Are You Worried About VMWare's Impact and Pricing Under Broadcom?

There are Solid Alternatives to Consider

Author

Mark Lynd
July 16, 2024

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In this edition:

  • Did You Know - Virtualization, Containers, & Kubernetes

  • Article Spotlight: Concerned About VMWare's Pricing & Future With Broadcom?

  • Artificial Intelligence news & Bytes

  • Cybersecurity News & Bytes

  • Valuable Information You Can Use - How Tos & Reports

  • AI Power Prompt

  • Social Media Images of the Week

 Did You Know - Virtualization, Containers & Kubernetes

  • Did you know Nutanix supports multiple hardware configurations, hypervisors (including VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Nutanix AHV), and clouds.

  • Did you know Red Hat OpenShift is a Kubernetes-based container platform that simplifies application development and deployment.

    It provides a consistent experience across hybrid and multicloud environments.

  • Did you know Nutanix AHV is a robust hypervisor alternative to ESXi.

  • Did you know Kubernetes is not just for stateless microservices. It can handle stateful applications like databases and other persistent workloads.

  • Did you know Nutanix allows much more than virtualization. It supports cloud-native, AI applications, and databases.

  • Did you know while microservices and serverless architectures naturally fit with Kubernetes, traditional monolithic applications can also run in containers.

  • Did you know Red Hat’s container-native virtualization extends Kubernetes to support virtualized workloads, bridging the gap between traditional VMs and containers.

  • Did you know VMware Tanzu is a suite of products and services designed to help organizations build, run, and manage Kubernetes-based applications.

  • Did you know Nutanix pioneered the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) market, using a web-scale, distributed cloud architecture with off-the-shelf servers.

  • Did you know Red Hat OpenShift is a robust PaaS solution that allows application developers and teams to build, test, deploy, and run applications in the cloud. Unlike VMware ESXi, which focuses on virtualization at the hypervisor level, OpenShift provides a higher-level platform for containerized applications1.

  • Did you know OpenShift helps modernize applications by offering features like continuous integration, continuous deployment, and container-based architecture, and it’s pricing model is pretty transparent, with options like pay-as-you-go or hourly rates.

Latest Article: Are You Worried About VMWare's Impact and Pricing Under Broadcom?

There are Solid Alternative to Consider

Being an experienced 4x CIO and CISO who has navigated numerous tech transitions over the past couple of decades, I've come to realize that change is a constant in our industry. The recent purchase of VMware by Broadcom for a whopping $61 billion has caused quite a stir in the enterprise IT world, leaving many top executives pondering the future of their virtualization and cloud infrastructure strategies.

I vividly remember feeling uncertain back in 2015 when Dell acquired EMC (which had a big share in VMware at the time). However, the Broadcom acquisition seems different this time around and here's why; Broadcom has a history of making significant changes to pricing and support models after acquiring companies, often causing frustration among some of its current customers.

Let's take a closer look at the current scenario and consider some attractive alternatives that could transform your enterprise's virtualization and cloud infrastructure strategy.

One important note: I am just presenting the information and citing most of it, not trying to render an opinion on which of the three options is the best, as that will likely depend on several factors that are unique to your business, budget, and environment.

The Broadcom Impact; A Reason for Apprehension

Broadcom's approach to acquisitions has typically been about maximizing profits from existing product lines rather than promoting innovation. An example of this is their acquisition of CA Technologies back in 2018.

After the acquisition, Broadcom raised prices for mainframe clients by as much as 30% and made changes to support terms, causing disruptions for many businesses [1]. This shift has not gone unnoticed.

A recent survey by Wakefield Research of 300 IT decision-makers regarding VMware had 99% of them expressing concern about potential impacts of the acquisition by Broadcom, and more than three-quarters of them characterized their concern level as extreme. Almost every respondent said the acquisition had been disruptive to their IT strategy. [2]. These concerns are prompting action, with 27% of VMware customers actively looking into alternatives and another 33% considering doing so soon.

Speaking from my experience as a CIO who has had to justify technology expenses to the board, I can confirm that potential price increases like these could throw carefully planned IT budgets into disarray. It's not just about the financial impact; it's also about preserving the agility and innovation that VMware has brought to many organizations.

Exploring Alternatives: Red Hat OpenShift and Nutanix

Considering these issues, it is wise to explore alternative options that could either replace or complement your existing VMware setup. Two notable choices worth exploring are Red Hat OpenShift and Nutanix. Let's compare these solutions across various key aspects:

1. Architecture and Infrastructure

VMware's architecture relies on the ESXi hypervisor, which has long been regarded as the industry standard in virtualization. However, both Red Hat OpenShift and Nutanix present intriguing alternatives.

Red Hat OpenShift is based on Kubernetes, featuring a container based structure that is gaining popularity for its flexibility and scalability. It can operate on bare metal, virtualized setups or in the cloud, providing a level of adaptability that VMware cannot match [3].

On the other hand, Nutanix utilizes its own AHV hypervisor, built on the open source KVM platform. One distinctive aspect of Nutanix is its hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) strategy, which consolidates computing, storage and networking into a unified system. This approach can greatly simplify data center management and reduce costs [4].

While VMware enjoys broad hardware compatibility due to its established market presence, Nutanix excels in its tightly integrated HCI model despite offering a more limited range of hardware support. OpenShift's open source nature ensures extensive software compatibility but may require additional effort for seamless integration with existing legacy systems.

Noteworthy: Nutanix includes its AHV hypervisor at no extra cost within their HCI solution, potentially delivering significant cost savings compared to VMware's licensing framework.

2. Performance and Scalability

VMware has been widely recognized for its performance and scalability, although larger setups may require more intricate configurations. However, OpenShift and Nutanix have emerged as strong contenders in this field. Nutanix shines in scalability, making it easy to expand horizontally by adding nodes to the cluster. VMware provides robust scaling capabilities; OpenShift, a container orchestration platform, offers flexibility in scaling individual applications and microservices.

Red Hat's OpenShift, a platform for orchestrating containers, offers flexibility in scaling individual applications and microservices. It has showcased impressive scalability with some clients running clusters surpassing 2,000 nodes [5]. Its architecture based on containers enables swift scaling and efficient utilization of resources, which can be particularly beneficial for organizations with fluctuating workloads.


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Artificial intelligence News & Bytes 🧠

12 Top AI as a Service Companies (2024): Powerhouses of AI Progress

Which AI as a service companies lead the way in 2024? Discover the top 12 powerhouses of AI progress today.

www.eweek.com/artificial-intelligence/aiaas-companies

91 Percent of Security Leaders Believe AI Set to Outpace Security Teams

Bugcrowd recently released its “Inside the Mind of a CISO” report, which surveyed hundreds of security leaders around the globe. Among the findings, 1 in 3 respondents (33%) believed that at least half of companies are willing to sacrifice their customers’ long-term privacy or security to save money.

securitytoday.com/Articles/2024/07/01/91-Percent-of-Security-Leaders-Believe-AI-Set-to-Outpace-Security-Teams.aspx

Cybersecurity News & Bytes 🛡️

Important: If you are using Veeam as you backup software please take 2 minutes and read the article below, so you can patch accordingly if you haven’t already:

Ransomware attackers exploit year-old Veeam backup vulnerability

A post-mortem of a recent ransomware attack illustrates the continued importance of basic security controls such as patching in withstanding an evolving cybercrime threat.

www.csoonline.com/article/2516228/ransomware-attackers-exploit-year-old-backup-vulnerability.html

Three Critical Steps to Close the Cybersecurity Talent Gap, Once and For All

Cybersecurity is a differentiator, and organizations that prioritize developing and nurturing talent will emerge as leaders.

venturebeat.com/security/three-critical-steps-to-close-the-cybersecurity-talent-gap-once-and-for-all

What the AT&T phone records data breach means for you

The giant U.S. telco lost the information of around 110 million customers. Here’s what you need to know.

techcrunch.com/2024/07/12/what-the-att-call-records-data-breach-means-for-you

If you are not subscribed and looking for more on cybersecurity take a look at previous editions of the Cybervizer Newsletter as it is loaded with cybersecurity and AI info, tips, prompts, and reviews.

Valuable Information You Can Use

- How Tos:

Here is a list of relevant how tos, so that you get even greater value that you deserve from this newsletter.

- Manufacturer and Analysts Reports & Posts

I travel and meet with 100’s of C-level leadership from private and public organizations each year advising and sharing as requested. In doing so, I get asked all the time by CIOs and CISOs about where are some listings or reports that they can read about or learn more regarding a certain cyber or AI topic. So, here are some FREE highly credible reports that unveil some useful and timely information. Unfortunately, you might need to fill out a short form to gain access, but I have reviewed all of these. This list will continue to grow each week. Please let me know if you have some you would like to share with our community.

AI Power Prompt

Create a curated list of cybersecurity articles for a given topic, and audience: The following prompt can assist you in learning about any cybersecurity topic via a curated list of articles.

#CONTEXT: Adopt the role of an expert cybersecurity resource curator. Your task is to compile a list of the top [NUMBER] [TOPIC] related articles and white papers for [TARGET AUDIENCE].

#GOAL: You will create a comprehensive and informative list for the target audience, providing them with the best articles and white papers available in the cybersecurity field related to a specific topic.

#RESPONSE GUIDELINES: Follow the step-by-step approach below to curate the list:

  1. Research and Selection:

    • Identify the latest and most relevant articles and white papers related to the specified cybersecurity topic.

    • Ensure the articles and white papers are relevant and applicable to the target audience's needs.

    • Select a diverse range of articles and white papers to esnure proper coverage of topic.

  2. Organization:

    • Organize the list in a logical order, making it easy for the target audience to navigate and understand the relevance of the articles and white papers.

    • Group similar articles and white papers together for easier comparison.

#INFORMATION ABOUT ME:

  • Number of articles and white papers: [NUMBER]

  • Cybersecurity topic: [TOPIC]

  • Target audience: [TARGET AUDIENCE]

#OUTPUT: Your output will be a well-structured and detailed list of articles and white papers formatted as follows:

Article Title:

  • Article Description: [60-word description of Article]

  • Relevance: [One sentence description of relevance of article to the target audience]

  • Source: [List the source with citation for article]

  • Ensure the list is clear, concise, and informative, making it easy for the target audience to understand and utilize the provided articles and white papers.

Note: Any words in [Word] in brackets like that is a variable that you insert or add. Here is the format to add variable after the prompt: [Word] = Your answer for variable

Social Media Image of the Week

We all had this first one at one time or another! 😂 

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