I. Introduction: The Dual Catalyst
Two simultaneous disruptions force infrastructure decisions across enterprises of all sizes: VMware licensing under Broadcom and Dell’s pivot away from VxRail.
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware created licensing uncertainty and imposed significant price increases. The December 2023 announcement eliminated perpetual licensing options and bundled previously discrete features into expensive subscription packages. Enterprises that once licensed VMware vSphere Standard now face pressure to adopt VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF), often at significantly higher costs.
While the VMware licensing crisis commands headlines, Dell’s VxRail pivot is equally significant. Dell’s founder and CEO recently underscored this point:
“I think the thing you need to look at there is VxRail is no longer a thing. It was a thing a couple of years ago, and it’s a lot less of a thing now.”[i]
And Dell Technologies Chief Partner Officer Denise Millard said that,
“Moving customers away from VxRail is the No. 1 issue the company is talking about with partners.”[ii]
The combined effect is clear: IT cannot simply renew existing infrastructure. Most organizations default to hypervisor evaluation, considering Proxmox, XCP-ng, or Hyper-V. However, hypervisor swap addresses licensing costs but ignores broader infrastructure costs and complexity. Organizations must consider whether to adopt a comprehensive private cloud architecture or merely replace one hypervisor with another.
II. Why Hypervisor Swap Alone Fails
Replacing VMware vSphere with an alternative hypervisor preserves most existing infrastructure. External all-flash storage arrays remain with associated maintenance costs. Proprietary networking infrastructure persists. Separate data protection products continue operating independently. Multiple management interfaces exist across hypervisors, storage arrays, switches, and backup software. Upgrade cycles remain fragmented, with each product following its own release schedule.
Infrastructure costs typically dwarf hypervisor licensing expenses. Storage arrays, networking hardware, and backup software often cost five to ten times as much as hypervisor licenses over a typical three- to five-year lifecycle. Swapping VMware for another hypervisor keeps these expensive parts intact. Organizations solve the immediate licensing problem while preserving long-term infrastructure cost problems.
VxRail customers face unique challenges. Dell now steers them toward Dell Private Cloud, which combines PowerEdge servers, Dell storage arrays such as PowerStore or PowerFlex, and APEX automation software. This replaces an integrated appliance with disaggregated components, adding back complexity that VxRail originally promised to eliminate.
III. Private Cloud vs. Server Virtualization
Server virtualization abstracts one layer. The hypervisor virtualizes physical servers into VMs, but storage remains on physical arrays, networking remains on physical switches, and data protection remains a separate product. The result is virtualized servers surrounded by traditional infrastructure.
Private cloud virtualizes the entire data center. Compute becomes abstracted, storage becomes software-defined, networking becomes virtualized, and data protection becomes infrastructure-aware. Hardware becomes pooled capacity managed through unified APIs and interfaces.
The operational difference manifests in daily workflows. Server virtualization requires managing multiple products, each with its own lifecycle and management interface. Provisioning new applications requires coordinating the creation of storage LUNs, network VLAN configuration, VM deployment, and backup policy assignment across multiple teams.
Private cloud enables unified platform management. Provisioning becomes a software-defined task orchestrated by the platform itself. This reduces provisioning time from days to minutes, simplifies troubleshooting within one system, and transforms scaling decisions from coordinated multi-product expansions to adding nodes.
IV. Two Private Cloud Architectural Models
The Orchestration Model
The orchestration model coordinates separate products through an automation layer. It uses a hypervisor from one vendor, storage from another, and networking from a third. Each component retains its own lifecycle, management interface, and failure domain. Examples include most VMware-based private clouds.
The orchestration model leverages existing product portfolios and allows components to be swapped. Mature ecosystems provide extensive integrations and broad hardware compatibility. However, troubleshooting spans multiple products, upgrades require extensive coordination across vendor lifecycles, and automation hides complexity rather than eliminating it.
The Private Cloud Operating System Model
The private cloud OS model delivers all infrastructure functions natively within a single operating system. Compute, storage, networking, and data protection exist as core OS capabilities. Hardware becomes abstracted capacity pooled across the cluster. The platform provides a single upgrade path, a single interface, and single support relationship.
For a detailed explanation of this architecture, see What is a Private Cloud OS.
This model delivers unified operational management and simplified troubleshooting within one system. Provisioning workflows remain consistent across all infrastructure functions. However, it requires a firm commitment to a single platform and offers a smaller ecosystem than that of established vendors.
V. Vendor Examples
Dell Private Cloud (Orchestration Model)
A major promise of Dell Private Cloud is automation and lifecycle management through the Dell Automation Platform. APEX provides unified management for provisioning and monitoring, and APEX lifecycle management automates much of the ongoing update process. However, Lifecycle Management does not include Dell software-defined storage components.[iii] And if an enterprise wishes to integrate Dell storage arrays such as PowerStore or PowerFlex, those require separate management, including configuration, capacity planning, and performance tuning.
Furthermore, the Dell Apex Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift offers only two Multicloud Nodes, which must be installed through Dell ProDeploy services.[iv] The Dell Automation Platform does not extend to existing servers, even the popular 16th generation PowerEdge MX and R series servers. Thus, you generally cannot convert a standard retail PowerEdge server into an APEX node.
As a result, operational complexity often persists beneath the automation layer, requiring specialized expertise across multiple products.
VergeOS (Private Cloud OS Model)
VergeOS by VergeIO delivers compute virtualization, software-defined storage, networking, and data protection as native functions of a single operating system. The platform treats hardware as abstracted capacity, eliminating external storage arrays and separate backup products.
VergeOS can be deployed on virtually any x86-64 server that meets basic commodity hardware standards. Further, VergeOS’ ioOptimize allows you to mix different server brands, CPU generations, and storage types (NVMe, SSD, HDD) within the same cluster.[v] This gives enterprises the option of reusing existing servers in their transition to a private cloud infrastructure.
VergeOS pools compute, memory, storage, and network resources across the cluster. VMs, storage volumes, and network segments exist as software-defined objects managed through a single interface. Platform upgrades roll through nodes sequentially without scheduled downtime, automatically migrating workloads as each node updates. Snapshots occur at the storage layer and consume only changed blocks across all VMs simultaneously, eliminating per-VM backup agents. Provisioning a new workload involves allocating resources from the unified pool through a single interface rather than coordinating across separate systems.
Hardware flexibility allows repurposing existing servers, including VxRail infrastructure.
Image Source: VergeIO
Even with a heterogeneous mix of server hardware, VergeOS enables organizations to operate on a single platform, apply a single upgrade process, and maintain a single vendor relationship. However, they must commit to VergeOS as the foundational platform, limiting flexibility to integrate third-party storage or specialized networking appliances.
VI. Conclusion
The VMware disruption and Dell’s pivot away from VxRail create a strategic decision point. A hypervisor swap addresses licensing costs. Private cloud adoption addresses infrastructure complexity and the total cost of managing compute, storage, networking, and data protection as discrete products.
Two architectural models deliver private cloud differently. Orchestration coordinates products from multiple vendors, offering flexibility and mature ecosystems but preserving underlying complexity. The operating system model abstracts infrastructure into a single platform, offering operational simplicity but requiring architectural commitment.
Organizations evaluating alternatives should start with requirements, not vendor relationships. Calculate the time IT teams spend managing storage arrays, coordinating upgrades, and troubleshooting across vendors. Test migration complexity and hardware compatibility assumptions before committing. Calculate total infrastructure cost, including storage refresh cycles, network upgrades, and operational overhead—not just hypervisor licensing.
The VMware disruption forces change but creates an opportunity to modernize infrastructure architecture. Organizations that evaluate private cloud models rather than simply swapping hypervisors position themselves for long-term operational efficiency and cost optimization.
[i] https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/2025/michael-dell-says-vxrail-is-no-longer-a-thing-as-company-boosts-dell-private-cloud-partner-incentives. Accessed January 30, 2026.
[ii] https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/2025/michael-dell-says-vxrail-is-no-longer-a-thing-as-company-boosts-dell-private-cloud-partner-incentives. Accessed January 30, 2026.
[iii] https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-nz/l/dell-apex-cloud-platform-for-red-hat-openshift/lifecycle-management-36/. Accessed February 5, 2026
[iv] “APEX Cloud Platform uses Multicloud Nodes (MC). The MC nodes for both compute and storage currently offer 2 chassis options.” https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-nz/l/dell-apex-cloud-platform-for-red-hat-openshift/acp-nodes/. And “APEX Cloud Platform requires ProDeploy services to implement.” https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-nz/l/dell-apex-cloud-platform-for-red-hat-openshift/deployment-2590/. Accessed February 5, 2026.
[v] https://www.verge.io/iooptimize/. Accessed February 5, 2026.
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Note: DCIG’s independent research has recognized VergeIO as a leading VMware alternative in several DCIG TOP 5 reports. Verge.io is now a client of DCIG. While DCIG has attempted to confirm that product information is accurate and complete, feature support can evolve and is subject to interpretation. All commentary and feature support reflect the opinion of DCIG. DCIG cannot be held responsible for any errors that may occur. This article was commissioned by VergeIO.
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