The VMware exit is a backup project in disguise
Teams pricing a move off legacy virtualization budget for the migration. This quarter's reports suggest the harder part is everything that has to keep running during it.
The quiet driver here is licensing. Veeam's Your Modernization Journey promises a way out of "consolidation-driven licensing pressure", which most readers will recognise as a reference to the last two years of VMware contract renewals.
Where teams go next varies. Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization runs VMs alongside containers on one platform, and Veeam and Red Hat have a webinar that shows a migration and a recovery on it end to end. Modernize with Confidence Nutanix makes the case for its own Kubernetes platform and cites a 2025 survey in which most respondents ran two or more Kubernetes environments. Set a Course for Kubernetes Success
The blind spot
One of Veeam's titles uses the phrase "blind spots", and it is the right one. Once VMs and containers share a cluster, a backup policy written for VMs misses half the estate. Protection that follows the application across clusters, regions and clouds becomes a requirement. Confidence in the Crossover
Our read: if you are scoping a move, put the person who owns recovery in the first planning meeting. The migration has a finish date. Recovery runs for as long as the business does.
Reading order
- Modernization Blind Spots, to pressure-test the plan.
- IDC's Operationalizing Kubernetes with a Full-Stack Platform, if the destination is containers.
- Kubernetes in the Enterprise, for benchmarks on cost, tooling and platform engineering.