Quoting SearchServerVirtualization
VMware ESX 2.x users are proving slow to upgrade to VMware Inc.'s latest and greatest, VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) introduced last summer. At least one VMware reseller is pointing the finger at the high cost of upgrading to the new platform.
According to price lists obtained from VMware resellers, the cost of upgrading from VMware ESX 2.5 with Virtual Center to Virtual Infrastructure 3 Enterprise is $4,900 per dual-processor server, compared with $5,750 for a net-new license. Depending on when the ESX 2.x license was purchased, customers paid between $3,000 and $5,000 per dual-socket server.
That doesn't sit well with some ESX 2.x users, many of whom have had ESX 2.x installed since 2003 and are paying annual license and subscription fees of 21-25%.
"A lot of people feel that 3.0 should have been a free upgrade," said Steven Reed, Chief Technology Officer at VirtualNgenuity Ltd., a virtualization-specialized VAR in Canyon Lake, Texas.
Of course, upgrading to VI3 Enterprise provides VMware shops with a lot of new functionality, notably HA, Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Consolidated Backup, plus support for more memory plus greater virtual CPUs.
But Reed contends that users aren't utilizing all the VI3 features, and would prefer an "à la carte" pricing scheme where they can pick and choose (and pay for) the specific features they want.
For example, VMware HA and DRS are extremely popular with end users, but Consolidated Backup has proven very tough to sell users on, Reed said, "Not because it isn't a fantastic product – it is – but because it's a big departure from the status quo."
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