Ars Technica reports that Topgolf saved more than $11.3 million by leaving VMware. For other organisations, the lesson is that an exit can pay off. It still needs careful planning, because a long VMware dependency is hard to unwind.
Key takeaways
- Ars Technica reports that the leisure company Topgolf saved more than $11.3 million after moving away from VMware.
- According to Ars Technica, Topgolf’s reliance on VMware ran deep before the migration began.
- Publicly available details do not show which platform Topgolf moved to, how long the move took or how the savings were calculated.
- Since Broadcom acquired VMware, many organisations have reviewed their virtualisation spending, and a few have started to leave.
- Any organisation thinking about a similar move should work out its own costs, risks and staff skills rather than relying on another company’s headline figure.
What has Topgolf actually done?
Ars Technica reports that Topgolf, which runs golf-based entertainment venues, has moved off VMware and saved more than $11.3 million. The publication describes the company’s use of VMware before the move as deep. The VMware platform appears to have been central to its infrastructure rather than a small part of it.
Several details are not available in the material reviewed for this guide. These include which replacement technology Topgolf chose and over what period the savings were measured. It is also not clear whether the figure covers licensing alone or includes hardware, staffing and migration costs. Readers should treat the $11.3 million as the company’s reported outcome. It is not a benchmark that other organisations can expect to reach.
Why is this in the news now?
The story matters because of the wider debate about VMware’s future under Broadcom’s ownership. Since the acquisition, VMware customers have dealt with changes to how the software is packaged and sold. These include a move towards subscriptions and bundled product suites instead of standalone perpetual licences. Many customers have said their costs went up as a result, although the effect varies a great deal from one organisation to another.
Plenty of businesses have said they are considering leaving, but far fewer have published results. A named company reporting a specific saving is therefore unusual. Topgolf’s case has become a reference point for IT leaders deciding whether a migration is worth the effort.
What background does a newcomer need?
VMware makes virtualisation software. Its core products let one physical server run many separate “virtual machines”, each with its own operating system and applications. VMware’s hypervisor and management tools have been the standard choice in corporate data centres for many years. As a result, a large number of businesses built their IT operations around them.
That history explains why leaving is hard. An organisation that has used VMware for a long time has also built up:
- Operational habits and staff expertise tied to VMware’s management tools
- Backup, monitoring and disaster recovery systems that connect to VMware’s interfaces
- Network and storage designs built around VMware features
- Scripts and automation written for VMware’s own programming interfaces
Common alternatives include other commercial hypervisors and hyperconverged platforms, open-source virtualisation, container platforms that can also run virtual machines, and public cloud services. Each one handles management, licensing and support differently. None of them is a drop-in replacement.
Who is affected, and how?
The most directly affected group is organisations that run large VMware estates and are coming up to licence renewals. Their decision is whether to accept new terms, negotiate, or start a migration. Smaller organisations face the same choice. However, they often have fewer staff to carry out a migration and less leverage in negotiations.
IT teams take on most of the practical burden. A migration means testing workloads on a new platform, retraining staff and rebuilding tooling. All of this has to happen while existing services keep running. Finance teams are affected because savings usually come only after an upfront investment, which can include parallel running costs.
Vendors of competing platforms also have a stake. Published success stories help them make the case for switching. That is one reason readers should check where any case study’s figures come from.
Where do informed people disagree?
There is a real disagreement about whether leaving VMware makes sense for most organisations.
Supporters of migration argue that the licensing changes are a lasting shift. In their view, staying means accepting higher costs and reduced bargaining power over time. They see cases like Topgolf’s as evidence that the savings can be large and the work is manageable.
Sceptics say that headline savings often leave out the full cost of a migration. That includes staff time, consultancy, retraining, the risk of outages and the cost of running two platforms during the move. They also point out that alternative platforms may lack features that some organisations rely on. And a change of vendor can simply create a new dependency.
A third view is that the outcome depends heavily on the individual organisation. Organisations with simple, standardised workloads may find it easy to move. Those with complex, tightly integrated estates may find that a renegotiated VMware contract is the cheaper option, at least in the short term.
There is no published, independent dataset in the material reviewed here that settles the question.
What are the practical implications for your organisation?
For an IT leader weighing up a similar move, a structured approach lowers the risk.
- Inventory everything. List every virtual machine, along with its owner, how critical it is and what it depends on. Many organisations find workloads they had forgotten about.
- Map the integrations. Note every tool that connects to VMware, including backup, monitoring, security, automation and storage. Each one needs either a replacement or confirmation that it works with the new platform.
- Model total cost honestly. Compare the expected licence cost of staying with the full cost of leaving: new licences or support, hardware changes, training, temporary parallel running and external help. Use a timeframe of several years, not a single renewal cycle.
- Run a pilot. Move low-risk workloads first. Measure performance, how hard day-to-day operations are, and how long each move takes.
- Plan around renewal dates. Work out how much time remains before current agreements end. Consider whether a short-term renewal would buy time for a careful migration.
- Keep negotiating. A credible migration plan can strengthen your position in talks with any vendor, including the one you are currently using.
- Document the outcome. If you migrate, record actual costs and savings in a consistent way, so that you can see whether the decision worked.
What should readers watch next?
Several developments will show whether Topgolf’s experience is typical. More detailed case studies would help, especially ones that break down migration costs as well as savings. Changes to Broadcom’s licensing terms or pricing could make leaving more or less appealing. The development of alternative platforms will also matter, particularly in management tooling and enterprise support. Finally, independent surveys of how many organisations have actually completed migrations would be more useful than counts of those that have only announced plans.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Topgolf save by leaving VMware?
Ars Technica reports that Topgolf saved more than $11.3 million after moving away from VMware. The information available here does not say over what period that saving was measured, or which costs were included. For example, it is unclear whether migration labour, new licences or hardware were subtracted. Treat the figure as one company’s reported result, not as a guide to what other organisations might save.
Which platform did Topgolf move to after VMware?
The material reviewed for this guide does not say which platform Topgolf adopted. Common choices for organisations leaving VMware include other commercial hypervisors, hyperconverged infrastructure products, open-source virtualisation and public cloud services. Each has different licensing, support and operational requirements. The right choice depends on an organisation’s workloads, in-house skills and existing tools.
Why are companies leaving VMware?
Many organisations have reconsidered VMware since Broadcom acquired it and changed how the products are licensed and bundled. Some customers report higher costs under the new arrangements, while others want to reduce their dependence on a single vendor. The effect varies widely. Some organisations find that switching makes financial sense, while others decide that renegotiating and staying is cheaper.
How long does a VMware migration take?
There is no standard timeframe. Migration time depends on the number of virtual machines, how complex the integrations are, the destination platform and the staff available. A small, standardised estate can move relatively quickly. A large estate deeply tied into backup, monitoring and automation tools can take much longer. Running a pilot is the most reliable way to estimate the effort for your own organisation.
Is leaving VMware worth it for a small business?
It depends on how the costs compare. Smaller organisations may face proportionally larger licence increases, but they usually have fewer staff to carry out a migration. A small business should compare the full multi-year cost of staying with the full cost of moving, including training and temporary disruption. If the gap is narrow, the risk of a migration may outweigh the savings.
What are the main risks of migrating off VMware?
The main risks are service outages during the move, missing features on the new platform, incompatible backup or monitoring tools, and skills gaps among staff. Costs can also rise if two platforms have to run side by side for longer than planned. Careful inventory work, pilot migrations and realistic timelines reduce these risks, but they cannot remove them entirely.
Sources and further reading
- Ars Technica: technology news report on Topgolf’s migration away from VMware and its reported savings
- Broadcom and VMware: official product and licensing documentation describing current subscription offerings
- Independent IT analyst firms: research on enterprise virtualisation markets and how customers responded to licensing changes
- Vendors of alternative virtualisation platforms: technical migration guides, read with their commercial interest in mind
Surfaced from the rss:arstechnica signal “enterprise VMware migration savings”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
