Broadcom today added VMware vSphere Express to its portfolio that is specifically designed to run workloads that only require access to the core compute capabilities exposed by a hypervisor.

In addition to the core hypervisor, VMware vSphere Express also provides access to vMotion for live migration, automated restart of failed virtual machines to ensure high availability, a distributed switch to help centralize network management and monitoring, a vCenter Quick Patch management tool and built-in support for the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to enhance security.

Prashanth Shenoy, chief marketing officer for the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom, said this latest offering has been crafted to appeal to smaller IT teams that don’t want to deploy an entire VCF platform that includes virtual networking and storage capabilities.

In effect, Broadcom, following the $61 billion acquisition of VMware, is now reversing course to retain smaller IT teams rather than focusing exclusively on larger enterprises.

The launch of VMware vSphere Express coincides with the arrival of a previously announced version 9.1 of the VCF platform. Broadcom has been making a case for VCF that, in return for higher licensing fees, provides more value. As of September, Broadcom is now reporting that more than 2,600 organizations have licensed VCF 9, which has been deployed across more than 24 million processor cores.

At the same time, Broadcom is expanding the portfolio of Advanced Services add-ons that it provides for VCF 9.1, including a VMware HyperArmor capability to lock down hypervisors that was launched last month.

It’s not clear how many IT organizations have altered their strategies since Broadcom acquired VMware. Some have clearly decided that the total cost of switching platforms would exceed the total cost of the increased fees that Broadcom is now charging. In effect, Broadcom is advocating an approach that centralizes the management of multiple classes of workloads, including AI applications.

However, many smaller IT teams have found that the cost of migrating workloads to another platform is not as high for them as it is for a larger enterprise. Others have simply concluded they will continue to run existing workloads on VCF while opting to deploy greenfield applications on another platform.

The fundamental issue that organizations of all sizes are having comes down to trust. Following its acquisition of VMware, it became apparent that the acquisition is being funded in part by increasing licensing fees in return for a more robust platform. The challenge is that many IT organizations already invested in other networking and storage platforms that Broadcom is making a case to replace. Migrating off those platforms to VCF also adds costs and there is no guarantee that Broadcom won’t increase licensing fees again to offset the cost of the acquisition.

Regardless of how any given IT team might feel about Broadcom’s overall approach, there is little doubt that instances of VMware will be running in IT environments well into the next decade. The issue now is determining how best to manage that platform at a time when the IT environment within many organizations has never been more diverse.