In a world of Wall- Street-driven fixation with shareholder returns, it's pleasant to stumble upon a smidgen of corporate social responsibility. Namely that SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) has been verified as a Digital Public Good . SUSE claims to be the first and only commercial Linux product to receive this recognition from the Digital Public Goods Alliance Virtified's take: bravo SUSE. Let's hope this catches on. Read the full announcement here . View the gritty details here .

Pragmatism or self-induced legacy? I was listening to DevOps and Docker Talk 's early October episode titled Move K8s Stateful Pods Between Nodes ^ and it reminded me of some pet peeves. None of them are better exemplified than: "95% of the customers I deal with don't do Kubernetes the right way" - Phil Andrews ( cast.ai ) To me, putting stateful workloads in containers is madness. It’s another example of a recurring pattern I’ve seen throughout my career: the tendency of enterprise IT professionals to reinvent the wheel. Their inner engineer can't resist. Containers are best suited to ephemeral, immutable, stateless workloads. This was elegantly summarised by my former colleague Tony Iams : P rogrammable R esilient I mmutable M odular E lastic D eclarative The podcast covers many of the challenges of stateful containers, including. Networking and connection state management : maintaining TCP/IP connections, session state, and preserving the pod’s IP address during migration is a major technical hurdle. Kubernetes deployments often use different CNIs (e.g., Calico, Cilium, AWS VPC). Reestablishing/replaying traffic flows (especially for long-running jobs and web sockets) demands precise ordering and coordination.​ Storage and data replication : replicating memory and disk state isn't easy (and was a big part of the magic of VM live migration. Migrating persistent volumes involves API-driven detach/reattach steps that add lag/delay. Local ephemeral storage or NVMe disks may require lengthy background replication. Managing database logs, mirroring, and file access safely during migration remains a difficult engineering problem — one that was solved by modern hypervisors 20 years ago.​ Workload complexity and statefulness : many clusters are a mix of poorly architected or fragile workloads, making bin packing and node reduction challenging without risk of interruption.​ Stateful containers are often more like pets than cattle Resource/time constraints : AI/ML/tuning jobs often have large memory/state requirements. There are physical limits to the speed of data transfer or replication. Migrating jobs with hundreds of GBs or terabytes of working data within short time frames can be a major challenge.​ Limits of Kubernetes orchestration : coordination between pod names, API calls, containerd states, and Kubernetes control plane is required so the pod is instantiated in a paused state, assigned the right resources, and then switched over to active. Order of cutover events (pod name uniqueness, IP address transfer, routing table updates, etc.) must be handled precisely—any discrepancy may cause failures.​ Most of these problems were already solved by other technologies. Use the right tool for the job--even if it's not shiny and new. Stateful is ideally scale-up and either physical or virtual. Modern apps are typically scale-out and better suited to containers, serverless (and/or AI). Whether you agree or not, the podcast provides plenty of food for thought...and I fully acknowledge that theory and practicality rarely intersect. For those facing these challenges, it might be a good idea to take a look at what cast.ai has developed. Footnote: I use Podcast Addict , which is free, so I reckon they deserve a free plug in return. Use of their free tool, and the content of the podcast, are the full sum of my compensation for publishing this article. I have no financial relationship with any of the parties involved,

As I prepare for a presentation later this week, it's a good time to put digital pen to digital paper and write down Warrilow's Laws. What are they? They are the key learnings from 30+ years in IT. And here's the first: If you don't know where you're going... ...then all roads will take you there. This one is both obvious and impactful (in fact, they all are). What I didn't consciously realise was the origin; in Chapter 6 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll wrote the following masterful piece of dialogue: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where—” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.” And this is exactly what many technology projects and initiatives become: a stronger desire to do something — anything — than to take the time to build a strategy (ie a plan of action). One variant of this is the following, which I learnt during leadership training in my first full-time job: Don't just do something, stand there. This embodies the same concept and is clearly a reversal of the classic " don't just stand there, do something ". But it doesn't start (to stop) there. In Moral Letters to Lucilius, Seneca the Younger wrote: "If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable." What does all this prove? Like many things in IT, it's not the technology. Postscript: You'll see me reference this Law as it applies to contemporary examples of Alice's ongoing adventures in a world of wonder.

[Editor's note: I remember Dale Vile and Freeform Dynamics!] By Lindsay Clark A survey of 455 CIOs, senior-level IT roles, SAP specialists, and business managers found that SAP's push to change the way customers pay for software was also unsettling them. Eighty-three percent of respondents in the Freeform Dynamics research said they did not fully understand SAP's latest migration policies and deadlines, while 84 percent expressed concern about current messaging and how it would impact their operations. Read the full article here .

[Note from editor: This post is shared as part of Virtified's mission to keep vendors accountable. The content is not endorsed by Virtified in any manner]. If you dig deep into this Broadcom blog post , which seems almost entirely generated by a non-human, you'll eventually find this little chestnut: "To ensure our customers have consistent user experience, the fastest access to our latest innovations, and maximum flexibility to move VCF environments anywhere they choose, Broadcom is transforming its hyperscaler go to market to a license portability-only operating model beginning in the new fiscal year." Virtified's take: This is yet another example of Broadcom shutting down ways to use VMware without purchasing a fixed-term license. Moreover, it is yet another example that demonstrates Broadcom's disregard for VMware's pre-acquisition partner ecosystem. Rest assured that Virtified will be developing and publishing an official position on the customer impact of this concerning trend. Meanwhile, we will seek and publish responses from affected parties. Full URL: https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/29/vmware-cloud-foundation-cloud-on-your-terms/

Enables tens of applications per quarter to be modernised. By Ry Crozier The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has built a multi-agent workflow that covers every step required to prepare an application for migration to the cloud, enabling the bank to move “20-to-30” applications a quarter. Read the whole article here . [Editor's note] I was fortunate enough to attend the same session. Fingers crossed I'll be able to get permission to write a public case study. What they have done has changed my perspective on what's possible when it comes to modernisation.

The Importance of Sustainable Energy Solutions The challenges of powering the planet's ever-increasing fleet of data centres are significant. Virtified has followed these developments for years. Recently, Equinix made headlines with its commitment to nuclear energy. This isn't the first announcement of its kind; for instance, Microsoft has also taken steps in this direction. However, Equinix's actions are noteworthy. The company has a long and demonstrated track record of taking environmental sustainability seriously. Nuclear energy is a hot topic, especially considering its prominence in the 2025 federal election in Virtified's home country. Virtified considers Equinix's move into nuclear as a (seemingly) necessary sign of things to come. Equinix's Partnerships and Innovations Equinix's strategy involves collaborating with several innovative companies to harness the power of nuclear energy. Here are some key partnerships: Oklo: Pioneering Small Modular Reactors In 2024, Equinix became the first data center operator to sign an agreement with a small modular reactor (SMR) company. This agreement allows Equinix to procure 500MW of energy from Oklo’s next-generation fission Aurora powerhouses. Oklo's fast reactors come with inherent safety features and can be fueled by nuclear waste. This innovative approach not only addresses energy needs but also contributes to waste management. Radiant: Microreactor Technology Equinix has also announced a preorder agreement for 20 of Radiant’s Kaleidos microreactors. These microreactors provide a reliable, long-lasting energy source. They can be transported anywhere, installed in days, and deployed safely alongside existing equipment. This flexibility is crucial for meeting the energy demands of modern data centers. ULC-Energy and Rolls-Royce SMR Equinix signed a Letter of Intent with ULC-Energy for a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of up to 250 MWe to power data centers in the Netherlands. ULC-Energy, based in Amsterdam, has selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred technology solution. Rolls-Royce SMR is developing a 470 MWe light water small modular reactor. This partnership is a significant step towards sustainable energy solutions in Europe. Stellaria: The Future of Molten Salt Reactors Equinix has also secured a pre-order power agreement for 500 MWe to expand data centers across Europe. Stellaria, incubated by Schneider Electric and the CEA (French Atomic Energy Agency), is developing the world's first molten salt Breed & Burn reactor. This reactor will breed 100% of its liquid fissile fuel inside the reactor without the need for refueling. It also recycles spent fuels and burns long-life waste, making it an environmentally friendly option. Advanced Fuel Cells: A Complementary Technology In addition to nuclear energy, Equinix has been exploring advanced fuel cells for scalable, efficient, and cleaner onsite energy. The company has been using fuel cells for over ten years in collaboration with various partners. Bloom Energy: Expanding Fuel Cell Deployment Equinix has an agreement to expand its deployment of solid-oxide fuel cells to over 100MW across 19 data centers in six states. This onsite power generation is highly efficient and enables Equinix to avoid 285,000 MTCO2e emissions and 382 billion gallons of embedded water use. This commitment to reducing carbon emissions aligns with global sustainability goals. The Future of Energy in Data Centers Equinix's move into nuclear energy and its partnerships with innovative companies demonstrate a commitment to sustainable energy solutions. As the demand for data centers continues to grow, finding reliable and environmentally friendly energy sources is crucial. Embracing Innovation for a Sustainable Future The integration of nuclear energy and advanced fuel cells represents a significant shift in how data centers can operate. These technologies not only provide reliable energy but also contribute to reducing the environmental impact of data centers. Equinix's proactive approach sets a precedent for the industry. By embracing innovative energy solutions, the company is paving the way for a more sustainable future. Conclusion Equinix's commitment to nuclear energy and advanced fuel cells showcases its dedication to sustainability. As the world moves towards cleaner energy solutions, Equinix is leading the charge. The company's partnerships with Oklo, Radiant, ULC-Energy, and Stellaria highlight the importance of collaboration in achieving these goals. The future of energy in data centers is bright, and Equinix is at the forefront of this transformation. The shift towards sustainable energy is not just a trend; it's a necessity for the planet's future. For more insights, check out the related blog here . ---

By Simon Sharwood Supermarket giant Tesco sues VMware, warns lack of support could disrupt food supply. Goes after Computacenter too, seeks £100 million damages See the full article here .

[Editor: By August 28 Virtified realised its original post was a bit lazy, posting too much marketing guff. It distilled the original post into the following]. SUSE Virtualization 1.5 is now generally available and adds support for managing virtual machines (VMs) on Arm64-based Kubernetes clusters. The key changes are: Production Support:  VM management on Arm64 Kubernetes is now production-ready. Interface Update:  The management user interface has been redesigned. Security:  Platform security features have been updated. For more detailed guidance, you can read more here .

By Simon Sharwood VMware will port elements of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to Nvidia's power-guzzling servers. Plans call for phased development to bring all VCF features to Arm over a series of releases. See the full article here .

Editor's note: this article added for posterity, in particular this statement: " To ensure that customers whose maintenance and support contracts have expired and choose to not continue on one of our subscription offerings are able to use perpetual licenses in a safe and secure fashion, we are announcing free access to zero-day security patches for supported versions of vSphere, and we’ll add other VMware products over time. " Source: https://www.broadcom.com/blog/a-changing-market-landscape-requires-constant-evolution-our-mission-for-vmware-customers Our goal since the Broadcom/VMware acquisition was completed last November has been to help our customers move fast in their digital transformation to position themselves for success. Even before the transaction was finalized, we had been listening to VMware's customers. As we moved from transaction to integration, we began to translate customer thoughts into a comprehensive go-to-market strategy for VMware Cloud Foundation, or VCF. Early in this process, I concluded that the previous go-to-market model was too complex and costly for VMware and its customers. It demonstrated that all too often, as innovative companies expand, decisions are made incrementally, not holistically as part of a larger, comprehensive strategy. Last month, I reflected on the first 100 days since we completed the acquisition, and I shared what I was hearing from customers. They want a simpler product and constant innovation with an eye toward security and resilience. There have been many questions about how we're putting this feedback into action. Today, I want to clarify what we’re offering VMware customers and address those questions head on. First, we remain steadfast in our decision to focus our resources on R&D, and continuing to develop a true, seamless private cloud experience for customers through VCF – one that is competitive with the public cloud. We are backing it up with billions of dollars in new investment to ensure its success. And, we have dramatically reduced the price of VCF to promote customer adoption. This refreshed strategy to increase competition with the public cloud and promote customer adoption will result in changes for our customers and partners, and we have moved to implement them. These changes were designed to lead to an integrated VCF solution that will bring broader long-term benefits to our valued customers both in their own data centers and in the cloud with increased portability to move workloads among on-premise data centers and supported cloud providers. Those benefits will accrue, whether the customer is a global enterprise seeking to leverage its digital capabilities, or a government looking to utilize VMware innovation to advance regional digital sovereignty. We are at a pivotal point in which infrastructure needs to scale and be resilient. That’s why we announced a simplified portfolio based on two core solutions – VCF and VMware vSphere Foundation, or VVF. VCF includes all compute, storage, networking, management, and support capabilities that deliver consistent infrastructure and operations across clouds, and comes at half the list price compared to past pricing. VVF is the alternative with enhanced compute, operational and management capabilities for customers who are not yet ready to take the plunge into a full-stack solution but need to manage across VMs and containers. We know our customers have a lot of options, so we continue to innovate and adapt to be ever more relevant for them. Second, we're making changes to deliver consistent customer experiences. One of the hot topics across customer and partner communities has been the changes to how we engage with cloud service providers. Broadcom will continue to create value within the VMware partner ecosystem, because partners are critical to our customers' success and our own success. That said, Broadcom is updating and incorporating the VMware partner ecosystem into the Broadcom partner programs, which requires some adjustments. The core principle for our new engagement with cloud providers is that end customers should have complete freedom to move their workloads from their own data centers to cloud providers, and between cloud providers. We are accomplishing this new engagement in two main ways: Standardizing the metric for our pricing across cloud providers to per-core licensing – the same metric used in our end-customer licensing – and providing license portability for VCF. This ensures customers will not face any licensing mismatch as they move between providers, and will avoid switching and additional licensing costs. This licensing metric is also consistent across our entire ecosystem, which will enable customers to compare proposals from partners, and increase choice and competition. Standardizing the technology stack for cloud providers on VCF. This ensures customers will enjoy the same technology and support experience across any VMware-supported cloud provider, and will remove technical barriers to customers moving from on-prem to cloud, switching their workloads from one cloud provider to another, or back to on-premise data centers, if their needs change. This freedom for customers to move workloads will intensify competition between cloud providers, leading them to deliver greater value to end customers. The license portability feature we have added to VCF is key to this strategy. Google Cloud is the first hyperscaler to support VCF license portability and we expect other partner and hyperscaler clouds to follow with similar support. We strongly believe this strategy will benefit our end customers. Given the need to set up the on-boarding process to accommodate our smallest cloud provider partners, and to help with the transition and ensure there is continuity of service for this partner group, we will expand the Broadcom Advantage Partner Premier Tier to accommodate any qualified, existing service provider and offer programmatic initial-year discounts for their existing installed base. In addition, smaller service provider partners who do not yet meet the Premier Tier criteria can take advantage of the ‘white label’ offers from Pinnacle and Premier Tier Service Providers. To ensure there is continuity of service for this smaller partner group, we will continue existing operations with this group under modified monthly billing arrangements until the white-label offers are available. Third, VMware will complete its transition plan to a subscription model that provides access to the most recent version plus support for a fixed term. VMware began this transition since at least 2018, and was one of the last software companies to adopt this model. Subscription licensing is the model all major enterprise software providers deploy today and ensures that customers have the latest and greatest in VCF while providing the kind of predictability needed to fuel continuous innovation for our customers. The subscription model ends “upsell” practices that were common in the software industry before the subscription transition, such as branding incremental features as new higher editions of the same product or new add-on products. These practices do not represent true innovation in core products, and cause customer confusion and frustration about missing out on new features. Subscription licensing eliminates these incentives. It is important to emphasize that nothing about the transition to subscription pricing affects our customers’ ability to use their existing perpetual licenses. Customers have the right to continue to use older vSphere versions they have previously licensed, and they can continue to receive maintenance and support by signing up for one of our subscription offerings. To ensure that customers whose maintenance and support contracts have expired and choose to not continue on one of our subscription offerings are able to use perpetual licenses in a safe and secure fashion, we are announcing free access to zero-day security patches for supported versions of vSphere, and we’ll add other VMware products over time. 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. 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. We heard 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. We have always been and remain ready to work with our customers on their specific concerns. The evolution of VCF’s go-to-market strategy demonstrates that we're listening to and helping our customers by continually making our products better for them, and represents our ongoing, active engagement with our customers and partners to deliver an integrated, simplified solution. We will continue to move fast, innovate, and evolve our go-to-market strategy for the long-term benefit of our customers. To learn more about our VCF go-to-market strategy read more here .

Editor's note: this article was added for posterity, in particular these statements: The transition to the subscription model does not impact customers’ perpetual license rights. In addition, Broadcom announced that access to all patches for Critical Severity Security Alerts, as defined by VMware Security Response Center (see website here for details), will be available to all customers including those that no longer have active maintenance and support contracts. Supported versions of VMware vSphere are versions 7.x and 8.x. The whole article is available here Since Broadcom acquired VMware, we’ve aimed to help customers better position themselves for success in their digital transformation. In a recent blog post , Broadcom’s President and CEO, Hock Tan, detailed our efforts to do just that by evolving our go-to-market (GTM) strategy for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). We recognize there are questions about this GTM evolution. To supplement Hock Tan’s recent blog post, we’ve compiled responses to the frequently asked questions on our GTM strategy in an effort to help customers continue making informed decisions about our strategy and our products. We’re listening to our customers and will continue to innovate our products for their long-term benefit. Why is Broadcom moving to a subscription model? The subscription model has been the enterprise software industry standard for quite some time. “The trend for software companies to adopt the subscription business model continues to grow quickly at an 18.2% 2022-2027 CAGR and is forecast to represent 92.2% of total software revenue by 2027,” said Mark Thomason, research director for Digital Business Models and Monetization with IDC * . VMware has been transitioning to this model since 2018 and will be one of the last major software vendors to do it. A subscription model is good for customers, in part because it ends costly and complex “upsell” practices that were common under perpetual licensing models. The perpetual model is costly and complex. In particular, this model incentivized software companies to develop new features in the form of new products that customers had to pay new licensing fees for because they were not covered by prior perpetual licenses and were instead sold as separate add-ons or part of upgrade license tiers. This created uncertainty and more operational complexity for the customer and further increased overall costs for their systems. In conversations with our customers, there has been one common request: a simpler product combined with constant innovation. Our customers urged us to end the costly complexity that built up through the perpetual license model, and for good reason. When Broadcom acquired VMware, there were more than 8,000 different product SKUs created by separate, siloed engineering teams. And, as each team in VMware edited code, it needed to test that code against thousands of possible combinations of different products. The subscription model brings simplicity and innovation for customers. Subscription involves a single monthly or annual operating expenditure for the similar rights and services as existed under multiple perpetual licenses, but with the added assurance that the core product will be continuously upgraded with new features and functionality necessary to make use of evolving computing infrastructure – without additional costs. The periodic nature of subscription payments eliminates the incentive for a software company to proliferate complex add-ons to obtain additional customer payments. Rather, the software company is driven to innovate and improve the product to maintain the customer’s subscription. Customers face less lock-in under the subscription model because they no longer have to make large upfront license payments that would be lost if they switched to competitors. Software companies are willing to face this increased threat of switching because of the lower operating complexity from having fewer SKUs, a lower testing burden, and a simpler engineering organization focused on product innovation. We understand that for customers with significant installed bases of perpetual licenses, this model change will shift the structure and timing of payments. On an amortized basis, customers’ total expenditures are comparable under either model. We heard 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. We have always been and remain ready to work with our customers on their specific concerns. The transition to the subscription model does not impact customers’ perpetual license rights. In addition, Broadcom announced that access to all patches for Critical Severity Security Alerts, as defined by VMware Security Response Center ( see website here for details ), will be available to all customers including those that no longer have active maintenance and support contracts. Supported versions of VMware vSphere are versions 7.x and 8.x. What solutions are being offered and why? Broadcom is offering two simplified solutions that bring scale and resiliency , which is critical for large commercial and governmental organizations. • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is our full stack, subscription-based private cloud platform. It includes compute, storage, networking, management and support, and automation capabilities – and it comes at half the cost compared to past list pricing. • VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) is an alternative for customers that are not yet ready for a full-stack solution. It integrates compute with features for automation and administration needed for medium-sized deployments. vSphere Standard, which may be appropriate for very small deployments, will remain available too. Broadcom also has introduced improved VCF license portability , which will allow customers to deploy the product on-prem and then take the subscription to a supported hyperscaler or VMware CSP – and, crucially, back again to their own data centers – at any time. Customers will retain their license subscriptions as they move their workloads. Can you detail the subscription pricing for VCF? Broadcom has dramatically cut prices for VCF . Broadcom has cut prices relative to VMware’s list prices for subscriptions with a similar combination of functionality, reflecting the benefits of a more integrated solution. Broadcom expects the VCF integrated solution to significantly lower the total costs of ownership (TCO) for customers, with savings on infrastructure, facilities, and labor productivity compared to that of native public cloud. How will VCF impact the overall cloud market? VCF will bring more choice and more competition to the cloud . Broadcom has met with hundreds of customers and learned that many currently don’t have the capabilities to host their own workloads on-prem, locking them to a specific cloud platform. It’s almost impossible for enterprises to decouple their products from cloud platforms without significant expense. Switching between cloud platforms entails significant costs for customers – something that has attracted the attention of regulators worldwide. Many customers also realize that monthly fees for these services have risen considerably, especially with large scale usage. Standardizing and simplifying the VCF technology stack brings benefits to both cloud service providers (CSPs) and end-users by ensuring customers enjoy the same technology experience across any VMware-supported cloud provider. It also provides consistent support and the advantage of choice among different cloud environments, whether that’s on-prem, public cloud, or hybrid cloud. Lastly, enhancing the customer experience will drive the adoption of VMware-based cloud solutions and benefit both cloud service providers and their users. This is great news for global commercial enterprises leveraging digital capabilities or governments advancing national or regional digital sovereignty. VCF offers a portfolio that is secure and resilient and removes technical and cost barriers that discourage customers from hosting their workloads on-prem or switching their workloads. This freedom for customers to move workloads will intensify competition between CSPs. For Europe-based CSPs or commercial and government end-user organizations seeking to achieve data sovereignty, VCF provides the capabilities to build individualized private clouds or switch among different cloud environments. How will CSPs transition to a simplified solution? Broadcom is creating an onboarding process that accommodates CSPs and ensures there is continuity of service for this partner group. Specifically, we will expand the Broadcom Partner Advantage Premier Tier to serve any qualified, existing service provider and offer programmatic initial-year discounts for existing installed bases. In addition, our smallest service provider partners that do not yet meet the Premier Tier criteria can take advantage of “white label” offers from Pinnacle and Premier Tier Service Providers. To ensure there is continuity of service for this smaller partner group, we will continue existing operations with this group under modified monthly billing arrangements until the white-label offers are available. What do these changes mean for the Partner Ecosystem? Broadcom is committed to continuing to create value within the VMware partner ecosystem . We have said many times that partners are critical to our customers’ success and our own success. Through conversations with hundreds of our global partners, we heard a consistent message: solve channel conflict, incentivize long-term product adoption, and simplify the process. To that end, we are incorporating the VMware partner ecosystems into the award-winning Broadcom partner programs – starting with the thousands of VMware partners welcomed in the first quarter this year. By focusing our investment on the integrated Broadcom Advantage Partner program, we can evolve our platform and help our partners achieve even greater opportunities for profitability. The Broadcom Advantage Partner Program provides a proven, simple, scalable framework for all partner routes to market . It also uses a modular approach to accommodate the unique needs of specific partner ecosystems. There is no universal threshold for resell partners to join the program, and there is no fee for any partner to join. All active VMware resellers with an active customer contract within the past 36 months have been invited into Broadcom Advantage at a tier that is equivalent to their VMware Partner Connect program tier. Partners will play an essential role in transitioning our customer base to the subscription model and helping them transform their business with our private cloud infrastructure. Our focus on simplification and standardization will bring improved market opportunities and profitability for partners. Our move to an integrated solution will help us innovate faster and meet customer needs more effectively. As not all customers are ready for VCF, our thousands of reseller partners will drive adoption of VVF. Resellers will also continue to offer vSphere Standard, which may be appropriate for small deployments. This should help reduce that channel conflict that partners have identified as an ongoing challenge. Will these changes impact industry competition? Competition is fierce and VCF will fuel more choice for customers. VMware’s direct competitors are evolving and marketing their services aggressively, and many of VMware’s historical customers are moving workloads to public cloud offerings. It is necessary for VMware to innovate faster to offer customers more value. Our VCF GTM strategy is all about simplifying and standardizing the technology stack to improve customer experience, choice, and value. All of these moves have been made with the goals of innovating faster, meeting our customers’ needs more effectively, and making it easier to do business with us. We also expect these changes to provide greater profitability and improved market opportunities for our partners. Beyond these commitments, we’ve dedicated ourselves to investing billions of dollars toward innovation and additional professional services. Read more about how we are Opening More Opportunities for VMware Cloud Service Providers . * IDC Worldwide Software Business Model (Subscription and License) Forecast, 2023–2027 By:  Mark Thomason (August 2023) (Document number: # US50123823) Topics