Broadcom tosses VMware users a bone, extends vSphere 7 support six months

Broadcom has announced that VMware vSphere 7.x users will get six additional months of support for the product. VMware vSphere 7, which was launched in 2020, was scheduled to go out of support in April 2025 but will now be maintained until October 2025.

Broadcom confirmed the news (which The Register reported Tuesday) in a statement issued today: “To enhance our commitment to customer satisfaction, we are extending the general support period for VMware vSphere and vSAN 7.x. Originally set as April 2, 2025, the End of General Support (EoGS) date has been extended by 6 months, now being moved to October 2, 2025.”

“This extension of support period provides customers greater flexibility in planning future upgrades. Our dedication is to foster a dependable support environment and provide ample time for strategic planning as customer needs evolve.”

This change is not unprecedented. Before Broadcom acquired VMware, vSphere 6.5 and vCenter 6.5 support was extended in 2021 for a year to help admins who had difficulty upgrading due to pandemic restrictions. Broadcom said that, as it was then, vCenter support is also extended.

One industry analyst suggests the vSphere 7 support extension is a public relations move, timed in advance of the upcoming VMware Explore 2024 event.

“The cynical IT person would suggest that two recent VMware announcements – one about the extended support for vSphere7 and the second, a hard-to-parse promise of additional [VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)] features functionality and value – are transparent attempts to blunt what will undoubtedly be a frosty reception when VMware by Broadcom leaders host customers and partners in Las Vegas a scant four weeks from now. The cynical IT person would be right!” said John Annand, research practice lead at Info-Tech Research Group.

“Six months of additional support for what will then be a 5-year-old product doesn’t materially cost Broadcom anything. And if it was the extra little bit of runway perpetual license holdouts needed in order to move to VCF, why not get some good press about it rather than including it as a ‘standard concession’ on every deal they are inking and signing over the next 12 months?” Annand said.

One deadline that hasn’t changed is the expiration of AWS’s reseller agreement with VMware on August 1, after which customers will no longer be able to use on-demand vSphere servers from the VMware Cloud on AWS, eliminating the ability to rapidly scale up (or down) as required. They have been offered the option to purchase 12-month subscriptions for their current on-demand servers; Broadcom now advises they should acquire those licenses by July 26.

The Register cited an email from Broadcom to customers that said, “To continue delivering you the best possible experience, we are moving to a subscription-only model for the purchase and consumption of hosts, meaning we are no longer supporting the on-demand model.”

It is yet another unpopular move by Broadcom, which has also changed its licensing for all versions to a consumption-based model based on number of cores in use, which has caused some customers’ bills to skyrocket and started them questioning the value of the technology.

VMware Cloud Foundation updates

Broadcom’s major focus has been on building its cloud versions. In a blog post in April, CEO Hock Tan wrote, “These changes were designed to lead to an integrated VCF solution that will bring broader long-term benefits to our valued customers both in their own data centers and in the cloud with increased portability to move workloads among on-premises data centers and supported cloud providers.”

In June, the company announced a series of updates to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VSF) to further its goals.

New capabilities include:

• VCF Import – integration of existing vSphere and vSAN environments into VMware Cloud Foundation to centralize management and optimize resources without a full rebuild of the customer’s environment.
• VCF cloud experience for developers – adds quick start templates, easier network integration, and advanced performance insights. It provides setup and configuration aids to help move from traditional VLAN-based networks to NSX virtual networks.
• ESXi Live Patching – lets admins apply critical patches without requiring maintenance downtime.
• Simplified console for vSphere Foundation – includes global inventory, simplified diagnostics, centralized certificate management, and unified licensing.
• Single sign-on across all VSF product components.
• Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service –  becomes an independent service, with asynchronous updates to allow faster access to the latest upstream Kubernetes versions.

Info-Tech’s Annand had mixed reactions to the updates.

“There are some genuine nuggets, like ESXi live patching, additional architectural templates for AI workloads, and (finally) full platform single sign-on, that will marginally improve system admins lives,” he said. “Undoubtedly, they are saving additional content (like releasing plans for large CSP licensing) until closer to the conference itself. But at the end of the day, it feels mostly like a vendor who is inviting 9,000 people over in 4 weeks and would very much not like to be booed off the stage.”

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