The competition between Nutanix and VMware is now entering a new phase as customer migrations increase in line with the consequences of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware.
During the company's .NEXT event, confirmed CEO Rajiv Ramaswami that the number of Nutanix customers globally has grown to over 30,000.
This is no longer an isolated customer decision. It is a clear market shift.
Migration occurs in several waves
According to Ramaswami, the migration away from VMware is unfolding in three clear phases.
The first wave consisted of organizations that acted quickly after the Broadcom deal. These customers wanted to avoid upcoming changes in licensing models and pricing and chose to migrate before their renewal cycles. Several larger companies completed full migrations within a year.
The second wave consists of customers who initially chose to wait. They renewed their contracts but followed developments closely. Now many of these organizations have begun planning or implementing migration for the next contract period. This phase is currently underway and growing rapidly.
The third wave is expected to be the most extensive. It is driven by increased costs, reduced trust and strategic decisions around future platform choices. According to Ramaswami, this development will happen gradually over several years rather than overnight.
Nutanix aims for more than half of VMware's customer base
VMware is estimated to have around 300,000 customers globally. Nutanix is now targeting around 165,000 of these organizations.
This is not about opportunistic growth. It is a clear strategy to capture market share in the virtualization market.
Analysts estimate that over 100,000 VMwarecustomers may leave the platform in the long term, especially in the mid-range segment where migration barriers are lower. At the same time, Nutanix increased interest from larger companies, often through incremental implementations that grow over time.
Broadcom defends VMware's role in the data center of the future
At the same time, Hock Tan emphasizes the stability of VMware's business.
Broadcom highlights that over 90 percent of VMware's 10,000 largest customers have renewed their agreements. The company also continues to invest in VMware Cloud Foundation, which is positioned as a central layer in modern data centers.
The strategy is based on VMware being a foundational platform for handling generative and agent-based AI workloads at scale.
The real drivers behind the shift
Migration away from VMware is not about a single factor but about a combination of changes in the market.
The cost picture has become clearer for many organizations, driving a reassessment of total cost of ownership. At the same time, there is growing uncertainty about the vendor's long-term direction following the Broadcom takeover.
In parallel, the need for flexibility in hybrid and multicloud environments is increasing, causing more companies to review alternatives to traditional virtualization platforms.
For many organizations, VMware is no longer an obvious choice in the long term.
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