Global Survey Finds VMware Users Are Choosing Alternative Paths

Rimini Street and DBTA/Unisphere Research survey finds 66% are already using or are considering third-party support

LAS VEGAS – October 6, 2026 – Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), the Software Support and Agentic AI ERP Company™ and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP and VMware software, today announced findings from the 2026 IT Virtualization Survey – What’s Next for VMware Users, a new global survey of nearly 300 VMware user organizations conducted by Unisphere Research on behalf of Rimini Street.

Cost Cited as the Number One Factor in Seeking Alternative VMware Solutions

Key Findings: 90% of respondents said they are considering alternatives to VMware due to higher licensing costs, while 54% cited the end of perpetual license support as another reason to evaluate other options.

The research shows that cost remains the leading driver of virtualization roadmap decisions, with nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) citing cost savings as a top priority. At the same time, organizations reported significant barriers to progress, including operational complexity (40%), multi-vendor management challenges (38%), securing the increased attack surface (37%) and team skills requirements (37%).

These findings suggest that while organizations are actively pursuing change, they are also looking for ways to reduce risk and avoid unnecessary disruption.

IT Leaders Choose Multiple and Hybrid Hypervisor Models for Greater Control and More Flexibility

Key Findings: 60% are considering a multiple-hypervisor strategy, reflecting growing interest in more flexible, mixed environments that support both operational and financial goals. In addition, 47% are favoring a hybrid IT virtualization environment consisting of hypervisors and containers for “best of both worlds’” workload placement.

The findings also suggest that many organizations are considering a range of options beyond VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Nearly half of respondents (48%) said they do not currently plan to move any of their assets to VCF, indicating that many enterprises are taking a more measured approach and prioritizing strategies that align with their business needs, existing investments and operating models.

The trend shows increasing diversification in enterprise virtualization strategies with a longer-term transition toward bespoke, multi-platform IT virtualization environments. As organizations reevaluate their paths to modernization, they are increasingly adopting approaches that combine on-premises infrastructure, private cloud, public cloud and alternative hypervisors to support workload flexibility, operational efficiency and better cost control.

Majority of VMware Customers Consider Third-party Support to Protect and Extend the Life of VMware Investments

Key Findings: 66% of respondents are currently using or considering third-party support. Leading reasons cited include security (60%), installation and implementation support (57%), and service and support concerns (54%).

IT security leaders report being overwhelmed by the “vulnerability treadmill.” In virtualized IT environments, a single compromised virtual machine can expose hundreds of guest machines, increasing the risk of service outages and potential data breaches. This makes the hypervisor a high-value target for ransomware and advanced persistent threats.

As VMware customers reassess their virtualization strategies, many are exploring third-party VMware support to strengthen service coverage, maintain operational continuity and extend the value of existing investments. The findings suggest organizations want greater control over how they secure, support and evolve environments.

Further, 77% of IT virtualization security leaders said they would see value in a security solution that provides real-time threat visibility and proactive protection against vulnerabilities, rather than relying solely on Broadcom’s patching program. Together, these findings point to growing demand for more resilient, security-by-design virtualization strategies.

“The shift for current VMware users is not simply about replacing one vendor with another. It reflects a broader effort by enterprises to reduce dependency on a single provider, maintain continuity for mission-critical systems and modernize at a pace that fits their own business requirements,” cites Joe McKendrick, lead analyst, Unisphere Research. “For many organizations, that means balancing support for existing environments with new investments designed to improve resilience, security and scalability over time.”

“Organizations want more choice, flexibility and control over their virtualization strategies,” said Keith Costello, EVP and chief operating officer, Rimini Street. “Our suite of services for VMware helps clients reduce costs, strengthen security, improve support outcomes and extend the value of their existing VMware investments — without being forced into disruptive timelines or one-size-fits-all vendor roadmaps. These survey findings reinforce the need for practical, vendor-independent strategies that put business priorities back on the client’s terms.”

Access the full report, 2026 IT Virtualization Survey – What’s Next for VMware Users, available for download.

Survey methodology

The survey was conducted by Unisphere Research in partnership with Rimini Street. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. It surveyed 269 executives, managers and professionals across VMware user organizations between December 2025 and February 2026 to assess current usage, future plans and perceptions of VMware under Broadcom, as well as interest in alternative solutions. All respondents were current users of VMware solutions at the time the survey was conducted.

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a Russell 2000® Company, is a proven, trusted global provider of end-to-end, mission-critical enterprise software support, managed services and innovative Agentic AI ERP solutions, and is the leading third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP and VMware software. The Company has signed thousands of IT service contracts with Fortune Global 100, Fortune 500, midmarket, public sector and government organizations who have leveraged the Rimini Smart Path™ methodology to achieve better operational outcomes, billions of US dollars in savings and fund AI and other innovation.

To learn more, please visit www.riministreet.com, and connect with Rimini Street on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “budget,” “continue,” “could,” “currently,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “possible,” “goal,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “reflect,” “results,” “seem,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would” and other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to attract new clients or retain and/or sell additional products or services to existing clients; our ability to achieve and maintain an adequate rate of revenue growth; cost of revenue, including changes in costs associated with our efforts to grow and the results of any efforts to manage costs to align with current revenue expectations and the expansion of our offerings; the effects of increased intense competition in our industry and our ability to compete effectively; our ability to successfully educate the market regarding the advantages of our support and managed services for ERP software and to sell the products and services comprising our “Rimini Smart Path™” solutions portfolio, including but not limited to our Agentic AI ERP solutions; our intentions with respect to our pricing model and expectations of client savings relative to use of other providers; the evolution of the ERP software management and support landscape facing our clients and prospects; estimates of our total addressable market; the effects of seasonal trends on our results of operations, including the contract renewal cycles for vendor-supplied software support and managed services; the effects of the efforts of enterprise software vendors to sell upgrades or migrations to cloud-based versions of their enterprise software on our results of operations; our ability to scale our operations quickly enough to meet our clients’ changing needs or decrease our costs adequately in response to changing client demand; risks arising from incorporating artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies into our products or services or any deficiencies associated with AI technologies used by us or by our third-party vendors and service providers; our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand; the loss of one or more members of our management team and our ability to attract and retain additional qualified technical, sales and marketing personnel; our ability to expand our marketing and sales capabilities; our ability to avoid interruptions to, or degraded performance of, our services and the impact of any such interruptions or performance problems on our operations; our ability to defend against cybersecurity threats and to comply with data protection and privacy regulations; our expectations regarding new product offerings, innovation solutions, partnerships and alliance programs and our ability to develop and maintain strategic partnerships; our ability to expand internationally and the risks associated with global operations; our wind down of support services for Oracle’s PeopleSoft software products and the impact on future period revenue and costs incurred related to these efforts; the continuing impact of and our ability to comply with the terms of our July 2025 settlement agreement with Oracle; the impact of macro-economic trends, including inflation and changes in foreign exchange rates, as well as general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which we operate and the industries in which our clients operate; our ability to generate significant capital through our operations or to raise additional capital necessary to fund and expand our operations and invest in new services and products; our business plan and our ability to effectively secure and manage our growth and associated investments; risks relating to retention rates, including our ability to accurately predict retention rates; our ability to protect our intellectual property; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting; changes in laws or regulations, including tax laws or unfavorable outcomes of tax positions we take; tariff costs; our ability to realize benefits from our net operating losses; any negative impact of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters on our reputation or business and the exposure of our business to additional costs or risks from our reporting on such matters; our credit facility’s ongoing debt service obligations and financial and operational covenants on our business and related interest rate risk; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements; the volatility of our stock price; the amount and timing of repurchases, if any, under our stock repurchase program and our ability to enhance stockholder value through such program; our ability to maintain our good standing with the United States and international governments and capture new contracts with public sector entities; the occurrence of catastrophic events that may disrupt our business or that of our current and prospective clients; future acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary companies, products, subscriptions or technologies; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 30, 2026, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

# # #

© 2026 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.