Infrastructure Solutions
VMware just got 140–1,200% more expensive. Here are your options.
From traditional servers to hyperconverged platforms, we design, build, and manage infrastructure that scales with your business. With VMware licensing costs exploding post-Broadcom, now is the time to evaluate alternatives—Azure Stack HCI, Nutanix, or optimised Hyper-V environments.
140–1,200%
reported VMware price increases post-Broadcom
89%
of organisations run hybrid infrastructure
5–6 yrs
modern hardware refresh cycle
$147B
Australian IT spending, 2025
Sources: Broadcom customer reporting, Gartner Australia IT spending forecast, and industry hybrid infrastructure surveys, 2024–25.
The VMware Licensing Earthquake
Broadcom changed everything. Here's what it means.
Broadcom's acquisition of VMware triggered the biggest virtualisation disruption in a decade. SMBs are hit hardest, with some facing renewal quotes 10× their previous costs. Don't panic—but do plan.
- 01
Per-Core Licensing
VMware moved from per-socket to per-core in late 2023—dramatically increasing costs for most deployments.
- 02
Perpetual Licenses Gone
Broadcom ended perpetual license sales in April 2024. Subscription only, with 3-year lock-in commitments.
- 03
Free ESXi Discontinued
The free vSphere Hypervisor was retired—even small single-host deployments now carry licensing cost.
- 04
SMBs Hit Hardest
Smaller VMware customers report the steepest renewal increases, with some seeing 10× their previous quote.
Your VMware alternatives
We're vendor-agnostic. Here's an honest comparison of the five platforms most Melbourne SMBs should evaluate.
- Licensing
- Per-core subscription (3-yr lock-in)
- Best for
- Existing VMware shops with budget to absorb the increase
- Considerations
- 140–1,200% price increases, vendor lock-in concerns
- Licensing
- Per-core subscription via Azure
- Best for
- Microsoft-centric environments, Azure hybrid strategy
- Considerations
- Requires Azure Arc integration, Azure portal management
- Licensing
- Per-node subscription
- Best for
- Feature parity with VMware, vendor independence
- Considerations
- Closest like-for-like replacement, strong HCI platform
- Licensing
- Included with Windows Server license
- Best for
- Cost-sensitive, Windows-only workloads
- Considerations
- Fewer features than VMware, but often "good enough"
- Licensing
- Free (open source) + optional support
- Best for
- Technical teams, development/test, cost-conscious
- Considerations
- No enterprise support without subscription, KVM-based
Our take: most Melbourne SMBs should evaluate Azure Stack HCI or Nutanix. For simpler environments, Hyper-V may be all you need. We'll recommend based on your workloads, not our margins.
What We Deliver
From single servers to enterprise HCI
- 01
Server Solutions
Physical and virtual servers sized for your workloads. HPE ProLiant, Dell PowerEdge, or whitebox builds optimised for your applications, with high-availability clustering where it matters.
- 02
Storage Systems
SAN, NAS, and hybrid storage from file shares to high-performance databases. Synology, QNAP, Dell/HPE SAN, and all-flash tiers sized to your data profile.
- 03
Hyperconverged Infrastructure
Azure Stack HCI, Nutanix, or VMware vSAN. Compute, storage, and networking combined in a single platform—simpler to manage, easier to scale.
- 04
Hybrid Cloud Integration
Connect on-premises to Azure, AWS, and M365. Site-to-site VPN, Azure ExpressRoute, hybrid identity, and disaster recovery to the cloud.
- 05
Migrations & Upgrades
Move workloads between platforms with minimal downtime. P2V conversions, VMware-to-HCI transitions, and on-prem-to-Azure migrations with tested cutover plans.
- 06
Network Infrastructure
The foundation everything runs on. Cisco and Ubiquiti switching, Fortinet firewalls, VLAN segmentation, and Wi-Fi 6/6E deployment.
Plan Your Refresh
Know when to refresh, and what goes where
Two questions every infrastructure decision comes back to: how old is the hardware, and which workloads belong on-prem versus in the cloud?
Hardware lifecycle
- Stage 1
0–3 years
Monitor & optimise
Operate normally. Manufacturer warranty covers hardware failures. Focus on capacity planning.
- Stage 2
3–5 years
Plan refresh
Consider extended warranty or third-party maintenance. Begin planning replacement. Evaluate cloud migration options.
- Stage 3
5–7 years
Refresh or migrate
Hardware failures become more likely. Windows Server ESU may be required. Strong candidate for refresh.
- Stage 4
7+ years
Urgent replacement
High failure risk. Parts increasingly difficult to source. Unsupported OS versions. Act now.
Hybrid decision matrix
89% of organisations run hybrid. Here's where each common workload belongs.
Predictable performance, data sovereignty, latency-sensitive
Built for cloud collaboration, anywhere access, auto-scaling
No server maintenance, built-in security, mobile-friendly
Fast local recovery, offsite cloud copy for disasters
Spin up/down as needed, no capital expense, pay-per-use
May not be cloud-compatible, known environment, stability
Auto-scaling, global reach, managed platform
Small: Azure SQL. Large/complex: on-prem or Azure SQL MI
Frequently asked questions
Facing a VMware renewal or hardware refresh?
Get an honest infrastructure assessment. We'll audit your current environment, evaluate alternatives, and recommend the right path—whether that's staying on VMware, migrating to HCI, or going hybrid cloud.
Vendor-agnostic · Fixed-price scoping