VMware has announced vSphere Express, a lower-end virtualization offering aimed at organizations seeking essential capabilities without the broader VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation bundles. The move follows complaints from some small and medium-sized businesses that those bundles were expensive and included features they did not need.
VMware says the product is designed for customers who want core virtualization capabilities without VVF. It includes vMotion for migrating running virtual machines and high availability to automatically restart failed virtual machines.
The offering supports deployments of up to 128 cores and uses a per-core subscription license. VMware has said its price will be significantly below that of VVF and VCF, but did not provide a quote. IT distributor TD Synnex lists an annual price of $9,600 for up to 128 cores; the listed cost does not fall for deployments using fewer cores.
Each vSphere Express instance operates separately, with no central management, according to VMware product marketing vice president Prashanth Shenoy. The company also says it plans to update Express as often as VCF and VVF, unlike vSphere Standard, which has not received a meaningful update in years.
Sources: Ars Technica.