Broadcom VMware: How Pre-Owned Licences Help Companies Avoid Costly Subscriptions

Shortly after Broadcom acquired VMware, the IT world experienced considerable uncertainty — and demand for pre-owned software licences rose sharply.
The reason? Broadcom abruptly discontinued the existing perpetual licences, meaning VMware licences are now offered exclusively as subscription-based models.

In this article, you’ll learn why this shift poses significant challenges for many organisations — and why pre-owned VMware licences currently represent the only viable and cost-effective alternative for numerous businesses.

Broadcom VMware: What Has Changed in the Licensing Model

With Broadcom’s strategic shift, the following changes now apply:

• Perpetual licences have been discontinued – traditional one-time purchase licences are no longer available for new acquisitions.
• Subscriptions are the new standard – recurring costs now apply, which for many organisations do not adequately reflect the actual value delivered.
• Core-based licensing instead of CPU-based licensing – prior to the Broadcom–VMware acquisition, CPUs with up to 32 cores were licensed as a unit; now, each individual core must be licensed, significantly increasing costs for many environments.

A Major Challenge for Many Organisations

Why many companies felt caught off guard by this change can be traced back to two key factors:

• Higher costs: Due to the new core-based licensing model, VMware subscription plans are (in most cases) significantly more expensive than previous licensing options.
• Reduced flexibility: Especially for organisations that only need to license individual ESXi hosts or a small number of hosts, VMware subscription licences often do not provide a cost-effective solution.

The Smart, Legal Alternative: Pre-Owned VMware Licences

As a result of this situation, demand for pre-owned VMware software licences has increased significantly. And for good reason: they offer an elegant — and fully legal — way out of the subscription trap, enabling companies to save valuable financial resources.
Pre-owned software is just as effective as new software; unlike physical goods, it does not wear out. In addition, licences may be resold by the original licence holders, provided they no longer continue to use the licensed software themselves.

Legal Basis

The legal foundation for the resale of pre-owned software is a landmark 2012 ruling by the European Court of Justice.
The court confirmed that the so-called principle of exhaustion also applies to software. Once a licence has been sold, the manufacturer’s distribution right is exhausted — meaning the purchaser is legally entitled to resell the licence in compliance with the law.

No Risks. No Pitfalls.

A key requirement for buying and selling pre-owned software is complete and traceable documentation. If this documentation is incomplete or missing, legal issues may arise during an audit.

As pioneers in the trade of pre-owned software licences, we ensure that all requirements for a legally compliant and audit-proof licence transfer are fully met — giving our customers maximum security and peace of mind.

Broadcom-VMware-Produkte from Software ReUse

Aufgrund der starken Nachfrage nach der Broadcom-VMware-Übernahme haben wir als spezialisierter Anbieter unser Portfolio entsprechend erweitert und bieten folgende VMware-Produkte an:

• vSphere Enterprise Plus (Version 8 und Version 7 und Version 6)
• vSphere Standard (versions 8 and 7)
• vCenter Server Standard (versions 8 and 7)
• vSAN
• and more

Benefits of Pre-Owned VMware Licences for Businesses

With pre-owned VMware licences, businesses gain greater flexibility while keeping costs under control.

• You can retain your existing architecture and operating models
• Your current infrastructure can be scaled according to actual demand
• Host capacity can be expanded flexibly by adding additional ESXi hosts
• No recurring costs — providing immediate budget relief
• More performance for less money when subscription models do not match your requirements
• You gain time and strategic flexibility to plan your next steps

The final point should be understood as follows: with pre-owned VMware licences, you gain a strategic bridge. This is particularly relevant if a migration to another vendor is already planned and the new VMware subscription is no longer required in the long term. In this scenario, you can continue using pre-owned licences until you are ready to migrate to a new virtualisation software provider.

Conclusion: Broadcom VMware — Pre-Owned Licences as a Way Out of the Subscription Trap

Die Umstellung von Kauflizenzen auf Abonnement-Modelle, nachdem Braodcom VMware übernommen hat, hat einige Unternehmen in eine unangenehme Lage gebracht, was ihre IT-Infrastruktur betrifft.

The shift from perpetual licences to subscription models following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has placed many companies in a challenging position with regard to their IT infrastructure.
Subscription models are not only more expensive, but in many cases also ill-suited to actual requirements. As a result, demand for pre-owned VMware licences has surged, as they offer a legally compliant alternative — provided that all documentation is complete and traceable.
As a specialist and reputable provider of pre-owned software, Software ReUse has therefore added a range of VMware products to its portfolio.

We look forward to your enquiry and are happy to support you.

Feel free to also read our article VMware vSphere – High Performance Virtualisation

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