Microsoft ends one of the last ways to buy VMware without big bundles

Microsoft has signalled it will end one of the last remaining ways to acquire VMware products outside of a big bundle. Redmond's main offer for Virtzillains is the Azure VMware Solution (AVS), a cloudy affair that includes vCenter, vSAN, vSphere, and NSX and licenses for them all - but not the Software-Defined Datacenter Manager tool that Broadcom uses to package its wares into a centrally-manageable hybrid cloud in its flagship Cloud Foundation (VCF) suite. Since acquiring VMware, Broadcom has gone all-in on VCF and no longer sells a standalone low-end server virtualization product. The Register understands the VMware channel and sales team almost never sell licenses for vSphere Foundation, a bundle that's useful on the edge or branch office, unless it's part of a bigger deal that includes VCF. Services like AVS therefore represent an alternative for orgs that want to keep using VMware, but don't want to jump to VCF. Broadcom isn't keen on licensing anything other than the entire VCF bundle and made that plain with licensing changes that mean its hyperscale partners are not allowed to sell VMware licenses. The code-and-chips shop therefore requires customers to bring their own VCF licenses to any cloudy VMware service. Microsoft this week announced that it will therefore retire the license-included version of AVS, and that customers who use the service will need to acquire a VCF license and move to a different Azure arrangement by August 30, 2027. The Windows giant said it will stop selling license-included AVS from October 31, 2026 and warned users to start planning a move because their current rigs won't work in the future. Allow plenty of time to purchase VCF licenses from Broadcom and complete the transition to AVS VCF BYOL," the company advises. For customers evaluating modernization opportunities, start assessing current AVS environments immediately, and develop a transition roadmap to ensure you have ample time to exit AVS and avoid service disruption on August 31, 2027." Broadcom announced the requirement for BYOL licensing late last year, and other hyperscalers have already adopted it, so VCS users should have had an inkling that change was coming. For some, this will not be their first recent VMware migration, as Broadcom has twice made changes that meant smaller cloud providers had to discontinue service, making a move to an alternative provider or platform necessary. Broadcom doesn't mind much if smaller VMware customers move to another server virtualization vendor: it unashamedly focuses on larger customers it thinks will get the most benefit from VCF and points to most of its target customers acquiring the suite, and increased VMware revenue, as evidence its strategy is working. (R)