VMware announces the end of Aria SaaS and other standalone cloud services. These no longer fit into the plans of the parent company Broadcom, which wants to offer VMWare services as bundles.

These are confusing times for VMware customers. In December last year, the virtualization specialist announced a portfolio realignment that is now gradually taking shape. On its website, VMware publishes a list of products and services that are no longer available as standalone products. As of January 10th, VMware has stopped accepting orders for discontinued services.

Sold in bundles

As expected, this includes many products that were available via a one-time license: VMware (and especially its parent company Broadcom) is removing them from the portfolio to replace them with SaaS services. But they’re not entirely sure either: Aria SaaS, for example, doesn’t make the selection either. Broadcom wants to offer VMware services as packages: this way customers can purchase more services at once, which is more profitable for the provider.

During the takeover, there were fears that Broadcom would pull the ax, and that has completely proven to be true. VMware’s entire cloud portfolio is now being reorganized into two categories: Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation. Cloud Foundation includes products related to virtualization, hybrid and private cloud, vSphere Foundation adds “Intelligent Operations Management” and includes Aria in addition to vSphere. On the outside it looks easier, but not everyone is happy with the forced switch to subscriptions.

Growing dissatisfaction

VMware customers had difficulty with Broadcom’s actions. In particular, the discontinuation of the partner program for smaller resellers was the trigger for many. Some VMware product vendors are evaluating whether they can offer alternatives. Proxmox appears to be one of the parties that will benefit from the dissatisfaction with VMware and Broadcom.