Challenge
Broadcom's VMware acquisition has created an existential crisis for smaller compute providers, with licensing costs jumping 200-500% and some organisations facing increases over 1000%. For providers where 50-75% of their business depends on VMware infrastructure, these changes aren't just expensive, they're potentially business-ending. You need to know whether migrating to open-source alternatives like KubeVirt is viable for your organisation, but you can't afford to get this decision wrong.
Approach
We start by converting your cost crisis into a manageable technical challenge through our three-week pilot programme. Rather than forcing you into another vendor relationship, we provide independent assessment of whether KubeVirt and Kubernetes-based virtualisation can match your performance requirements whilst giving you the freedom and control that open-source technologies deliver.
During the pilot, we work alongside your VMware specialists to architect, deploy, and test a working KubeVirt environment using real workloads from your infrastructure. We document every challenge, solution, and operational requirement so you have complete visibility into what full migration actually involves, including honest assessment of your team’s readiness and the genuine risks you’ll face.
By the end of three weeks, you’ll have definitive answers about whether to proceed with full migration, wait until you’re better prepared, or pursue alternative paths. We provide detailed cost-benefit analysis, skills gap assessment, and clear recommendations based on your actual infrastructure rather than theoretical possibilities, potentially saving you from costly migration failures.
- 200–500%
- cost increases avoided
- 3 weeks
- to confident decision
- 86%
- need strategy changes
VMware Kubernetes Migration Roadmap
VMware Kubernetes Migration FAQ
Sarah Mitchell, Infrastructure Director
How do we know if KubeVirt can actually handle our performance requirements?
LiveWyer
Solution: Real-world validation testing
We establish performance baselines from your current VMware environment and conduct direct comparisons with the KubeVirt deployment. Rather than theoretical benchmarks, we test actual workloads and measure real operational characteristics. This gives you concrete evidence of whether KubeVirt meets your SLA commitments and customer requirements.
David Thompson, Technical Lead
What if our team doesn't have the Kubernetes skills needed to manage this?
LiveWyer
Solution: Skills assessment and knowledge transfer
We assess your team's current capabilities and identify specific training requirements during the pilot. The entire process includes hands-on knowledge sharing, and we'll clearly document what skills development would be needed for successful transition. If the skills gap is too significant, we'll recommend waiting until your team is better prepared.
Rachel Edwards, Operations Manager
How can we be sure this won't disrupt our existing customer services?
LiveWyer
Solution: Risk-managed pilot approach
The pilot uses a carefully selected test application that won't impact customer services, and we establish complete rollback procedures before any migration begins. We work within your existing SLA commitments and ensure every step includes clear risk mitigation. The pilot gives you confidence about larger migration risks without putting current operations at stake.
Questions about the pilot
How much does the pilot cost?
The VMware Kubernetes Migration pilot is a fixed price of £23,000 for a fixed three-week scope, in which we migrate one candidate application from VMware to KubeVirt end to end.
How long does the pilot take?
Three weeks. In the first week we review your VMware environment, then design and deploy the KubeVirt environment with your team. During the second we migrate the candidate application and measure it against its VMware baseline. The third week looks at what day-to-day operation of KubeVirt would ask of your team, and ends with our recommendation.
What do we need to have ready?
Time from your VMware specialists, who work alongside us throughout, and access to vSphere so that we can analyse the candidate application and record its performance baseline. The KubeVirt environment runs on your own infrastructure, and we agree its storage and network design with you in the first week. If you already have a candidate in mind, pick one that is representative of your workloads but will not affect customer services; we confirm the choice together.
What happens after the pilot?
You receive a recommendation to proceed with migration, strengthen your foundations first, or take a different path. It comes with the measured performance comparison, an assessment of what running KubeVirt would ask of your team, and the training they would need. We document the migration steps, the problems we hit, and how we solved them, so that the process can be repeated beyond the pilot application. A wider migration is scoped and quoted separately, and there is no obligation to continue with us.
Talk to a specialist
Are you interested in our VMware Kubernetes Migration pilot? Book a quick chat with one of our team to find out more.
Talk to a specialistSupporting information
A talk between David O'Dwyer (LiveWyer), Anthony Hodson (Kubermatic) and Daniel Banche (Portworx).
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