Navigating the End of VMware Perpetual Licenses: How PreRack IT Supports Your Transition
Customers still coming off VMware perpetual licenses face significant technical, financial, and operational upheaval due to Broadcom’s aggressive licensing changes—but organizations like PreRack IT now offer a crucial lifeline in the form of expert third-party support. This post explores the trend, addresses the concerns and realities for VMware customers, and details how PreRack IT delivers stability and efficiency for businesses navigating this complex transition.
Leaving Perpetual Behind: The VMware Licensing Upheaval
The shift away from VMware perpetual licenses has sent shockwaves across the IT world. For decades, perpetual licensing was the backbone of data center virtualization—offering predictable, one-time costs and ensuring mission-critical platforms could be managed with calculated, budget-friendly support renewals. Now, that era has abruptly ended. As of late 2023, after Broadcom acquired VMware, perpetual licensing and support renewals are no longer available. All customers are compelled to migrate to subscription models, fundamentally changing cost structures and operational strategies.
The result? A surge of customers left mid-transition, uncertain about next steps, cost exposure, operational security, compliance, and diminishing support as perpetual windows close.
Who’s Still on Perpetual — and Why?
Many organizations didn’t plan for such a rapid, radical shift. VMware’s products—vSphere, vSAN, NSX, Horizon, and others—form the digital foundation for countless data centers. Customers still running perpetual licenses tend to be:
- Enterprise and mid-market companies with large, complex on-premises environments.
- SMBs that invested in perpetual licenses for the long haul, expecting only to pay moderate annual support fees.
- IT leaders and architects wary of recurring subscription costs, bundled product minimums, or unproven third-party alternatives.
These groups now face three basic choices:
- Rapidly migrate to VMware’s new subscription stack—accepting steep cost hikes and forced bundling.
- Migrate to an entirely new virtualization platform, such as Nutanix or Hyper-V—potentially risking operational disruption.
- Explore third-party support to extend use of current VMware environments, preserve IT investments, and avoid rushed upgrades or migrations.
The Risks of Staying “As-Is” Without Support
Those tempted to hold onto perpetual licenses without new support contracts face harsh realities:
- Security Vulnerabilities: Expired support means missing urgent security patches and bug fixes, exposing environments to cyber attacks.
- Compliance Risk: Many industries require supported, up-to-date platforms for audit, data security, or regulatory adherence.
- Operational Downtime: Without vendor or partner support, serious outages or failures can trigger extended downtime and financial loss.
- Audit Exposure: Broadcom’s increased auditing and termination of support agreements make unsupported use riskier than ever.
Third-Party Support: Why It Matters
For thousands of businesses, third-party support is now a critical bridge—ensuring operational resilience, protecting infrastructure investments, and buying crucial time to weigh future moves. Third-party support is not new in IT; it’s a proven model for many platforms, used widely for Dell EMC, NetApp, HPE, IBM, Cisco, and others. Its key value lies in cost, expert maintenance and security recommendations—even for hardware the OEM no longer supports.
Key Benefits of Third-Party VMware Support
- Immediate Cost Savings: Vendors like PreRack IT delivers third-party support services at a cost les than pre-Broadcom acquisition pricing—potentially saving 50-70% annually.
- Flexibility: No forced upgrades. Choose which products you want support for (vSphere, vSAN, NSX, etc.), and only pay for what’s needed.
- Operational Continuity: Extend the life of proven VMware environments past the end of OEM support, avoiding risky and rushed migrations.
- Extended Support for EOL Products: Third-party partners often support even end-of-life VMware versions longer than Broadcom, maintaining your environment on your schedule.
- Freedom from Bundling: Avoid subscription-only bundles or inflated core minimums—support is provided specifically around your needs, not vendor mandates.
PreRack IT: Your Safety Net for VMware Environments
As the perpetual license window shuts, PreRack IT has emerged as a leader in third-party VMware support, tailoring solutions for organizations of all sizes.
How PreRack IT Supports VMware Customers
- Comprehensive Coverage: PreRack IT offers help desk, troubleshooting, and break/fix services for the VMware stack, including vSphere, vSAN, and vCenter—regardless of license status.
- Month-to-Month Options: Not sure about the timing of your migration? PreRack IT’s monthly contracts let you extend support only as long as needed, reducing commitment and providing full flexibility during uncertain transitions.
- Cost-Effective Contracts: A 1-year, 24/7 support option is available at a fraction of Broadcom’s subscription rates, often saving customers thousands per environment.
- Expertise Across Platforms: PreRack IT’s team knows VMware’s hardware and software—supporting diverse deployments, large and small, to reduce downtime and secure operations.
- Protection for Legacy Environments: Extend hardware and software lifecycles, allowing customers to avoid unwanted forced upgrades.
- Vendor-Agnostic Advice: PreRack IT can help assess your full infrastructure—recommending upgrades, alternative platforms, or longer-term architecture plans as needed.
- Multi-Vendor Support: Beyond just VMware, PreRack IT supports major infrastructure vendors like Dell EMC, HPE, Cisco, and IBM, streamlining operations for hybrid or multi-cloud ecosystems.
A Sample Case: VMware vCenter Support
Consider a customer running vCenter 7.03 and ESXi 7.0.3 on five VxRail P570F hosts, with nearly 4TB RAM and 158TB vSAN capacity—support through PreRack IT is offered at a flat-rate annual cost, with tailored services for complex or high-availability environments.
PreRack IT in a Crowded Field: Unique Value
While others now address this market (Rimini Street, Spinnaker Support, etc.), PreRack IT stands out for its:
- Month-to-month flexibility instead of only long multi-year contracts.
- Personalized, U.S.-based support from engineers who specialize in enterprise and mid-market environments.
- Focus on right-sized solutions: whether you have a handful of hosts or hundreds of VMs, the support plan scales with your needs.
- Advisory capabilities—helping you map a safe, budget-conscious migration path, on your own timeline.
Maximizing Value and Minimizing Risk with PreRack IT
For organizations looking to optimize costs, mitigate operational risks, and regain control, PreRack IT’s approach stands out:
- Transparent, Predictable Pricing: Know what you’ll pay—no hidden surcharges.
- Responsive Incident Management: Rapid help desk and troubleshooting, tailored to your VMware environment and deployment scale.
- Uptime and Peace of Mind: Avoid unplanned outages and compliance gaps while charting your virtualization future.
- Multi-Environment Protection: Support for VMware’s broad product set plus multi-vendor integrations, reducing complexity and single-vendor risk.
- Consultative Partnership: Strategic advice for migration planning, upgrade assessments, and budget forecasting.
Planning Your Future: Next Steps
- Inventory your environment: Know your VMware product versions, hardware status, and support contract end-dates.
- Assess immediate needs: Identify mission-critical workloads and any compliance or security requirements tied to support status.
- Consult with PreRack IT: Get a tailored support proposal, compare costs to vendor subscriptions, and discuss bridging strategies for the next 6, 12, or 24 months.
- Create a long-term roadmap: Whether migrating to VMware subscription, alternative virtualization, or a cloud-first model, develop a plan that fits your timing and budget.
- Communicate internally: Ensure IT, finance, and leadership know the options—avoid last-minute fire drills or unplanned outages due to support expiration.
Conclusion: Regain Control—Let PreRack IT Support Your Transition
The end of perpetual VMware licensing is a watershed moment. The path forward is complex, but organizations don’t have to face it alone. With expert third-party support from PreRack IT, you can protect your investments, maintain uptime, and reclaim budget flexibility while your next virtualization move takes shape. Don’t let the clock run out—leverage PreRack IT’s specialized, flexible support to navigate this industry transition on your terms.
To discuss your VMware environment or to secure a customized support quote, contact PreRack IT today—your partner in data center resilience and future-readiness.
