VMware Continues Shift to Subscription Model with vSphere+ and vSAN+
Find out what the opex versions of the company’s virtualization platform mean for channel partners and end users.
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With vSphere+ and vSAN+, VMware is bringing Project Arctic — announced last year at VMworld — to life. Recall that the company described Project Arctic as the “next step” for vSphere in a multicloud world.
“Hundreds of thousands of customers run vSphere and many still have large on-premises deployments that continue to deliver value,” Krish Prasad, SVP and GM, Cloud Platform Business, VMware, wrote in an October 2021 blog. “What if they could continue leveraging their existing investments as well as toolsets and domain expertise, but still benefit from the expanded cloud capabilities with VMware Cloud for a complete hybrid cloud experience?”
Project Arctic aims to achieve that by natively integrating cloud connectivity into vSphere. This also makes hybrid cloud the “default” operating model, VMware said.
The work coming out of Project Arctic work targets IT teams — channel partners’ customers, in most cases.
As a result of its developments on Project Arctic, VMware on June 28 unveiled vSphere+ and vSAN+.
In essence, these platforms bring the benefits of cloud to on-premises infrastructure, on an opex basis. (We’ll dig into this shift a couple slides in — stick around.)
Specific cloud-centric features include the following:
• Centralized management through the VMware Cloud Console for global inventory, configuration, alerts, administration and security status.
• Access to new services.
• Options for subscription purchasing.
Deploying vSphere+ and vSAN+ will not require changes to users’ existing hardware or software, VMware said.
Learn more about the new capabilities on the next slide.
Again, VMware customers adopting vSphere+ and vSAN+ will keep using their existing platforms. That includes tool sets and domain expertise.
However, they will be able to add cloud services that integrate directly into the VMware Cloud Console and VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery (an on-demand offering. And here, VMware made a bold statement during its media briefing: that relying on VMware’s as-a-service disaster recovery reduces total cost of ownership by up to 60% because users are not maintaining a second data center. Whether partners’ customers experience that outcome, or a similarly significant one, remains an unknown.)
VMware has not yet said what the add-on services for vSphere+ and vSAN+ will constitute. Those remain “under development,” the company said. VMware did say those add-ons will provide “a streamlined path to the cloud,” should customers want to go all-in on cloud later.
Want to know about pricing and procurement for vSphere+ and vSAN+? Go to the next slide.
Organizations need to know how much they will have to shell out for the platforms they use.
Nonetheless, business leaders who might be interested in adopting the “plus” versions of vSphere and vSAN will have to wait. VMware representatives deflected questions about pricing for both new products. Information on cost will come to light after the platforms launch.
On the flip side, VMware did offer some details on buying vSphere+ and vSAN+. That should interest channel partners and their customers’ procurement experts. Notably, vSphere+ and vSAN+ will feature a single SKU. That SKU will come with all necessary components — including VMware vCenter instances, VMware ESXi hosts, Tanzu Standard Runtime and Tanzu Mission Control Essentials) — and support.
Look for vSphere+ and vSAN+ availability as of July 29.
Next up, more on the shift to an opex structure.
Making vSphere and vSAN available through an opex model (hence the “plus” nomenclature) achieves two important aims.
First, the shift gets VMware — a very much not born-in-the-cloud company — another step closer to modernizing how it goes to market. In this case, that means selling more of its solutions in ways that generate revenue on a regular cadence.
“Long-term, everybody knows — and we have clearly communicated — that we are transitioning our business model to SaaS and subscription,” a VMware spokesperson told Channel Futures.
Go to the next slide to understand the second reason.
Here’s the second piece of rationale for ramping up vSphere and vSAN with “plus” functionality: VMware intends for vSphere+ and vSAN+ to meet organizations’ increasing demands for hybrid and multicloud capabilities, said Mark Lohmeyer, senior vice president and general manager within VMware’s Cloud Infrastructure Business Group.
“Customers want the flexibility to build and run very diverse application portfolios in the optimal environment for each application,” Lohmeyer told journalists during the recent media briefing.
To that point, more organizations are placing their clouds closer to the edge, to reduce latency and shore up security. vSphere+ and vSAN+ are intended to support those goals, Lohmeyer noted.
Multicloud, as cloud channel partners know, is fast becoming the configuration of choice for organizations. That’s largely because multicloud can comprise a mix of public and private environments (or it can be a range of public or private cloud brands). Either way, organizations running on different clouds need more support and expertise because of heightened complexity.
So what does all this mean for partners and customers? Click to the next slide.
Right now, VMware vSphere and vSAN users are not required to convert to the “plus” platforms (which will only be delivered through subscription — no more perpetual licensing).
However, expect some limited functionality as a result.
For instance, unless users select vSphere+, they will not be able to use Cloud Console to manage their on-premises infrastructure. They still can rely on vCenter. Cloud Console does not replace vCenter or Tanzu Mission Control.
Regardless, at some point, VMware will end its perpetual licensing approach, as many of its peers are doing. The company declined to provide details about when that might happen.
Click to the next slide for more insight into what partners need to know about these changes.
Partners who still want to sell perpetual licenses may keep doing that (at least for now).
“But if they have customers who want to go all in on cloud and even look for ways to bring cloud benefits and cloud operating in financial models to their on-premises environments, they now have an option with vSphere+,” a VMware spokesperson told Channel Futures.
“Cloudifying” vSphere also allows VMware “to unlock a whole set of new capabilities for customers,” the spokesperson added. Those capabilities remain vague — they’re the ones VMware plans to introduce after vSphere+ and vSAN+ go live.
Overall, “channel will continue to play a key role” in VMware’s business strategy, said Weiguo He, senior director of cloud platform product marketing in the Cloud Infrastructure Business Group.
And, he said, partners can even think about adding their own services alongside vSphere+. That would create another revenue stream for their businesses — something many channel partners are keen to do.
VMware says now is the time for platforms such as vSphere+ and vSAN+.
Across the world, organizations’ infrastructure operations teams face pressure to improve efficiency and productivity. At the same time, they have to fill security gaps while improving controls. They also must streamline maintenance and get to market faster — all while struggling with the ongoing IT talent shortage.
Even though public cloud delivers solutions to several of these problems, more organizations “are repatriating clouds as they realize they’re better on-premises,” said Weiguo He.
They need the advantages of on-premises/private infrastructure, including data privacy and security protections, sovereignty, performance reliability, low latency and predictable costs. Even so, business leaders want flexible consumption, minimal maintenance, built-in resilience, developer agility, and manage-from-anywhere support. In short, they want “cloud-like benefits,” He said.
That’s what vSphere+ and vSAN+ were designed to provide, VMware says.
VMware says now is the time for platforms such as vSphere+ and vSAN+.
Across the world, organizations’ infrastructure operations teams face pressure to improve efficiency and productivity. At the same time, they have to fill security gaps while improving controls. They also must streamline maintenance and get to market faster — all while struggling with the ongoing IT talent shortage.
Even though public cloud delivers solutions to several of these problems, more organizations “are repatriating clouds as they realize they’re better on-premises,” said Weiguo He.
They need the advantages of on-premises/private infrastructure, including data privacy and security protections, sovereignty, performance reliability, low latency and predictable costs. Even so, business leaders want flexible consumption, minimal maintenance, built-in resilience, developer agility, and manage-from-anywhere support. In short, they want “cloud-like benefits,” He said.
That’s what vSphere+ and vSAN+ were designed to provide, VMware says.
VMware has taken another step in its efforts to move its business model from legacy perpetual licensing to recurring subscriptions. The latter, of course, bring in more consistent revenue. To that end, VMware on Tuesday unveiled vSphere+ and vSAN+.
The original vSphere serves as VMware’s computing platform, while vSAN offers storage.
Now, though, the next iterations – vSphere+ and vSAN+ – provide the opex versions of those solutions. They are part of Project Arctic, announced at last year’s VMworld event.
As such, vSphere+ and vSAN+ “represent the next major evolution of those foundational solutions that customers know and trust,” said Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager of VMware’s Cloud Infrastructure Business Group. “Wherever customers are on their digital transformation journey and in executing their multicloud strategy, vSphere+ and vSAN+ will help accelerate their transformation — enabling them to build, run and operate their workloads on-premises while benefiting from new cloud consumption models that positively impact their current operations.”
Note that during VMware’s media briefing announcing the products, company representatives stood firm on their stance not to answer questions about the pending, $61 billion Broadcom acquisition. Read the latest on that deal here. (Incidentally, VMware also has a new interim channel head, now that Sandy Hogan has resigned.)
Meantime, see our slideshow above to learn more about vSphere+ and vSAN+; plus, what the products mean for channel partners and their customers.
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