Sheetz moves 838 stores off VMware: Broadcom created “too much uncertainty”

Sheetz 将 838 家门店迁出 VMware：博通带来了“太多的不确定性”

Sheetz, a US convenience store chain, is moving its 838 locations off VMware. Sheetz has used VMware virtualization across two Dell R440/R450-series servers at each of its locations since 2019. Now it’s migrating 12 to 14 virtual machines (VMs) in each of its stores from VMware vSphere to StorMagic’s SvHCI, “with an additional two VMs to be replaced over the coming months to transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11,” Scott Robertson, infrastructure team manager at Sheetz, told Ars Technica via email. Ultimately, Sheetz will move about 11,000 VMs from Broadcom’s virtualization platform. 美国连锁便利店 Sheetz 正在将其 838 家门店的业务从 VMware 迁出。自 2019 年以来，Sheetz 在其每个门店的两台 Dell R440/R450 系列服务器上一直使用 VMware 虚拟化技术。Sheetz 基础设施团队经理 Scott Robertson 通过电子邮件告诉 Ars Technica，目前他们正将每家门店的 12 到 14 台虚拟机（VM）从 VMware vSphere 迁移到 StorMagic 的 SvHCI，“未来几个月还将替换另外两台虚拟机，以完成从 Windows 10 到 Windows 11 的过渡。”最终，Sheetz 将从博通（Broadcom）的虚拟化平台迁移约 11,000 台虚拟机。

Sheetz is still running the original Dell server hardware. So far, Sheetz has finished migrating more than 600 stores, averaging 200 per month, according to a company announcement today. Sheetz should be finished with the migration in four months, the announcement said. Sheetz 目前仍在运行原有的戴尔服务器硬件。根据公司今日发布的公告，截至目前，Sheetz 已完成超过 600 家门店的迁移，平均每月迁移 200 家。公告称，Sheetz 预计将在四个月内完成全部迁移工作。

Robertson said that Sheetz decided to quit VMware because Broadcom’s changes, which include eliminating perpetual licenses in favor of subscriptions to large bundles, forced the retail chain’s hand. He added: The projected price hikes, coupled with a mandatory subscription model and a five-year commitment, simply created too much uncertainty around long-term budgeting and increased our vendor dependence. Robertson 表示，Sheetz 决定放弃 VMware 是因为博通的政策调整——包括取消永久许可证并强制推行大型捆绑订阅模式——迫使这家零售连锁企业不得不做出改变。他补充道：“预期的价格上涨，加上强制性的订阅模式和五年期承诺，给长期预算带来了太多的不确定性，并增加了我们对供应商的依赖。”

There are numerous rivals trying to lure VMware customers left disgruntled by Broadcom’s takeover. But even frustrated IT departments are challenged to find replacements that match the breadth and capabilities of VMware, which has become synonymous with virtualization in its 28 years. 目前有许多竞争对手试图吸引那些对博通收购感到不满的 VMware 客户。然而，即使是感到沮丧的 IT 部门，也很难找到能够与 VMware 的广度和功能相媲美的替代方案，毕竟在过去的 28 年里，VMware 几乎已经成为了虚拟化的代名词。

Sheetz settled on StorMagic after already using StorMagic’s virtual storage area network offering, SvSAN, alongside VMware for critical in-store applications since 2019. “Our initial rollout proved StorMagic could deliver the resilience and centralized management needed across a large, distributed retail environment,” Gary Sliver, director of platform engineering at Sheetz, said in a statement. Sliver also noted that migrating hasn’t required Sheetz to “send technicians to every site.” Robertson told Ars that the ability to move from SvSAN to SvHCI remotely and without requiring hardware upgrades will save Sheetz a “significant” amount of money. Sheetz 选择 StorMagic 是因为自 2019 年以来，他们已经在关键门店应用中将 StorMagic 的虚拟存储区域网络产品 SvSAN 与 VMware 配合使用。Sheetz 平台工程总监 Gary Sliver 在一份声明中表示：“我们最初的部署证明，StorMagic 能够为大型分布式零售环境提供所需的弹性和集中管理能力。”Sliver 还指出，此次迁移并不需要 Sheetz “派遣技术人员到每个现场”。Robertson 告诉 Ars，能够远程从 SvSAN 迁移到 SvHCI 且无需升级硬件，将为 Sheetz 节省一笔“可观的”费用。

Still, as expected with a big IT project, migrating virtualization platforms still presents challenges. When asked about Sheetz’s biggest migration obstacles, Robertson told Ars: Automation and [SvHCI’s VMware] VM Import Utility were absolutely vital to scaling this migration. Operating in a 24/7/365 retail environment meant that minimizing business disruption was critical. It required meticulous planning and heavy automation to ensure our store operations ran as smoothly as possible throughout the entire transition. SvHCI product maturity in relation to APIs meant it was a small amount of extra work, and the main challenge of the migration was [finding] the time available to do it, for the scale of the environment. They were having to simultaneously plan, develop, and implement. 尽管如此，正如任何大型 IT 项目所预期的那样，迁移虚拟化平台仍面临挑战。当被问及 Sheetz 迁移过程中最大的障碍时，Robertson 告诉 Ars：“自动化和 [SvHCI 的 VMware] 虚拟机导入工具对于扩展此次迁移至关重要。在 24/7/365 的零售环境中运营，意味着最大限度地减少业务中断是关键。这需要精心的规划和大量的自动化，以确保我们的门店运营在整个过渡期间尽可能平稳地运行。SvHCI 在 API 方面的产品成熟度意味着需要额外做少量工作，而迁移的主要挑战在于针对如此规模的环境，[寻找] 可用的执行时间。他们必须同时进行规划、开发和实施。”

For many companies, the idea of moving off VMware is daunting due to the money, time, and staff that it may require. Some also report challenges in finding alternatives with the same capabilities and compatibility as VMware. Total or even partial migrations can seem particularly implausible for organizations that depend on VMware technology. As a result, there are many VMware customers interested in quitting or reducing their use of VMware products, but have yet to make the move or are still in the planning phases. In September, Gartner estimated that 35 percent of VMware workloads would migrate elsewhere by 2028. 对于许多公司而言，放弃 VMware 的想法令人望而生畏，因为它可能需要投入大量的资金、时间和人力。一些公司还报告称，在寻找与 VMware 具有相同功能和兼容性的替代方案时遇到了困难。对于依赖 VMware 技术的组织来说，全面甚至部分迁移似乎都特别不可行。因此，许多 VMware 客户虽然有兴趣停止或减少对 VMware 产品的使用，但尚未采取行动，或者仍处于规划阶段。今年 9 月，Gartner 估计到 2028 年，35% 的 VMware 工作负载将迁移到其他平台。

StorMagic targets VMware’s larger customers StorMagic 瞄准 VMware 的大型客户

StorMagic has a reputation for serving small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), but today’s announcement highlights its interest in winning over the enterprise-sized firms that Broadcom’s VMware strategy targets, especially enterprises with numerous SMB-sized locations. “In reality, we have always focused heavily on two distinct markets: SMB/mid-market datacenters and the ‘edge’ environments of large, highly distributed enterprises, like Sheetz. A distributed enterprise with hundreds or thousands of retail, grocery, or branch locations actually faces similar IT challenges at each site as a local SMB,” Scott Mann, StorMagic’s SVP of global sales, told Ars via email, pointing to these organizations having limited physical space, power, on-site technical staff, and budget. StorMagic 以服务中小型企业（SMB）而闻名，但今天的公告凸显了其赢得博通 VMware 战略所针对的企业级客户的兴趣，特别是那些拥有大量中小型规模网点的企业。“实际上，我们一直专注于两个不同的市场：中小型企业/中端市场数据中心，以及像 Sheetz 这样的大型、高度分布式企业的‘边缘’环境。一个拥有数百或数千家零售、杂货或分支机构的分布式企业，在每个站点实际上都面临着与当地中小型企业类似的 IT 挑战，”StorMagic 全球销售高级副总裁 Scott Mann 通过电子邮件告诉 Ars，并指出这些组织在物理空间、电力、现场技术人员和预算方面都非常有限。

The executive sees further opportunity among VMware’s current enterprise clients. “Historically, large enterprises tolerated the ‘VMware tax’ at their edge locations because it was the status quo. However, with recent massive industry shifts, specifically Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, enterprises are facing massive budget increases just to keep their remote sites running,” Mann said. 这位高管认为 VMware 目前的企业客户中存在更多机会。“从历史上看，大型企业容忍其边缘地点的‘VMware 税’，因为那是现状。然而，随着近期巨大的行业变革，特别是博通收购 VMware，企业仅仅为了维持远程站点的运行就面临着巨大的预算增长，”Mann 说道。

Other enterprises recently revealed to be migrating off of VMware include Allstate, T-Mobile, and UK grocery chain Tesco. For its part, Broadcom has argued that changes to VMware’s licensing model are in line with the rest of the industry, and its acquisition of VMware is considered financially successful. 最近被披露正在从 VMware 迁移出来的其他企业还包括 Allstate、T-Mobile 和英国连锁超市 Tesco。就博通而言，该公司辩称 VMware 许可模式的变更符合行业惯例，且其对 VMware 的收购在财务上被认为是成功的。