AWS is running a promotion for VMware Cloud on AWS users. Those who migrate 80 or more VMs from this platform to AWS will receive $400 in credits per VM. For 40 to 79 VMs, the offer is $200 per VM.
The promotion runs until Dec. 31, 2024, and covers migrations toward Amazon EC2. With the migration, AWS says it offers optimized performance, improved security, reliable operations and significant cost reductions. The offer applies only to customers who run each VM for at least 720 hours after migration.
Parting the ways
The AWS announcement is a sign of things to come for the VMware Cloud on AWS service. Although still offered at VMware/Broadcom, the service is already no longer an option through AWS. The promotional deadline of Dec. 31, 2024 is not officially an end date, but we should expect the service to disappear eventually. Sources also state as much in conversation with The Register.
VMware Cloud on AWS is a joint project between VMware and AWS. It was announced in mid-2017 during VMworld in Las Vegas and promised to combine the best of both services. The promise was that all software and services would be easy to scale up and down via on-prem or the public cloud. This allowed users to deploy the hybrid cloud to their liking, where services could always migrate to the best-fit IT environment. Then, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger (now Intel CEO) stated that all of vSphere’s functionality would end up on AWS through collaborative efforts. Continuous improvements followed in later years, although the Broadcom acquisition (and its prospect in the months preceding its closing in November ’23) put the brakes on that.
VMware itself is also migrating
An announcement in early April revealed that VMware is also migrating away from AWS under Broadcom’s reign. VMware workloads are being transferred to Google Cloud, which includes both customer-facing solutions as well as VMware’s internal tools. In short, both VMware and AWS are retreating from one another.
Broadcom has shifted VMware’s focus to VMware Cloud Foundation, not VMware Cloud. Consequently, since its acquisition by Broadcom, VMware’s portfolio has thinned considerably, with VCF as a central product that bundles all sorts of previously available solutions to purchase separately. This has caused a lot of annoyance among customers, although it may be beneficial for some of them, according to Broadcom.
Also read our liveblog on Broadcom/VMware: Liveblog Broadcom/VMware: AWS offers promo for migration from VMware