Field Notes From Enterprise VMware Teams After Broadcom 

Two years after Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, the conventional wisdom around what’s happening feels rather binary: companies are either leaving wholesale or not making a change at all. Our most recent research shows something much more nuanced and familiar to anyone running an enterprise estate. 

Teams are moving, but not cleanly. They are reducing dependence where they can, stabilizing what they can’t move yet, and revising plans as operational reality shows up. This is the messy middle. It’s where most organizations actually are living. 

The verbatims below come from our January 2026 survey of 302 enterprise IT decision-makers. They’re curated because they capture the constraints teams keep running into underneath the stats. 

Pricing changed the planning conversation 

Not every organization saw the catastrophic increase they feared. But packaging changes and predictability shifts still forced budget scrutiny and accelerated platform reviews. 

For some teams, the biggest disruption was the move from predictable licensing to bundled subscriptions. 

“The change from ongoing licenses to all-or-nothing subscription bundles has transformed our predictable CapEx into a volatile OpEx liability. We have observed a 400% to 700% increase in costs in certain enterprise cases.” 

Others described increases driven less by usage and more by the licensing model itself. 

“Our VMware costs have increased by roughly 50–70% since the acquisition. The jump is mainly driven by the shift to subscription licensing and higher bundle pricing, rather than a big increase in actual usage.” 

And even where the increase was not extreme, the combination of changes still exceeded expectations. 

“The 30–40% increase was slightly worse than I anticipated. I expected some cost growth after the acquisition, but the combination of higher subscription fees and licensing changes exceeded my initial projections.” 

Full report (ungated)

Read the data behind the quotes

See the full findings from our January 2026 research of 302 enterprise IT decision-makers, including charts, verbatims, and methodology.

Read the report

The operating model is the lock-in 

After pricing, the next reality shows up as inconvenient truth: replacement is rarely a single destination decision. VMware is embedded in an operating model. That’s why so many plans get revised once teams map dependencies and day-2 operations. 

Some leaders put it bluntly: 

“You will never find a 1:1 replacement for every niche VMware feature.” 

Others pointed to the hidden integrations that make simple migration stories fall apart quickly: 

“Prioritize a comprehensive dependency map before making any moves. Understand how your backup, DR, and security tools are tied to the VMware stack, as these ‘hidden’ integrations are the biggest blockers to a successful migration.” 

And for many, the blockers aren’t philosophical. They’re practical constraints. 

“If I had to rank the top three obstacles, in order of severity, it would be migration complexity and risk, application dependencies, regulatory and compliance constraints.” 

Most programs become portfolio programs 

Once teams accept the operating model reality, strategy tends to shift from clean cutover to segmentation. Move what is viable, stabilize what is trapped, and keep options open as constraints surface. 

Some describe it as small, careful slices first. 

“So far, I’ve committed to moving only a small portion of our VMware environment… roughly 10–15%… mostly non-critical workloads. The majority remains in production while I focus on cost optimization and strategic planning.” 

Others describe real progress, but only after the commitment becomes a program. 

“In 2024, migration was a theoretical risk. By early 2026, we have successfully committed to and started moving 30% of our workloads.” 

Support became part of risk exposure 

Costs are measurable. Support experience is harder to quantify, but it came through clearly. For teams that can’t unwind quickly, trust and response time start to feel like operational exposure. 

Some responses were pointed about what changed in practice. 

“In 2024, we could count on deep institutional knowledge from VMware support. In 2026, response times have reached excruciating levels, and the loss of veteran engineers following massive layoffs has left us feeling exposed during critical outages.” 

Others described a quieter shift in relationship and tiering. 

“We previously enjoyed a high-touch relationship with VMware. Post acquisition, the support structure has shifted. We’ve seen a change in the account teams and a streamlining of support tiers.” 

Executive pressure is rising 

A lot of respondents describe this as more than an infrastructure decision. The consequences are financial, operational, and personal. 

Some framed it as a constant balancing act under scrutiny. 

“There’s a lot of pressure, honestly. VMware underpins so many critical systems that getting the strategy wrong has real financial, operational, and security consequences. Leadership expects costs to be controlled, risk to be minimized, and compliance to stay rock solid, all at the same time.” 

Others were even more direct about what’s on the line. 

“The pressure is significant, and honestly, it’s as much about career preservation as it is about infrastructure.” 

And many described pressure that extends beyond the technical decision itself. 

“I feel somewhat pressured, both professionally and personally. This is one of those decisions that has long-term financial, operational, and security implications.” 

Roadmap disruption is part of the disruption 

Even when the plan is to stay for now, teams describe a forced shift in planning, budget, and platform review work earlier than expected. 

Some described it as strategy disruption as much as licensing disruption. 

“The Broadcom acquisition has been highly disruptive to our IT and security strategy. The shift to subscription-only licensing, bundled products, and higher minimums forced unplanned budget reallocations and accelerated platform reviews earlier than expected.” 

Others described moderate disruption, but still a meaningful planning tax. 

“The acquisition has been moderately disruptive, mainly due to changes in licensing, support, and roadmap clarity, requiring adjustments to our IT and security planning.” 

Bringing it together 

If you recognize your organization in more than one section, that’s normal. The messy middle is what you get when renewal pressure meets deep operating model entanglement and mixed-estate reality. 

Want to compare notes with people living it? VMwhere? Therapy Thursdays is our biweekly discussion series for teams navigating the VMware disruption. Short briefing, then open discussion and Q&A. Camera on or off. Join the conversation or just listen. Register here.