Leave VMware before your next Broadcom renewal. A route for each workload, across Azure, Kubernetes and Dynamics 365, and every application tested before and after cutover.
Broadcom ended perpetual VMware licences in December 2023 and now sells per-core subscriptions. For most mid-market businesses the next renewal is the real deadline, and vSphere 8 reaches end of general support on 11 October 2027.
Moving every VM to one new place rarely makes sense. We look at each workload and choose the route that fits it: Azure VMware Solution as a bridge, Azure VMs and Azure services, containers on SUSE Rancher or AKS, a rebuilt application, or Dynamics 365 in place of an old ERP. Then we prove each application still works, with AI testing before and after cutover.
Our guide to leaving VMware after Broadcom covers the licensing changes, every date to plan around and the options in detail.
These dates come from Broadcom and Microsoft, as published in October 2026.
Pay-as-you-go Azure VMware Solution hosts that include the VMware licence must move to a VCF subscription bought from Broadcom.
Extended support ends. Security updates after this date are paid Extended Security Updates.
Free Extended Security Updates on Azure end. SQL Server 2016 updates are already paid, on Azure or off it.
Licence-included AVS reserved instances must be exchanged for bring-your-own VCF reservations, or the workloads moved off AVS.
End of general support for vSphere 8, vSAN 8, NSX 4 and VCF 5.2. After this date Broadcom gives no technical support or new patches.
One estate usually needs more than one route. The assessment decides which workload goes where. How we choose a route explains the signals we look at.
Your VMware estate runs as-is on dedicated Azure hosts, using a VCF subscription you buy from Broadcom. We treat it as a bridge and modernise from there.
Servers rehost onto Azure VMs, and databases move to Azure SQL Managed Instance or Azure SQL Database where they can, so you stop running the parts Azure can run for you.
Applications run in containers on AKS in Azure, or on SUSE Rancher on your own servers or across clouds. SUSE Virtualization (Harvester) runs the remaining VMs on the same platform.
We rebuild the application for the cloud, using agents to read the existing code and configuration first, so the rewrite starts from what the system really does.
Rehosting an out-of-support ERP only moves the problem. We replace it with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations or Business Central instead.
An oil and gas company in Scotland ran its own VMware infrastructure. We took it off VMware using three routes at once. Containerised applications moved to SUSE Rancher. The ERP was replaced with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations instead of being rehosted. Other workloads moved to Azure, onto Azure services and not just VMs, and the SQL Server estate moved to Azure as well.
Azure Migrate discovers the estate and its dependencies. We cost each workload against your Broadcom renewal and every route.
Each workload gets a route, a wave and an owner. We design the Azure landing zone and, where it fits, the Rancher platform.
Agents test every business-critical journey through the user interface before anything moves, and record the results with screenshots.
Workloads move wave by wave with rollback plans. Integrations and data are checked after each wave, not at the end.
Agents re-run the same tests after cutover and compare them with the baseline. You decide go-live on evidence, then we can run the platform for you.
A VM that boots in Azure is not the same as an application that works. Most migration plans check the infrastructure and leave the application to the users on Monday morning.
We test the application. Before migration, agents work through each business-critical journey in the user interface, the way a user would, and record what they see. After cutover they run the same journeys on the new platform, compare the results and raise any difference in Azure DevOps with screenshots attached. You get an evidence pack for the go-live decision, and a person makes it.
It is the same AI testing we run for a client whose every release is AI-tested. See agentic software delivery for how it works, and our migration testing guide for the cutover checklist.
The assessment costs each workload against your Broadcom renewal, not against a blank sheet. It accounts for per-core VCF licensing, Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server and SQL Server, the current status of Extended Security Updates, and savings plans or reservations for steady workloads.
Microsoft funds some migration work through its Azure Accelerate programme, now part of Frontier Accelerate for Azure, for partners with the relevant specializations. We check what your project qualifies for. How to build the cost model covers the method.
The migration is the start, not the end. We can run what you move: the integrations through Integration as a Service, Dynamics 365 through D365 as a Service, and the agents that take over the work through AI as a Service.
What changed, what it costs, every date to plan around and how an exit project runs.
When AVS, Azure VMs, containers, a rebuild or SaaS is the right answer, and when it is not.
Running VMs and containers on Kubernetes, on-premises or in Azure.
How to compare the renewal with each Azure route honestly, including licensing and ESUs.
AI testing before and after cutover, and the evidence pack for go-live.
Why we replace an out-of-support ERP instead of rehosting it.
Opex, renewal timing, carve-outs and what to put in the 100-day plan.
Tell us your renewal date and what runs on VMware. We will map each workload to a route and show you the cost against renewing.
Or call us directly: 01625 569 777
