As Broadcom pushes VMware customers toward VMware Cloud Foundation 9, a curious pattern has emerged in the market: organizations are renewing their VCF subscriptions in full, yet many are choosing not to actually deploy the new version. It’s a holding pattern that speaks volumes about the uncertainty still gripping the enterprise virtualization space. With general support for vSphere 8 set to end on October 11, 2027, the clock is ticking for customers to determine their long-term infrastructure strategy—whether that means committing to VCF 9, exploring independent support, or charting a path toward another platform entirely.
To unpack what’s really driving this hesitation, VMblog spoke with Shane O’Rourke, senior director for global VMware support services at Spinnaker Support and a VMware veteran of more than a decade. In this Q&A, O’Rourke discusses the hardware audits and licensing shifts complicating VCF 9 adoption, what the high-profile Tesco-Broadcom dispute reveals about enterprise pressure points, and how independent support providers like Spinnaker are stepping in to give customers more control—and more time—to make their next move.
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VMblog: Some VMware customers are renewing their VMware Cloud Foundation subscriptions in full but choosing not to deploy VCF 9. What is holding them back, and what does this behavior tell us?
Shane O’Rourke: Two things are going on here. First, vSphere 8 goes out of support in October 2027, so anyone staying supported eventually needs to move to VCF 9. If they are renewing, that renewal effectively puts them on a path to version nine. Beyond that, a lot of it comes down to hesitation. Many customers have not settled on their medium- or long-term strategy yet, so committing to VCF 9 feels premature. Secondly, moving to version nine can also require a significant hardware audit and possibly a hardware upgrade, which adds cost and complexity that makes customers pause. On top of that, VCF 9 comes bundled with capabilities such as NSX and the enhanced VSAN storage requirements that many customers simply are not using. When I talk to customers, it usually comes down to a combination of factors. They have not locked in their long-term strategy, the hardware audit and potential upgrade can be a heavy lift, and a lot of them are not using capabilities like NSX or the enhanced VSAN storage that come bundled with the package. All of that together is what tends to hold organizations back.
VMblog: General support for vSphere 8 ends on October 11, 2027. Why is that date so important, and what decisions should customers be making now?
O’Rourke: That date marks the end of life for version eight, whether a customer is running it on a perpetual license or through VCF. Given everything we just talked about around hardware audits, licensing shifts and bundled requirements, customers need to know well before that date what their go-forward plan is. If they want to stay supported by the OEM, the path leads to VCF 9, and for perpetual license holders that means giving up that license entirely. That is a significant decision, so the planning needs to start now rather than closer to the deadline.
VMblog: VMware customers with perpetual licenses must move to subscription licensing to upgrade to VCF 9. How could that decision affect the rights, control and long-term value associated with their existing licenses?
O’Rourke: The biggest impact is that customers forfeit their right to the perpetual license itself. That license is an asset, and moving to a subscription model means giving up that asset in order to continue. It also increases dependency on the OEM going forward. Customers lose a layer of optionality they previously had, since a perpetual license gave them more flexibility in how they managed their environment over time.
VMblog: Tesco’s dispute with Broadcom has brought VMware licensing and support concerns into public view. What does the case reveal about the broader challenges facing enterprise customers?
O’Rourke: I worked at VMware for over a decade and seeing that relationship shift so significantly in a relatively short time period was notable given how large and important the Tesco account had been. The case shows that even large, sophisticated organizations are weighing the combined impact of licensing, support and migration costs together, not in isolation. The scale of investment Tesco put into resolving the situation in a short time window suggests just how seriously enterprise customers are taking these pressures, and how far some are willing to go to avoid being locked into unfavorable terms.
VMblog: What does Spinnaker Support’s independent VMware support look like in practice, and how does it change the options available to customers?
O’Rourke: In many ways, independent support mirrors what customers already know from an OEM relationship. The core of it, including break-fix support, advisory guidance, and proactive engagement, looks familiar. One of the biggest differentiators is the team itself. At Spinnaker Support, we have a team with deep VMware experience and many of our employees, including myself, have worked at VMware. That level of experience and knowledge is comparable to, if not stronger than, what was historically reserved for premier services customers. The other difference is posture. Break-fix is reactive by nature, and Spinnaker recognizes that customers moving away from an OEM want to further reduce risk. That leads to more proactive engagement, with the team getting to know a customer’s environment, usage patterns and configuration in depth so potential issues can be flagged before they become break-fix situations. Ultimately, this gives customers the freedom to run their environments as long as they choose.
VMblog: What is the biggest misconception CIOs have about independent support for VMware?
O’Rourke: The issue of patching, especially security-related patches, comes up frequently. There is a widespread belief that opting for independent support means falling behind on patching, but the reality is more complex.
Even under the OEM model, patches often take six to nine months to reach customers when factoring in testing, quality assurance (QA), and maintenance windows; furthermore, many customers struggle to schedule the downtime required to apply them. Our approach relies on well-established, industry-accepted mitigation strategies grounded in a deep understanding of each customer’s environment. I have been working in this field for two years, and I haven’t encountered a single issue that we couldn’t resolve using this approach.
It is also worth noting that patches do not guarantee a definitive fix. I have seen instances where a patch is released, only for another one to appear a few days later to correct issues introduced by the first.
VMblog: Before engaging a provider, what should an organization understand about its VMware infrastructure, contractual rights, perpetual licenses, and long-term strategy?
O’Rourke: Customers need to have a comprehensive view” of what they own, along with clarity regarding what they own. From a procurement and asset management perspective, this means understanding which licenses are perpetual and which are subscription-based, as many organizations operate in hybrid environments without fully realizing it.
Renewal timelines and contractual obligations with Broadcom are also important, given that terms can vary by case, and many customers are unaware of the nuances that could affect them. It is crucial to review licenses, confirm access to binaries, and organize the relevant documentation in advance, as audits pose a real risk to any customer leaving the OEM relationship. Working with an independent provider gives customers more flexibility to make these decisions at their own pace, without feeling pressured.
VMblog: Does independent support serve primarily as a bridge to another platform, or can it be part of a long-term strategy with VMware?
O’Rourke: It can be both. I see a real mix of both scenarios among our customers. Some use independent support as a bridge while planning and executing a migration to another platform. Others plan to continue using VMware for many years; this includes customers who refreshed their hardware and upgraded to version 8 before opting for independent support, with the intention of maintaining the system for the long term. There are also customers somewhere in the middle of that spectrum and are either carrying out a multi-year migration or finalizing their long-term plan. Our approach is to support whichever option the customer chooses, whether it involves a future refresh, a gradual migration, or continued use of their current version for an extended period.
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