For more than a decade, VMware has been a foundational technology in IT environments across industries. From datacenter virtualization to telephone systems, surveillance, and access control, VMware has been the engine behind the hypervisor layer that makes enterprise workloads efficient and manageable. But with Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, major changes are shaking up this ecosystem. The shifts in licensing, partner programs, and pricing will have wide-reaching consequences for SMB and midmarket organizations. At Morefield, we believe it’s critical for businesses to understand what’s happening, why it matters, and what options exist moving forward.
Broadcom has wasted no time restructuring VMware’s go-to-market model. The most visible changes include:
Taken together, these changes create disruption for organizations that have long relied on VMware as a stable, predictable hypervisor.
To understand why Broadcom’s changes matter so much, it helps to look back at how hypervisors became so deeply embedded in enterprise IT. In the early days of client-server computing, application vendors demanded dedicated compute, memory, and storage to ensure consistent performance. Without hypervisors, IT leaders had only one choice: dedicate an entire physical server, operating system, and storage stack to each application. The result? Datacenters filled with racks of underutilized servers, each running a single workload. Then came hypervisors. With virtualization, IT teams could configure virtual images that mimicked dedicated environments but consolidated them onto fewer physical servers. The efficiency gains were enormous: fewer boxes to buy, power, cool, and manage, with the flexibility to scale resources as needed. This virtualization strategy was so successful that it spread everywhere:
Today, hypervisors like VMware are not just part of the IT stack—they are the IT stack for many organizations. That deep reliance is what makes Broadcom’s changes so disruptive.
Morefield has designed, installed, and supported VMware environments since 2012. For more than 13 years, our technical expertise has helped businesses build reliable, secure, and high-performing datacenters. But with Broadcom’s new partner program requirements and the elimination of lower-tier partnerships, Morefield will no longer maintain resale authorization for VMware. Here’s what that means for our clients: Support Continues – Our team’s VMware expertise is unchanged. We will continue to support VMware environments for our managed services clients and those running on-premises datacenters. Collaboration with Premier Partners – Through partnerships with authorized resellers at higher tiers, we can still acquire VMware maintenance and support for our clients. Client Commitment – Our focus remains steady: to deliver the best possible support, guidance, and solutions for our clients—even as the vendor landscape shifts.
As organizations assess their VMware environments, many will be forced to decide whether to stay the course or explore alternatives. Here are (4) strategic paths to consider:
VMware’s dominance in the hypervisor market means these changes won’t just affect large enterprises—they will impact SMB and midmarket organizations across industries. Here’s why: Market Impact – VMware has the largest share of hypervisor deployments. Industry analysts project that more than one-third of VMware workloads will migrate to alternate technologies by 2028. Licensing Risks – Many older VMware licenses were perpetual. Without active support or upgrades, these environments risk falling behind, leaving organizations exposed to vulnerabilities and compliance gaps. Critical Applications Depend on VMware – From premise telephone systems to building management (HVAC, surveillance, access control), many non-IT systems were built on VMware. As these environments age without updates, the risk of cyberattacks grows. Financial Strain – The combination of rising VMware prices and hardware refresh cycles creates real budgetary challenges for leadership teams. Simply put VMware is no longer the straightforward, value driven investment it once was. Businesses must reevaluate their strategies now to avoid being caught off guard later.
At Morefield, we see this moment as both a challenge and an opportunity. Our team combines more than a decade of hypervisor experience with broad expertise across datacenter, cloud, and SaaS solutions. Whether you choose to maintain VMware, shift to hosted infrastructure, devirtualize, or embrace SaaS, we can guide you every step of the way. The VMware landscape may be changing, but your business doesn’t have to navigate it alone. If your organization is evaluating the future of its VMware environment, contact Morefield today. Let’s assess your options, build a roadmap, and ensure your technology investments continue to deliver value—no matter where Broadcom takes VMware.
