Editor’s note: These are the opinions and insights of the author. He was not paid by Nutanix, VMware or any other vendor.
One of my key takeaways from VMware Explore 2024 was that customers are paying more and aren’t happy about it. At the event last September, I talked to customer after customer who told me pricing had gone up since Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, sometimes two orders of magnitude. While some customers said they were opting to stay with VMware due to tight integration with their processes, many were looking for vendor alternatives.
Nutanix has been one such alternative, according to many customers I’ve talked with. Even before VMware increased its prices, Nutanix was vocal about its ability to capitalize on the “VMware turmoil.” Its strategy seems to be working, as Nutanix’s stock has increased 12% in the past 12 months, despite an uncertain macroenvironment.
Customers have shifted from VMware for a variety of reasons, with Nutanix citing many migration case studies. Below are two migrations, highlighted on Nutanix’s website.
Silicon Valley School Switches for Better Economics
From Silicon Valley to the most rural parts of the country, K-12 organizations are frequently looking to save money due to tight budgets. Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA) was no different. The school system has over 4,500 students and 700 staff and relies on its IT infrastructure to deliver critical services.
The school system’s legacy VMware infrastructure was starting to show its age, and MVLA used the refresh cycle to evaluate other vendors.
“Our VMware and servers were outdated, and we were running out of storage and memory,” said Bob Fishtrom, director of IT services at MVLA, in the case study. They were maxed out at full capacity and needed new infrastructure, he added.
MVLA turned to systems integrator Portola Systems to help with the refresh. Eventually, the school system chose Nutanix Cloud Platform with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, using a three-year Ultimate licensing configuration. In the end, Fishtrom said the cost analysis with Nutanix was “far better” than with VMware and its legacy hypervisors. I contacted Nutanix to see if it could provide the actual savings, but it declined to provide the number due to the sensitive nature of pricing.
Companies going through a refresh should be careful to avoid defaulting to their incumbent provider without evaluating other options. Additionally, organizations with small IT staffs, such as school systems, should use the experience of systems integrators to ensure they are making the best choice for their organization.
A Global Microbiology Lab Migrates for Better Tech Support
IHMA is a clinical microbiology lab that helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies develop and launch antimicrobial agents. The organization supports over 1,500 healthcare companies in over 80 countries, according to the case study, and continually collaborates with and relies on its IT organization for a secure and compliant environment.
IHMA’s partners expect the lab to adhere to the various requirements of the companies it works with, said Joseph Finlay, director of IT operations at IHMA, in the case study.
“When we do business with large pharmaceutical companies, they expect us to have the same scrutiny and stringent security practices that they do, which requires us to implement additional infrastructure and services, including cloud and identity management services,” he said.
This can be challenging for a small company, and the IT team needs to rely on technical support from vendors to help manage issues that might arise. After Broadcom’s VMware acquisition, IHMA said it saw a drop in the quality of support. The IT team had issues receiving adequate support from VMware, following employee layoffs, licensing changes and portfolio simplification.
Finlay said tech support had a big role in his decision to change vendors.
“Nutanix’s strong reputation in technical support made it the obvious choice for IHMA, which migrated to the Nutanix Cloud Platform,” Finlay said.
Technical support wasn’t the only issue, however. When the lab’s VMware licenses were up for renewal, Finlay said the cost had increased fourfold from the previous year. He said his team decided to go with an option that would deliver the value they needed.
This case study highlights how companies should focus on the factors that lead to an organization’s success when evaluating vendor products. While cost is always a consideration, sometimes it’s not the most important one. For IHMA, best-in-class technical support was a must-have to meet customer demands.
What Should Customers Do?
I’ve talked to several current VMware customers, and the changes Broadcom has made has left them with a tough decision. One option is to stay with the platform and eventually evolve to the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) stack. This option requires companies to go all-in on VMware and the broader Broadcom. This will be the right choice for many customers, particularly large enterprises. VCF is a complete, engineered private cloud platform with the flexibility to be deployed in any configuration the customer wants. The customers I’ve talked to that adopted VCF are happy with the decision, as they also get the value of the broader Broadcom.
For those that choose to cut the cord with VMware, evaluate vendor options by comparing licensing, technical support and platform functionality, among other factors.
