{
  "id": 12440490,
  "title": "Licensing Costs Driving 90% of VMware Users To Explore Options, Survey Finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/licensing-costs-driving-90-of-vmware-users-to-explore-options-survey",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-06T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://slashdot.org/story/26/10/06/1649245/licensing-costs-driving-90-of-vmware-users-to-explore-options-survey-finds"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An anonymous reader reports that a survey conducted by Rimini Street reveals that 90% of VMware users are considering alternatives due to licensing costs. The survey polled 300 organizations globally that currently utilize VMware. Rimini, a provider of third-party support for VMware and other software, conducted the study in collaboration with Unisphere Research. While Rimini has a vested interest in promoting alternatives to VMware, the survey results corroborate recent reports on the challenges faced by VMware customers.\n\nAccording to the survey, 54% of respondents cited Broadcom's cessation of support for perpetual license holders as a significant factor driving their search for alternatives. The price of VMware licenses has surged by up to 1,000% following Broadcom's acquisition of the company. Many others report more modest increases of 100-300%.\n\nCost efficiency ranked as the top priority for 73% of survey participants when making decisions about their virtualization strategy. The primary challenges cited by organizations exploring alternative options include operational complexity (40%), multi-vendor management difficulties (38%), addressing the heightened attack surface (37%), and the need for enhanced team skills (37%).\n\nDespite the push for change, organizations are cautious about disrupting existing operations. Rimini's survey found that 60% of respondents are considering a multi-hypervisor approach, reflecting the growing appeal of flexible, hybrid environments that balance operational and financial objectives. Furthermore, 47% favor a hybrid IT virtualization setup combining hypervisors and containers for optimal workload placement. Notably, 48% of respondents do not plan to migrate any assets to VMware's hybrid cloud platform, Cloud Foundation.",
  "summary": "An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: VMware customers face multiple obstacles as they rethink their virtualization strategy to reduce dependence on VMware. Today, Rimini Street published its \"2026 IT Virtualization Survey -- What's Next for VMware Users.\" The survey examined 300 organizations worldwide that use VMware. Notably, Rimini sells third-party support for VMware and…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "ITWeb",
        "title": "New Global Survey Finds Majority of VMware Users Are Choosing Alternative Paths for Cost Control, Roadmap Flexibility and Better Support",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/new-global-survey-finds-majority-of-vmware-users-are-choosing",
        "published": "2026-10-06T13:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}