If you’ve been running VMware-heavy environments, you probably read that piece and thought, “Great, now what? Do we just brace for the next Broadcom invoice?”
Here’s the reality: you don’t have to. The smartest IT leaders aren’t waiting for the next hit. They’re already migrating to Microsoft Azure. And for good reason — Azure is the clearest, most practical next step for businesses that want scalability, predictability, and a platform that won’t feel outdated in the future years.
Anyone who’s ever tried to scale VMware infrastructure knows the drill: long procurement cycles, hardware lead times, contracts that feel like they were written to test your patience. By the time you get what you need, the business has already moved on.
Azure changes the tempo completely. Spin up resources in minutes, scale them back down when demand dips, and forget about hardware refreshes. That agility isn’t just convenient; it’s the difference between shipping a product on time and missing an entire market window.
VMware’s new per-core licensing model has turned budgeting into an Olympic sport. CFOs hate unpredictability, and right now, VMware delivers plenty of it.
Azure flips that with its OpEx-based, pay-as-you-go model, plus the Azure Hybrid Benefit that lets you reuse Windows Server and SQL licenses you already own. Predictable, transparent, and controllable. Instead of arguing over why your virtualization bill quadrupled, you can have a normal budget conversation again.
AI, machine learning, advanced analytics, IoT — these aren’t afterthoughts in Azure. They’re part of the platform. If your CIO wants to launch a machine learning pilot, or if your CEO is pressuring you to “do something with AI,” Azure makes that possible without years of planning and procurement.
With VMware, you’re paying more for… the same virtualization you’ve had for a decade. With Azure, your IT stack actually evolves with your business strategy.
Post-acquisition, VMware has been shedding support staff and partners, and customers are starting to feel it. Customers are beginning to experience longer response times and reduced support, leaving many to handle cybersecurity on their own.
Azure, on the other hand, comes with Microsoft’s shared responsibility model and automated security baked into the platform — patching, compliance enforcement, threat detection. That’s not just fewer late nights for your ops team, it’s stronger protection for your business.
Moving to Azure doesn’t necessarily mean tossing your VMware expertise out the window. Thanks to Azure VMware Solution (AVS), you can bring your existing VMware workloads into Azure with the tools you already know — vSphere, vSAN, NSX.
Think of AVS as the on-ramp that gets you out of VMware’s storm and onto Azure’s highway — without wrecking the car in the process.
The catch for many companies is costs—specifically, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Because while AVS acts as a “gentle bridge” between the systems, it also means delaying necessary re-architecture and maintaining reliance on VMware expertise and its associated costs.
In our experience, a superior long-term alternative is a direct rehost or re-platform onto native Azure IaaS and PaaS services. This approach mandates the shift to a cloud-native model, ultimately delivering a lower TCO through enhanced efficiency, optimization, and better utilization of Azure’s consumption-based pricing.
Of course, knowing where to go is one thing. Getting there smoothly is another. That’s where Intwo comes in.
Intwo gives you the breathing room to modernize on your own timeline, without forcing an overnight transformation.
For more information and options on migrating from VMware to Azure, download our new playbook.
And here’s the key difference: we don’t disappear after migration. We stick around to help you optimize spend, secure workloads, and unlock Azure services you might not even know you have access to.
Hanging onto VMware because “it still works” isn’t a strategy — it’s procrastination. And every month you wait, you’re gambling with both cost and flexibility. Broadcom’s next licensing change isn’t a possibility; it’s a guarantee.
Azure is the way out. It gives you flexibility, innovation, and cost control that VMware simply can’t match anymore. And with AVS, the transition is far less disruptive than most IT leaders imagine.
At Intwo, we see this not as a crisis but as a reset button — a chance to build IT that’s agile, secure, and genuinely aligned with business growth.
Want the complete playbook? Download our free whitepaper on migrating from VMware to Azure. Inside, you’ll find cost models, migration strategies, and a practical checklist to make your move smooth and low-risk.
Don’t wait for the next VMware price hike — future-proof your IT.
Contact us to start your VMware-to-Azure journey with a free consultation and migration roadmap.
Azure VMware Solution is a service from Microsoft that lets you run the full VMware stack, including vSphere, vSAN, and NSX, on dedicated Azure infrastructure. It allows businesses to move their existing VMware workloads to the cloud without re-architecting applications or changing the tools their teams already use. Microsoft manages the underlying hardware, upgrades, and maintenance. AVS is designed for organizations that want to get out of on-premises data centers quickly while keeping their VMware environment familiar and operational.
AVS works well as a quick migration path, but it may not be the best long-term strategy for every business. While it lets you move fast with minimal changes, you are essentially paying for both the VMware stack and Azure infrastructure at the same time, which can get expensive. There is also uncertainty about how long AVS will remain available, since bridge solutions like this often have a limited shelf life. For many businesses, migrating directly to Azure native services offers better value and more advanced capabilities over time.
The main alternative is migrating directly to Azure native services like Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Service, Azure SQL, and Azure Virtual Desktop. This approach, often called a lift-and-shift migration to Azure IaaS, avoids the extra licensing costs of running VMware in the cloud. You also unlock native Azure capabilities like managed disks, Azure Backup, and Defender for Cloud. Another option is using Azure Site Recovery to replicate VMware VMs to Azure. Each approach has trade-offs depending on your timeline, budget, and complexity.
The main driver is Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, which has led to significant licensing changes and price increases. Broadcom has shifted VMware to a subscription-only model, discontinued some products, and narrowed its partner ecosystem to an invitation-only program. Many businesses are facing higher costs and less flexibility than before. These changes have pushed organizations to explore cloud-based alternatives like Azure, where they can reduce their dependency on VMware while gaining access to modern cloud services and more predictable pricing.
Migrating to AVS means running your existing VMware environment inside Azure with minimal changes. Your team keeps using the same VMware tools and processes. Migrating to Azure native means converting your workloads to run on Azure’s own services like Azure VMs, managed databases, and platform services. Azure native gives you access to features like autoscaling, serverless computing, AI integrations, and DevOps tools that AVS does not provide. AVS is faster to set up, but Azure native delivers better long-term optimization and cost savings.
Starting October 2025, Broadcom requires customers to purchase their own VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses directly from Broadcom to use with any cloud provider, including Azure. This means Microsoft can no longer bundle VCF licenses into AVS. Customers who secured reserved instances before the deadline can keep their current licensing terms for the duration of their commitment. New customers or those expanding their AVS environment now need to manage a separate licensing relationship with Broadcom, which adds complexity and potentially higher costs to the equation.
A lift-and-shift migration moves your existing VMware workloads into Azure Virtual Machines with minimal changes to the applications themselves. It makes sense when you need to exit your data center quickly, your hardware is reaching end of life, or you want to avoid the complexity of re-architecting applications. The benefit is speed and simplicity. The trade-off is that you may miss opportunities for cloud-native optimization, which could lead to higher running costs compared to workloads that are redesigned to take full advantage of Azure services.
Azure Site Recovery, or ASR, is primarily a disaster recovery tool, but it can also be used to migrate VMware virtual machines to Azure. It works by replicating your on-premises VMware VMs to Azure Storage. Once replication is complete, you perform a failover to Azure VMs to finish the migration. ASR is useful for straightforward migrations where speed matters. However, because it replicates your existing infrastructure as-is, you may miss chances to optimize your workloads for the cloud, which may result in higher costs over time.
Intwo is a certified Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Services Provider with deep expertise in both VMware and Azure. Intwo start with a free assessment of your current environment to determine the best migration path, whether that is AVS, Azure native, or a combination of both. Intwo handles the entire process, from planning and execution to post-migration optimization and ongoing managed services. Their experience with complex migrations across industries means your business gets a tailored strategy that balances speed, cost, and long-term cloud value.
The answer depends on your timeline, budget, and long-term cloud strategy. If you need to move fast and want to keep using your existing VMware tools without any changes, AVS is a good short-term option. But if you are looking for better cost efficiency, access to advanced Azure features like AI and analytics, and freedom from VMware licensing complexity, going directly to Azure native is the stronger long-term play. Many businesses use AVS as a stepping stone and then gradually modernize their workloads to Azure native over time.
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