Contrary to expectations, VMware is working on a new version of vSphere Standard, the more affordable alternative to a full VMware Cloud Foundation solution designed for smaller customers. Nevertheless, the rhetorical shift isn’t too drastic, as the announcement wasn’t made on the main stage at VMware Explore.
The statement was actually made by Paul Turner, CPO for VMware by Broadcom’s Cloud Foundation Division, in a 1-on-1 interview with The Register. Since Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in late 2023, the focus has shifted entirely to VCF and larger customers, accompanied by service bundling and across-the-board price increases for most VMware customers. The result has been an exodus of less fortunate customers who are able to leave VMware.
While vSphere Standard and vSphere Enterprise Plus remained in the catalog, they were barely mentioned on the website. According to The Register, customers who requested a renewal quote often received only a proposal for VCF in response. In a conversation with that site, Turner admitted that this approach called for a “correction,” though it should not be taken as a sign of Broadcom’s full commitment to vSphere Standard users.
Six years without a major update
The last major release of vSphere Standard was in 2022, with version 8. When VMware released vSphere 9 and VCF 9 in mid-2025, a new Standard edition was not included. Turner attributes this to the decision to prioritize addressing VCF’s security first.
Ram Velaga, president of Broadcom’s Infrastructure Software Group, offered a different explanation: VMware first wanted to challenge the narrative that public cloud is a given. An entry-level product could have muddied that message. According to Velaga, vSphere Standard targets environments with around 128 cores. Turner mentioned memory tiering as a possible feature.
More expensive for smaller customers
The fact that Broadcom largely eliminated perpetual licenses and steered customers toward two main bundles made it significantly more expensive for smaller environments.
Turner states that the new vSphere Standard will be better and more resilient than Proxmox. More details are expected to follow during VMware Explore in Germany in mid-October. It will also become clear then how VMware plans to market the product.
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