AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from Ars Technica, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

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Rimini Street released the "2026 IT Virtualization Survey," which examined 300 global organizations using VMware. The survey found that 90 percent of participants are exploring alternatives primarily due to high licensing costs. Additionally, 54 percent cited Broadcom’s decision to stop supporting perpetual license holders as a major factor. Since Rimini sells third-party support for VMware and competitors like Oracle and SAP, the report notes an inherent incentive to highlight these challenges, though the findings align with other recent reports.

Broadcom’s acquisition has led customers to report cost increases of up to 1,000 percent, with many experiencing hikes between 100 and 300 percent. Consequently, 73 percent of survey respondents identified cost savings as a top priority in their virtualization plans. Beyond price, Rimini reported significant barriers to progress, including operational complexity (40 percent), multi-vendor management challenges (38 percent), security risks (37 percent), and team skill requirements (37 percent). Tony Harvey of Gartner previously noted that many clients view this situation as a wake-up call regarding their reliance on a single vendor.

The survey indicates that 60 percent of organizations are considering a multi-hypervisor strategy to achieve flexibility, while 47 percent favor hybrid environments combining hypervisors and containers. Notably, 48 percent do not plan to move assets to VMware’s Cloud Foundation platform. Joe McKendrick of Unisphere Research explained that enterprises aim to reduce dependency on one provider while maintaining continuity for critical systems. Gartner also predicted that by 2029, 55 percent of enterprises will test alternative hybrid infrastructure products to replace their current deployments.