Microsoft called time on its Azure–based VMware offering, removing one of the last few standalone purchase options for the virtualization service as Broadcom continues its bundle-based push.

A Microsoft product update explained Azure VMware Solution (AVS) will be retired on August 30 to suit Broadcom’s preferred bring-your-own-license (BYOL) model. Clients currently using license-included reserved instance (RI) SKUs were advised to make the cloud jump and purchase portable Broadcom VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses and make the transition and avoid service disruption following the deadline. Microsoft advised those not ready to switch to “start assessing current AVS environments immediately, and develop a transition roadmap to ensure you have ample time to exit AVS and avoid service disruption.”

Microsoft's move followed one from Oracle earlier this year in accommodating Broadcom’s bundled cloud subscription pivot VMware's software. Amazon Web Services (AWS) remains the outlier among hyperscalers in no longer distributing VMware’s cloud service, instead offering an Elastic service (EVS) where users can maintain their VCF license inside Amazon Virtual Private Cloud and access other applications in AWS. It also debuted an AI migration tool to help disgruntled VMware users migrate away from Broadcom as the ramifications of its pivot continue.

Those ramifications have seen a host of alternatives pop up over the last year, including Nutanix, Cisco, Caylent, OVHcloud, and Platform9. It has also seen Broadcom lose high-profile customers such as Siemens and British retail giant Tesco. Some, like U.S. engineering firm Kimley-Horn, complained of price hikes, an issue seen on both sides of the pond, with one European cloud trade group taking Broadcom to task at the highest level via a competition complaint filed with the European Union.

It’s not all been doom and gloom, with VMware partners such as ThinkOn backing Broadcom’s plans in a recent interview with SDxCentral.

VCF touted for better compute and cost returns

Broadcom is also banging its own drum with the release of a report this week pushing VCF as helping large enterprises to run their cloud infrastructure cheaper and faster. Authored by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Broadcom, the report projects benefits of uo to $36.1 million across a three-year basis and up to a 137% return of investment. A host of other claims involved VMware's NSX software-defined networking and security platform, with a 60% reduction in manual network-ticket volume, and overall compute-friendly infrastructure consolidation and utilization with the VCF bundle.

The latter was attributed to better workload placement and resource pooling; capabilities like deduplication and compression making better use of storage resources; and “more standardized management across compute, storage, and networking.” Forrester projected $6 million and $13.4 million in value through these efforts.

Interestingly, the report acknowledged that subscription costs were higher than some legacy licensing models, but this was evened out for interviewees by VCF having “a more comprehensive platform with integrated capabilities."