The IT virtualization landscape is undergoing its most significant disruption in over a decade. Following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and subsequent licensing overhauls, leaders have had to reevaluate their IT infrastructure plans. It’s no longer just about optimization — it’s about organizational strategy, cost mitigation and independence.
A new global study from Unisphere Research, in partnership with Rimini Street, surveyed 269 IT virtualization and infrastructure leaders to understand how organizations are responding to VMware’s forced product bundles, subscription switches and upcoming support deadlines.
The results reveal a clear theme: VMware users are actively reclaiming control of their roadmaps.
The more interesting story, however, is how they’re doing it. The 2026 IT Virtualization Survey findings highlight several emerging priorities and strategies that can help fellow leaders make smarter choices as they navigate the changing virtualization landscape.
The catalysts: VMware cost surges and the 2027 support deadline
For many organizations, the primary catalyst is cost. Broadcom’s transition to mandatory, subscription-only bundles and per-core pricing models has changed the economics of VMware environments, turning what was once a relatively predictable budget item into a much larger expense. As a result, leaders are reevaluating their long-term virtualization strategies and seeking greater control over future infrastructure investments.
Compounding cost considerations is the upcoming October 2027 End of General Support (EoGS) deadline for VMware vSphere 8, the final perpetual-license release. After that date, organizations running VMware perpetual licenses will no longer receive standard vendor support, critical bug fixes or security patches — introducing potential compliance and operational risks.
The survey findings show that both factors are influencing decision-making:
- 90% of IT virtualization and infrastructure decision-makers are considering leaving VMware due to higher licensing costs
- 54% of all survey respondents cited the October 2027 EoGS https://invgate.com/itdb/vmware-vsphere as a reason to consider alternatives (VMware vSphere 7.x and related products went EoGS effective October 2025)
Faced with a choice between accepting higher renewal rates to maintain support or initiating a platform transition before the 2027 deadline, enterprises are accelerating their planning timelines and treating infrastructure modernization as an immediate priority. The survey reveals key insights into the trends shaping what comes next for VMware users.
Insight #1: Flexibility is the new virtualization strategy
Recent changes to VMware licensing by Broadcom have prompted many IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders to reevaluate their long-term virtualization strategies. Rather than committing to a single-vendor framework, organizations are increasingly pursuing greater flexibility through multi-hypervisor, hybrid cloud and container-based environments. According to the survey, while only 10% of VMware users currently leverage alternative hypervisors, that figure is projected to grow to 34% over the next three years, with 60% actively planning a multi-hypervisor approach.
The findings also indicate that many organizations are hesitant to adopt VMware’s preferred migration path:
- 48% of perpetual license users report no plans to migrate their existing assets to the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) subscription model
- 84% of organizations intend to manage at least some portion of their IT assets outside of the VMware ecosystem
Simultaneously, infrastructure deployment models continue to evolve. Organizations are expanding their use of private and public cloud environments for primary workloads, with private cloud deployment projected to increase from 12% to 18% over the next three years. During the same period, organizations running most of their workloads in public cloud environments are expected to rise from 13% to 23%, while on-premises workloads are forecasted to drop from 42% to 37% of total organizational assets.
Alongside cloud adoption, I&O leaders are increasingly integrating hypervisors and virtual machines (VMs) with containerization to achieve greater operational efficiency, portability and agility. Though their approaches vary, the underlying objective is consistent: Maintain greater control over where workloads run, how infrastructure evolves and which technologies best support future business needs.
Insight #2: Security needs to evolve with the stack
Though hybrid and multi-vendor strategies offer greater flexibility, they can also introduce new security challenges. As organizations expand beyond a single virtualization platform, maintaining visibility, compliance and consistent security controls becomes increasingly complex.
Most Common IT Virtualization Security Challenges (Top Responses from Surveyed Decision-Makers):
- Integration with current security solutions
- Need to hire consultants
- Compliance challenges
- Maintaining consistent security controls across a dynamic virtual environment
- AI-powered attacks
Many organizations are rethinking traditional security approaches that rely heavily on vendor patching, which is often too slow to counter modern, zero-day exploits.
- 77% of surveyed IT virtualization decision-makers see value in proactive security solutions that operate independently of OEM vendor patching schedules.
This reflects a broader shift toward security strategies designed to reduce exposure to ransomware, zero-day vulnerabilities and other emerging threats. By decoupling protection from vendor code updates, organizations can transition from a reactive approach to a more resilient, security-by-design posture that helps maintain operational continuity even during critical vulnerability events. As virtualization environments evolve and become more diverse, adopting a more proactive approach becomes critical to strengthening protection, staying compliant and safeguarding existing investments without adding unnecessary complexity or operational risk.
Insight #3: Third-party support as a strategic option
The growing adoption of third-party support for VMware marks a fundamental shift from hardware/software ownership toward technical maintenance. Organizations are essentially declaring that the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is no longer the best steward of their uptime — particularly as environments become more complex. Integrating multiple virtualization technologies across hypervisors, cloud and containerization can create friction in daily IT operations. For 23% of organizations, technical issues arise weekly or even more frequently, stalling broader IT modernization initiatives and stretching already-constrained IT resources.
The survey reveals many I&O leaders are looking for greater flexibility, specialized expertise and more proactive support:
- 66% of respondents are employing or considering third-party support to move their virtualization initiatives forward
- Top drivers for considering third-party support include security (60%), installation and implementation support (57%) and service and support concerns (54%)
This is why organizations are increasingly turning to Rimini Street, the global leader of third-party support for VMware. Through Rimini Support™ for VMware, enterprises can maintain their existing perpetual licenses, avoid vendor-mandated subscription models and ensure infrastructure stability.
Included with this offering is Rimini Protect™ Advanced Hypervisor Security, powered by Vali Cyber®, which delivers proactive, zero-day security to stop threats such as ransomware and “VM escape” attacks without requiring code changes. This purpose-built hypervisor security solution, exclusive to Rimini Street, helps safeguard not only VMware ESXi but also other Linux-based hypervisors, including Nutanix, Citrix and Red Hat. With it, organizations can adopt a more effective approach to hypervisor protection instead of relying solely on vendor-provided security patches.
Additionally, Rimini Consult™ offers specialized services for roadmap advisory, infrastructure optimization and system implementation in complex, multi-vendor environments. Organizations can even leverage Rimini Street’s Global License Advisory Services (GLAS) practice to gain access to independent compliance guidance. Through Rimini Custom™, which provides tailored support and security solutions for organizations managing a mix of IT virtualization technologies, I&O leaders can move forward with greater confidence and control.
Together, these services give I&O leaders the end-to-end support, security and clarity necessary to manage multi-vendor environments successfully.
Taking control without forcing a forced exit
Organizations aren’t making immediate wholesale exits from VMware. Instead, they’re taking a more purposeful approach — balancing cost, efficiency and flexibility as they determine what comes next. Multi-hypervisor strategies, hybrid cloud adoption and containerized environments are emerging as key components of that approach, enabling organizations to reduce dependency on a single vendor while maintaining control over their infrastructure roadmap.
But this transition isn’t without challenges. Complexity, security risks and ongoing skills gaps remain significant barriers. The survey findings indicate that these pressures are increasing demand for third-party support and more proactive security approaches, particularly as organizations look to extend the life of existing environments while evaluating longer-term platform strategies.
Discover how Rimini Street can help organizations like yours with a smooth, deliberate transition to what’s next — whether it’s staying on VMware or making the shift toward a multi-vendor IT virtualization stack.
Key takeaways
New survey data from Unisphere Research, in partnership with Rimini Street, reveals that VMware customers are responding to rising costs and upcoming support deadlines by taking greater control of their virtualization roadmaps rather than rushing into VCF migrations. Organizations are embracing multi-hypervisor, hybrid cloud and container-based strategies to gain flexibility, while prioritizing proactive security measures to reduce risk and maintain operational continuity. The findings also highlight growing interest in third-party support for specialized expertise, stronger support experiences and greater freedom to make technology decisions on their own terms. Learn how Rimini Street helps organizations support, secure and optimize VMware environments.
