Rimini Street Survey Finds 66% of VMware Users Using or Considering Third-Party Support

Business Wire·6 Oct 2026·

2▲1 ▼1Impact / 5

Summary · why it matters

A new global survey of nearly 300 VMware user organizations found that 66% are already using or considering third-party support, according to findings announced by Rimini Street from the 2026 IT Virtualization Survey conducted by Unisphere Research. The survey, which polled 269 executives, managers and professionals between December 2025 and February 2026, found that 90% of respondents are considering alternatives to VMware due to higher licensing costs, while 54% cited the end of perpetual license support as another reason to evaluate other options. Cost savings was the top priority for 73% of respondents, though organizations reported barriers including operational complexity at 40%, multi-vendor management challenges at 38%, securing the increased attack surface at 37% and team skills requirements at 37%. On strategy, 60% are considering a multiple-hypervisor approach and 47% favor a hybrid IT virtualization environment combining hypervisors and containers, while 48% said they do not currently plan to move any assets to VMware Cloud Foundation. Among IT virtualization security leaders, 77% said they would see value in a security solution providing real-time threat visibility and proactive protection against vulnerabilities rather than relying solely on Broadcom's patching program.

Rimini Street Inc ▲

Broadcom Inc ▼

Impact on assets 5

Artificial Intelligence± Mixed

Rimini Street Inc

RMNI

▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Rimini Street's survey highlights strong demand for third-party support as 66% of VMware users already use or consider it, positioning Rimini as a beneficiary.

Broadcom Inc

AVGO

▼ NegativeCompetitionrelevance

Survey shows 90% of VMware users considering alternatives and 66% using/considering third-party support due to higher licensing costs, threatening Broadcom's VMware business.