vmware licensing services

VMware Licensing Services

Our VMware licensing services include audit defense, contractual review and optimization of your annual support renewal.

With VMware being the de facto solution for virtualization on x86 infrastructure for companies of all shapes and sizes, an understanding of VMware licensing is imperative in order to keep operational costs down. At ITAA we offer a range of VMware licensing services to help achieve this.

Our VMware licensing experts have a great deal of experience supporting clients with their VMware licensing needs. We outline some of our core licensing services below, but please feel free to contact us with any query or concern you have – every situation is different and we are very happy to discuss your specific requirements.

  • VMware Contract Review

    The various VMware agreements and purchasing programs can often leave clients confused as to which option is best for them. Our Contract Review services can help customers with a comprehensive assessment of their agreements, extracts from the VMware portal (Product Licenses, Details and History Report) and/or VMware Install Base Report (IBR) to identify:

    • A clear baseline of current license entitlements, support levels and legacy licenses.
    • Consolidation opportunities
    • Potential issues from VMware’s ‘consistent coverage policy’
    • Any unfavorable clauses that should be renegotiated
    • License restrictions beyond the license metric and quantities that need to be adhered to

  • VMware Effective License Position (ELP)

    To fully understand your compliance with VMware, it is necessary to periodically review the estate. Through our VMware ELP service we will help you understand your environment by guiding you through the data collection process and providing an in-depth report detailing:

    • The license consumption of your estate
    • Any potential issues relating to your license key deployments
    • Any potential issues relating to VMware’s ‘consistent coverage policy’

    Combined with an in-depth contract review, you will receive a comprehensive ELP detailing the various risks and opportunities in line with VMware’s audit methodology.

  • VMware Audit Support

    Whether you have received a formal VMware Audit or have been approached by VMware at the end of your ELA to certify your license requirements, the process and data requests can seem overwhelming.

    Our service aims to help you through this process by:

    • Clarifying the requests and the key data points so you are fully comfortable in sharing any requested data and at your own pace
    • Ensuring that only the mandatory data points are shared (often the data requests encompass products and data requests beyond the agreed scope)
    • Verifying any findings and claims made

  • VMware Renewal Support

    Our VMware Renewal Support service seeks to combine various elements of the ELP and Contract Review services in order to provide you with a clear understanding of your renewal options whether this is through an analysis of your existing estate, supporting an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) exit and/or reviewing a VMware draft proposal.

    All with the aim of enabling you to make an informed decision regarding your renewal and to be able to accurately determine:

    • Potential reductions in annual Support (also known as Support and Subscription or SnS)
    • The quantity of licenses required for a new project
    • The quantity of licenses to be certified at the end of an ELA

  • VMware Licensing Services – Experience and Results

    Our VMware licensing services draw on the extensive experience of our subject matter experts. Previous consulting experience includes:

    • Assisting clients in understanding their license consumption through periodic reconciliations to manage their compliance in line with their entitlement
    • Creating an effective ELA exit plan for a client with a declining VMware estate, saving over $600k per annum
    • Providing Audit support (clarifying the process for the client and managing the data flow minimizing the strain on the client’s IT team)
    • Highlighting process improvements to reduce risk and wasted spend in multi-billion dollar revenue organizations