Dai agreed. “Amid backlash over Broadcom licensing and rising interest in Nutanix and OpenStack, VMware needs to signal cost optimisation. While this improves TCO, enterprises should view it as both a technical adjustment and a competitive retention play.”
However, Gogia cautioned that reduced hardware costs do not address the core concerns driving customer unease. “Trimming back hardware requirements may ease the cost burden, but it doesn’t resolve the deeper unease around how VMware’s licensing is structured, how prices might evolve, or what the long-term product direction truly looks like. It’s a welcome course correction, not a reset button.”
What should CIOs do now
Given these complexities, what should enterprises currently running or planning vSAN deployments actually do with this information?
“This update should prompt every CIO running — or planning — a vSAN deployment to take a fresh look at their infrastructure strategy,” said Gogia. “CIOs should prioritise forward-looking application of the new sizing model, use it to influence upcoming contracts, and avoid the temptation to reengineer stable clusters mid-cycle unless there’s a compelling case.”
Dai recommended a similar approach. “For existing deployments, CIOs should evaluate whether hardware can be repurposed or scaled down in refresh cycles. For new projects, apply revised specs to avoid overprovisioning. More broadly, they should embed telemetry-driven sizing into virtualization strategy to prevent similar inefficiencies across platforms.” Both analysts emphasised that the lessons extend beyond VMware. “This is also a wake-up call for CIOs and architects: vendor guidance cannot be followed blindly,” said Gogia. “Internal telemetry, context-specific modelling, and continuous validation must now take centre stage in infrastructure planning.”
