In recent months, many IT managers have found themselves in the same situation as Marco — Head of Infrastructure in a mid-sized manufacturing enterprise: new VMware contracts, rising costs, and shrinking flexibility.

According to The Register and CRN, many VMware customers have reported cost increases of 300–500% following the Broadcom acquisition and the removal of flexible licensing options.
This has forced a growing number of organizations — especially in the mid-market — to rethink their infrastructure strategy.

After years of investment, infrastructure has started to feel like a cage.
So, what now?

In this article, we’ll explore what VMware still offers, what alternatives are emerging — and why a third path, combining OpenStack and automation, could be the most sustainable choice for the future.

A Market in Motion

An IDC survey shows that 34% of organizations are actively evaluating alternatives to VMware, particularly SMEs and mid-sized companies most affected by Broadcom’s new commercial policies.

Among these alternatives, OpenStack continues to grow as the open-source foundation for private cloud environments.
According to the OpenInfra Foundation, OpenStack surpassed 40 million active cores in 2023, making it one of the most widely adopted private cloud platforms globally — particularly in Europe, where sovereignty, cost control, and data locality are strategic priorities.

At the same time, cost pressure is rising alongside another critical need: automation.
Reports by Red Hat and Puppet show that operational complexity is now one of the main barriers to cloud transformation.
Organizations that adopt infrastructure automation reduce their time-to-market by up to 70%, but this requires platforms that simplify access and orchestration.

VMware: Solid, but at a Growing Price

VMware has long been the de facto standard for enterprise virtualization — trusted, compatible, and supported by a vast ecosystem.
However, the Broadcom era has introduced new challenges:

• Licensing costs up by 70%

• Rigid contract models

• Unclear product roadmaps

• Increasing vendor lock-in

At the same time, DevOps teams complain about slow provisioning, manual operations, and limited elasticity.
VMware will likely remain a standard — but many companies are actively evaluating alternatives.

OpenStack: Open Flexibility, with a Learning Curve

OpenStack has become one of the most mature open-source platforms for building and managing private cloud environments. It offers:

• Full independence from major vendors

• Direct control over resources and lifecycle

• Adaptability across workloads and industries

• Reduced TCO thanks to its open-source nature

OpenStack delivers what many companies now want: independence, transparency, and control.
It’s compatible with cloud-native architectures, customizable, and financially sustainable.

But it’s not plug-and-play.
OpenStack requires specialized skills and a well-structured management approach.

Three Operational Models for OpenStack

To adapt to different organizational needs, companies today can adopt OpenStack in several ways:

1. On-premise self-managed
OpenStack is installed and maintained internally.

• Requires high in-house expertise (Linux, networking, IaC, automation)

• Offers maximum control but highest complexity

2. Hosted by an OpenStack provider
OpenStack is run by a provider in a dedicated, private environment.

• The company retains logical control but not the hardware

• Ideal for those wanting to move away from VMware while maintaining governance

3. Managed OpenStack services
The infrastructure is handled by a partner but exposed through a simplified interface — prebuilt templates, orchestration, CI/CD pipelines.

• Perfect for dev and ops teams that want to use infrastructure without managing it

• Makes OpenStack adoption seamless and developer-friendly

While direct adoption of OpenStack is possible, automation and managed orchestration are often essential to make it truly sustainable.
The right platform can bridge the gap between flexibility and complexity, ensuring a smoother transition.

Automation: The Key to Sustainable Adoption

Even with the right adoption model, OpenStack can be challenging to manage.
Resource allocation, networking, security, and provisioning require specialized expertise — and that’s where automation becomes decisive.

A Cloud Management Platform (CMP) that abstracts OpenStack’s technical complexity allows DevOps teams to focus on execution, not configuration.

Automation doesn’t erase complexity — it makes it invisible.
It standardizes deployment, strengthens governance, and accelerates operations.

Through infrastructure-as-code templates and automated workflows, companies can dramatically simplify OpenStack management.
Key features include:

• Automated VM conversion from VMware to OpenStack formats

• IaC-based provisioning for repeatable deployments

• Centralized compliance and security policy management

• Self-healing automation for resilience and continuity

These capabilities turn OpenStack from a daunting challenge into a manageable, sustainable evolution.

Why OpenStack + Automation Is the Balanced Choice

Compared to proprietary solutions, OpenStack strikes a smart balance between freedom, flexibility, and sustainability.
It’s open, transparent, community-driven, and — when automated — fully competitive with enterprise-grade platforms, but without licensing costs or vendor lock-in.

The Third Path: Hybrid Environments with Intelligent Automation

It’s not about choosing between VMware or OpenStack.
Many organizations are now combining the best of both worlds:

• Keeping legacy or critical workloads on VMware

• Moving cloud-native workloads to OpenStack

• Managing both through automated provisioning and orchestration

This hybrid approach allows companies to:

• Cut costs without disrupting what already works

• Increase agility and time-to-market

• Regain bargaining power and technological independence

When the Two Worlds Must Coexist

For many enterprises, the transition isn’t binary.
Legacy systems (ERP, regulated workloads) may remain on VMware, while new components run on OpenStack.
To make this coexistence work, organizations need:

• Interconnected networks (VPN, VXLAN, SDN)

• Federated policies and IAM

• A unified orchestration layer

That’s where automation platforms like Cloudsome make the difference — enabling centralized management, consistent security, and seamless scalability across mixed VMware and OpenStack environments.

How to Begin the Transition

A smart migration can’t be improvised — but it can be simplified.
Cloudsome helps organizations:

• Automatically convert VMware VMs to OpenStack

• Manage infrastructure as code (IaC)

• Standardize compliance and security policies

• Ensure resilience through self-healing automation

• Simplify application deployment by abstracting cloud complexity

Cloudsome isn’t just an automation platform —
it’s the missing layer between VMware’s stability and modern cloud flexibility.
By automating provisioning, security, and governance, it lets you leverage the power of OpenStack without its operational burden — turning a risky migration into a smooth, sustainable evolution.

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The future of private cloud isn’t a leap into the unknown.
It’s a guided transition — one that unites stability and innovation.
VMware and OpenStack don’t have to be rivals.
They can coexist within a modern, flexible, and sustainable architecture.

Want to learn how?
Request an assessment with our experts and explore how automation can redefine your private cloud strategy.