IBM Cloud stops signing and seeking new customers for its VMware service
(2025/10/28)
- Reference: 1761634360
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/28/ibm_end_of_marketing_vmware_cloud/
- Source link:
IBM has announced it will stop marketing its VMware on IBM Cloud service to new customers.
In a [1]notice posted on Tuesday, Big Blue explains “Effective 31 October 2025, IBM Cloud will no longer sell VMware on IBM Cloud offerings to customers who do not have at least one active VMware Workload running on IBM Cloud before that date.”
IBM says the decision is necessary due to Broadcom’s licensing plans.
[2]
“Due to changes to Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Services Provider (VCSP) partner program, IBM is no longer permitted to sell VMware licenses to customers who do not have at least one active VMware Workload running on IBM Cloud before 31 October 2025,” the notice states.
[3]
[4]
That’s probably a reference to the VMware licensing change Broadcom [5]announced in August and which requires those who use Virtzilla’s wares in in a hyperscale environment to acquire their licenses directly from Broadcom, instead of from their preferred cloud operator.
Broadcom made that change because it now offers bring-your-own licensing that allows customers to acquire rights to use VMware software and apply them on-prem or across multiple supported clouds.
[6]
Partners like Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and AWS continued operating their cloudy VMware services after that change and remain happy to recruit new customers.
IBM appears to have taken a different approach, but other than mentioning Broadcom’s licensing changes doesn’t explain why in its notice or [7]FAQ .
Big Blue says existing customers “may continue to use and expand their VMware environments” but won’t be able to order a cloudy VMware offering beyond those they already use. Customers of IBM’s VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as a Service offering will also be unable to expand workloads to new regions or resource pools or move between on-demand and reserved consumption models.
[8]Twist in Tesco vs. VMware case as Computacenter files claim against Broadcom, Dell
[9]OpenStack in the pink with Flamingo release that escapes ancient Python constrictions
[10]Microsoft thinks cloud PCs might be overkill, starts streaming just apps under Windows 365
[11]Broadcom admits it’s sold a lot of shelfware to VMware customers
At the time of writing VMware still [12]lists IBM as a hyperscale partner.
But IBM hasn’t featured in analyst firm Gartner’s ranking of the top IaaS providers for five years – Amazon, Azure, Google, Alibaba and Huawei top the charts. Alibaba has also shut down its VMware service. Huawei never had one.
[13]
The Register fancies that Broadcom won’t miss IBM too much, and Big Blue won’t mind either. The reason for our assertion is Red Hat’s OpenShift, the platform that underpins IBM’s hybrid cloud practice and which recently enhanced its server virtualization and private capabilities. OpenShift is now a better direct competitor for VMware’s Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform, and analyst firm Gartner [14]believes Broadcom sees it as the only real competition for VCF.
Microsoft’s [15]Azure Local and AWS’s Outposts have some overlap with VCF, but don’t compete in terms of offering a platform that offers developers infrastructure-as-a-service spanning VMs and containers. Nor does Oracle’s Cloud at Customer. Google is mostly nowhere with private clouds.
“Historically, IBM has been one of the largest users of VMware (for its customers),” independent analyst Michael Warrilow told The Register . Warrilow has previously [16]written that the recent licensing changes are "yet another example of Broadcom shutting down ways to use VMware without purchasing a fixed-term license. Moreover, it is yet another example that demonstrates Broadcom's disregard for VMware's pre-acquisition partner ecosystem."
IBM Cloud’s VMware customers now face a choice: Stick with a platform that limits their options or look elsewhere.
Analyst firm Gartner thinks many were already pondering the latter option, as it recently [17]predicted VMware will lose 35 percent of the workloads it manages now in three years, many of them to hyperscalers. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://cloud.ibm.com/status/announcement?query=End+of+Marketing+%28EOM%29+notice+for+VMware+on+IBM+Cloud+%E2%80%93+October+2025
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/29/vmware-cloud-foundation-cloud-on-your-terms/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-faq-eos-vms
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/28/tesco_vs_broadcom_vmware_update/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/openstack_flamingo_release/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/microsoft_cloud_apps_omnissa_update/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/broadcom_q3_2025/
[12] https://www.broadcom.com/how-to-buy/software-partners/hyperscalers
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/gartner_vmware_migration_advice/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/15/azure_local_explained/
[16] https://www.virtified.com/insight/vmware-cloud-foundation-cloud-are-not-on-your-terms
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/gartner_vmware_migration_advice/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In a [1]notice posted on Tuesday, Big Blue explains “Effective 31 October 2025, IBM Cloud will no longer sell VMware on IBM Cloud offerings to customers who do not have at least one active VMware Workload running on IBM Cloud before that date.”
IBM says the decision is necessary due to Broadcom’s licensing plans.
[2]
“Due to changes to Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Services Provider (VCSP) partner program, IBM is no longer permitted to sell VMware licenses to customers who do not have at least one active VMware Workload running on IBM Cloud before 31 October 2025,” the notice states.
[3]
[4]
That’s probably a reference to the VMware licensing change Broadcom [5]announced in August and which requires those who use Virtzilla’s wares in in a hyperscale environment to acquire their licenses directly from Broadcom, instead of from their preferred cloud operator.
Broadcom made that change because it now offers bring-your-own licensing that allows customers to acquire rights to use VMware software and apply them on-prem or across multiple supported clouds.
[6]
Partners like Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and AWS continued operating their cloudy VMware services after that change and remain happy to recruit new customers.
IBM appears to have taken a different approach, but other than mentioning Broadcom’s licensing changes doesn’t explain why in its notice or [7]FAQ .
Big Blue says existing customers “may continue to use and expand their VMware environments” but won’t be able to order a cloudy VMware offering beyond those they already use. Customers of IBM’s VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as a Service offering will also be unable to expand workloads to new regions or resource pools or move between on-demand and reserved consumption models.
[8]Twist in Tesco vs. VMware case as Computacenter files claim against Broadcom, Dell
[9]OpenStack in the pink with Flamingo release that escapes ancient Python constrictions
[10]Microsoft thinks cloud PCs might be overkill, starts streaming just apps under Windows 365
[11]Broadcom admits it’s sold a lot of shelfware to VMware customers
At the time of writing VMware still [12]lists IBM as a hyperscale partner.
But IBM hasn’t featured in analyst firm Gartner’s ranking of the top IaaS providers for five years – Amazon, Azure, Google, Alibaba and Huawei top the charts. Alibaba has also shut down its VMware service. Huawei never had one.
[13]
The Register fancies that Broadcom won’t miss IBM too much, and Big Blue won’t mind either. The reason for our assertion is Red Hat’s OpenShift, the platform that underpins IBM’s hybrid cloud practice and which recently enhanced its server virtualization and private capabilities. OpenShift is now a better direct competitor for VMware’s Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform, and analyst firm Gartner [14]believes Broadcom sees it as the only real competition for VCF.
Microsoft’s [15]Azure Local and AWS’s Outposts have some overlap with VCF, but don’t compete in terms of offering a platform that offers developers infrastructure-as-a-service spanning VMs and containers. Nor does Oracle’s Cloud at Customer. Google is mostly nowhere with private clouds.
“Historically, IBM has been one of the largest users of VMware (for its customers),” independent analyst Michael Warrilow told The Register . Warrilow has previously [16]written that the recent licensing changes are "yet another example of Broadcom shutting down ways to use VMware without purchasing a fixed-term license. Moreover, it is yet another example that demonstrates Broadcom's disregard for VMware's pre-acquisition partner ecosystem."
IBM Cloud’s VMware customers now face a choice: Stick with a platform that limits their options or look elsewhere.
Analyst firm Gartner thinks many were already pondering the latter option, as it recently [17]predicted VMware will lose 35 percent of the workloads it manages now in three years, many of them to hyperscalers. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://cloud.ibm.com/status/announcement?query=End+of+Marketing+%28EOM%29+notice+for+VMware+on+IBM+Cloud+%E2%80%93+October+2025
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/29/vmware-cloud-foundation-cloud-on-your-terms/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-faq-eos-vms
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/28/tesco_vs_broadcom_vmware_update/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/openstack_flamingo_release/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/microsoft_cloud_apps_omnissa_update/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/broadcom_q3_2025/
[12] https://www.broadcom.com/how-to-buy/software-partners/hyperscalers
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQCiSVcnEyASahARUBGdEQAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/gartner_vmware_migration_advice/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/15/azure_local_explained/
[16] https://www.virtified.com/insight/vmware-cloud-foundation-cloud-are-not-on-your-terms
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/gartner_vmware_migration_advice/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "VMware will lose 35 percent of the workloads it manages [in 3] years"
Richard 12
My guess would be everyone else is gone in 5-7 years, leaving but a bitter memory.
Network effects and "last one standing pays the bill" means that absolutely everyone is now deciding "when" to migrate, not "if".
Re: "VMware will lose 35 percent of the workloads it manages [in 3] years"
Anonymous Coward
You need to do the full equation: they lose 35% of workloads but increase the price by 300%.
Broadcom's share price is up 110% over the last 12 months (935% over the last 5 years).
I think the shareholders are OK (for now) :-(
Closed-Source Virtualisation Platforms these Days
An_Old_Dog
... are so damned risky, totally apart from the technology.
The technology is there, and it works.
The risk is that the companies providing them - Amazon, Microsoft, Google, et. al. - randomly get wild hairs up their respective asses, change the licensing, the supported features, support policies, and/or support levels (outsourcing to inexperienced staff, cutting support positions, or changing personnel policies [WFH/RTO, causing experienced staff to leave]).
"VMware will lose 35 percent of the workloads it manages [in 3] years"
Well done, Broadcom board. That was a brilliant use of your capital.
So, what stellar excuse do you have now for your shareholders ? Because if I were one of those, I'd be thinking of keelhauling you guys.