MSPs
change difficult to justify, so SMBs must determine the extent to which their existing infrastructure will meet their needs, regardless of whether they migrate away from VMware.
Making the right call In these circumstances, it is incumbent on MSPs to help their customers navigate the process, whichever direction it takes, as smoothly as possible. Clearly, they are well-positioned to help these customers understand the opportunities and risks of staying with VMware, as well as the viability of other options. For customers not in a position to make these assessments,
the MSP’s role is to help build that insight into the current environment rather than beginning with a preferred product. A decision to stay with VMware may be appropriate if, for instance, the subscription package on offer represents good value for their needs. It may also be influenced by the cost and disruption of moving applications to a different platform. Conversely, if the customer decides to migrate to another
platform, it will need confidence that the alternative can support existing workloads without forcing a hardware refresh. For these organisations, the MSP can then pivot towards planning and implementing a solution that precisely fits their needs and, of course, minimises operational disruption. It may also be sensible to take a phased approach where the
customer operates more than one site or has a mixture of critical and less critical workloads. A smaller deployment can help validate compatibility and support arrangements before the customer commits to a wider rollout. Tis gives the MSP an opportunity to identify and resolve practical issues early, while reducing the risk of disruption across the wider environment. Te devil is in the details. Te practical implications become
clearer when individual functions are considered. In backup and recovery, for example, some organisations currently rely on agentless backup tools that integrate directly with VMware environments. An alternative platform may require a different backup approach, such as using agents where direct integration is unavailable. Tis is the kind of issue that must be addressed before a
migration decision is made and finalised, not aſter a commitment has been made. Te same is true of support, and MSPs should be very clear about who will manage the environment aſter deployment and how any issues will be resolved. Remote management can play an important role by reducing the need for site visits and making it easier to support customers across multiple locations.
Planning for what comes next All of these issues exist in an environment where everyone is under pressure to modernise. When changes to key pieces of infrastructure, such as virtualisation, are under consideration, it’s logical for organisations to take a holistic approach and buy for future possibilities. Tis is particularly important when planning for technologies
such as AI and containerisation, both of which are influencing infrastructure investment, even when an organisation has yet to identify a complete operational use case.
www.pcr-online.biz To an extent, that’s understandable, but a desire to prepare for
the future should not lead customers to invest in either capacity or functionality that they may never use. Tere should always be a distinction between a genuine operational requirement, such as the role played by virtualisation, and the broader ambition to keep options open. Instead, the objective should be to select an environment that can adapt should requirements change.
Rethinking infrastructure Among the various alternative technologies is hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), which is used by organisations that need to run virtualised workloads without the complexity associated with traditional architectures. It’s a substantial global market niche, and Gartner has predicted that the share of the non-VMware full-stack HCI installed base will increase to 60% by 2029 (up from 30% in 2024). Te basic premise of HCI is to bring compute, storage, and
virtualisation together into an integrated, soſtware-defined platform. Tis is particularly suited to organisations that need to deliver reliable performance while keeping infrastructure and operational complexity under control. Depending on the platform and customer requirements, HCI can also offer high availability with fewer servers than a conventional architecture may require. HCI allows organisations to use existing hardware where
it remains fit for purpose, avoiding the cost and disruption of an unnecessary refresh. It can also be deployed and managed remotely, helping simplify ongoing administration across distributed environments. For organisations with multiple locations, individual sites
are not simply smaller versions of a central data centre. Retail outlets and manufacturing facilities, for example, may depend on applications that must remain available locally, despite having limited physical space, power, and cooling capacity. Tey may also lack dedicated IT specialists who can resolve issues as they arise. Te practical requirement is for infrastructure that can
deliver local application performance while still being managed consistently from a remote location. A standardised platform can help MSPs support these environments more consistently across multiple customer locations, even where each site has different operational demands.
An opportunity for MSPs Tere is little doubt that the changes at VMware have given customers a reason to review environments that might otherwise have been leſt unchanged. Tis is in the nature of the IT industry as a whole, where change is constant. For MSPs, there is quite a significant opportunity to
strengthen the strategic advisory role they play with customers, particularly where that relationship may not yet be fully developed. Tose that can demonstrate a compelling value proposition will be well positioned to help customers make the right infrastructure decisions and, should they choose to move away from VMware, guide them through the transition to an environment fully aligned with their business, operational, and technology needs.
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