operational costs. 📉. Make sure you consider the benefits as well as any drawbacks, again please talk to us if you are unsure. 📢 We'll continue to support our customers every step of the way and share information as it becomes available. Don't let the rush of uncertainty push you into hasty decisions! We've got your back. 🤝 #Broadcom #VMware #Proact 🌟

🚀 VMware Simplifies Portfolio to Enhance Customer Value and Innovation VMware is streamlining its portfolio, focusing on delivering solutions through VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF), instead of standalone products. This shift allows customers to maximize their VMware investment with a unified platform for infrastructure, security, and data management. Key updates: - VMware Cloud Foundation: A full-stack solution including vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and the Aria suite. - VMware vSphere Foundation: Optimized for traditional data centers, now featuring Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and Aria Operations. - Add-on Services: Enhance storage, security, disaster recovery, and AI use cases. - Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Flexibility to deploy VCF subscriptions across hybrid cloud environments and on-prem data centers. Some standalone products will reach End of Availability, and Aria SaaS services will enter maintenance mode. Current customers will be supported until the end of their subscription term. #Cloud #Innovation #VMware #DigitalTransformation

In light of the recent VMware acquisition by Broadcom, changes are happening in product delivery, including the End of Availability of perpetual licenses. This has understandably caused concern for customers about the impact on their infrastructure. If you're looking for competitive options with better pricing and reliability, Konverge Technologies NA is here to help. We understand the challenges you're facing and are committed to standing by our customers during these difficult times. Book a meeting with us by emailing, hello@konvergetechnologies.com. #virtualization #datacentersolutions #Konverge #datacenter

Broadcom Throws VMware Customers On Perpetual Licenses a Lifeline: An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: In a Monday post, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan restated his belief that VMware's portfolio was too complex, and too poorly integrated, for the virtualization giant to represent true competition for hyperscale clouds. Broadcom's injection of R&D cash, he insisted, will see VMware's flagship Cloud Foundation suite evolve to become more powerful and easy to operate. He also admitted that customers aren't enjoying the ride. "As we roll out this strategy, we continue to learn from our customers on how best to prepare them for success by ensuring they always have the transition time and support they need," he wrote. "In particular, the subscription pricing model does involve a change in the timing of customers' expenditures and the balance of those expenditures between capital and operating spending." Customers also told Tan that "fast-moving change may require more time, so we have given support extensions to many customers who came up for renewal while these changes were rolling out." That's one of the changes -- Broadcom has previously not publicly suggested such extensions would be possible. "We have always been and remain ready to work with our customers on their specific concerns," Tan wrote. The other change is providing some ongoing security patches for VMware customers who persist with their perpetual licenses instead of shifting to Broadcom's subs. "We are announcing free access to zero-day security patches for supported versions of vSphere, and we'll add other VMware products over time," Tan wrote, describing the measure as aimed at ensuring that customers "whose maintenance and support contracts have expired and choose to not continue on one of our subscription offerings." The change means such customers "are able to use perpetual licenses in a safe and secure fashion." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

📰ROUNDUP 7/7/24: Gartner highlighting a potential resurgence of bare metal infrastructure, a cloud migration guide from Lansweeper, and a #Microsoft Licensing update for July from LicenseQ - Microsoft Licensing Optimization Experts. #itassetmanagement #softwareassetmanagement #finops #technews https://lnkd.in/e7bZDAjf

You're nervous about what your VMware costs will look like going forward, but you don't have an obvious alternative right now. What do you do? Evaluate. Carefully. Compare all your options: staying with VMware, moving to the cloud, containerizing, using a VMware competitor - or any combination. Prioritize the following: 🖥️ Ensure Compatibility As infrastructures continue to decentralize, vendor and platform flexibility are paramount in your search for alternate VMware options. And, of course, make sure that whatever you choose is compatible with your existing hardware, OS, and security needs. 🔎 Maintain Monitoring Capabilities Most organizations have traditionally monitored their virtual environments with VMware’s own monitoring tool, vRealize Operations Manager (vROPs). But vROps won’t necessarily work as well (if at all) in all other virtualized or containerized environments. When choosing a VMware alternative, make sure you have a plan to maintain unified observability across your infrastructure. 🚀 Prioritize Performance What kind of performance requirements does your environment have now? What ability to scale will you need, and what might your performance needs be in the future? Make sure your new direction makes it easy to grow and improve performance in the long run. 🎓 Mind the Skills Gap Remember that new platforms require new skill sets – something your team will need time to develop. Evaluate the learning curve, overall ease-of-use, necessary specializations, and availability of management tools when looking at new options. 💵 Forecast Your Costs Perhaps the most important decision-making factor is whether or not a given VMware alternative will reduce your long-term costs. After all, cost is probably the reason you’re looking for another option. Account for license costs, support needs, hardware upgrades, and staffing / training requirements. Bonus step: Reach out to me for a free trial of Visual One Intelligence™ - you'll get cost and performance insights in the trial alone that will really move the needle to help you evaluate you future virtualization strategy.