New CloudBolt Research: 86% of Companies Actively Reducing their VMware Footprint

Follow-up study conducted two years after initial research finds the “Mass Exodus” from VMware has yet to come — but the unwind is fully underway as “next renewal” price pressure still looms

ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CloudBolt Software, a recognized leader in cloud cost optimization and hybrid cloud management, today released a new research report, “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning,” examining how enterprise IT leaders are responding two years after Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware.

The report, based on a January 2026 survey of 302 IT decision-makers at North American enterprises (1,000+ employees) – and a follow up to a 2024 study on the same topic – finds that while the predicted immediate stampede away from VMware did not materialize, organizations are actively unwinding dependence in a measured, workload-by-workload transition — shaped by pricing concerns, operational complexity, and mounting executive scrutiny.

“Two years ago, the market was dominated by knee-jerk speculation and worst-case projections,” said Mark Zembal, Chief Marketing Officer at CloudBolt. “This latest study separates noise and speculation from reality. The fear has cooled, but the pressure hasn’t — and most teams are now making practical moves to build leverage and optionality — even if for some that includes the realization that a portion of their estate never moves off VMware.”

Key findings

CloudBolt’s research highlights three numbers that capture the market’s shift from fear to sustained pressure to action:

• 2024 Fear: 73% expected VMware costs to more than double — yet only 5% of respondents to this most recent study have seen 100%+ increases.
• 2026 Reality: 88% are concerned about future price increases, and say it is shaping decisions now as the real squeeze begins.
• The Action: 86% report they are actively reducing their VMware footprint.
  

To put an even finer point on overall sentiment, one survey respondent commented, “The process of unwinding a decade of process dependencies is taking 18-24 months. This sideways abstraction is far more complex than a standard cloud lift-and-shift, leading to a significant loss of confidence in our ability to exit quickly enough to avoid the next renewal cliff.”  

Additional findings underscore why the “slow unwind” is becoming the dominant operating model:

• 56% say they have changed their VMware strategy two or more times since the acquisition, reflecting a market still recalibrating and experimenting in real time.
• 54% say they are staying with VMware while actively reducing dependence, signaling phased, partial transitions rather than immediate “full migration” exits.
• 72% of migrating workloads are heading to public cloud IaaS, with Hyper-V/Azure Stack (38%) and SaaS replacements (34%) also popular components of the mix.
  

“Enterprises aren’t just asking what they want to do — they’re confronting what they can execute safely,” said Rod Squires, CEO of CloudBolt. “The panic phase is over. Now it’s execution: reducing dependency, managing dual realities during transition, and building optionality before the next renewal decision tightens the window – and slams the budget.”

Why this matters now

Two years in, VMware strategy has become a priority business-level decision, not just a technical one. 41% of respondents report increased executive pressure since the acquisition, as organizations weigh cost volatility, vendor risk, and the operational burden of multi-platform environments. The result is a market shifting from panic to execution —often through phased, workload-by-workload transitions.

Report access

The full report, “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning,” is available at: https://www.cloudbolt.io/industry-research/cii-the-mass-exodus-that-never-was/

About the research

This research surveyed 302 IT decision-makers (Director level and above) with primary decision-making authority over VMware-related decisions at North American companies with 1,000+ employees. Data was collected in January 2026 via structured surveys and qualitative interviews. Findings are compared against CloudBolt’s 2024 baseline study conducted six months after the Broadcom acquisition announcement.

About CloudBolt Software

CloudBolt Software helps enterprises turn cloud complexity into operational advantage by bringing intelligent automation, governance, and optimization to public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Its portfolio combines industry-leading cloud management with AI-driven Kubernetes rightsizing and optimization, enabling organizations to actively control and optimize cloud usage as it happens. CloudBolt empowers platform engineering, IT operations, and finance teams with the insight and automation they need to run cloud environments at scale—efficiently, continuously, and with confidence. Learn more at www.cloudbolt.io.

Media Contact:
Caroline Statile
Scratch Marketing + Media for CloudBolt Software
caroline@scratchmm.com   

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