Introduction: Virtualization Needs to Catch Up with Reality

Virtualization has long been a cornerstone of enterprise IT. It enabled organizations to consolidate hardware, improve utilization, and standardize infrastructure. However, the application landscape has changed significantly. Today’s enterprises are running a mix of legacy virtual machines, cloud native microservices, and data-intensive workloads across hybrid and edge environments.

Industry research reflects this shift. The 2025 Voice of Kubernetes Experts report highlights that most organizations (85%) are operating Kubernetes environments alongside traditional VM-based infrastructure in production, as a pilot, or in a POC, underscoring the reality of hybrid application platforms rather than a full replacement of legacy systems.

Traditional virtualization platforms were not designed for this level of dynamism and scale. As a result, organizations face increasing complexity, rising costs, and operational silos. Modern virtualization emerges as a natural evolution one that aligns virtualization with Kubernetes, automation, and cloud native data services.

Organizations are increasingly looking for ways to modernize virtualization platforms while preserving existing investments, improving operational consistency, and supporting cloud native workloads.

The Problem with Traditional Virtualization

Engineers built traditional virtualization platforms for a time when applications were largely monolithic, infrastructure lifecycles were long, and automation was optional. Today’s environments are hybrid, edge-focused, and increasingly driven by APIs and automation.
Traditional virtualization models can lead to:

• Operational Silos
  Virtual machines and containers are deployed and managed on separate platforms, often by different teams, increasing complexity and fragmentation.
• Rising Costs
  Disparate tooling, duplicated processes, and specialized skill sets increase both operational and licensing costs.
• Slower Innovation
  Teams spend more time maintaining infrastructure platforms than delivering new features and business value.

These challenges make it harder for organizations to scale efficiently and adapt to evolving application and data requirements.

Why the Urgency to Reevaluate Virtualization Now

In addition to architectural and operational limitations, many organizations are now facing external market pressures that are accelerating the need to reconsider traditional virtualization strategies.

Licensing and Renewal Cost Increases
Following recent industry changes, many VMware customers are encountering significantly higher renewal and licensing costs. Industry research supports this shift — the Voice of Kubernetes Experts report found that 44% of organizations experienced cost increases exceeding $1M, driving unexpected budget pressure and accelerating platform reassessment.

Strategic Reassessment of Platform Dependence
Enterprises are using this moment to reassess long-term platform strategy, vendor alignment, and total cost of ownership.

Active Exploration of Alternatives
Organizations are increasingly evaluating modern infrastructure platforms that better support containers, automation, hybrid cloud, and edge use cases.

Short-Term Renewals as a Transition Strategy
Some customers are opting for 1–3 year renewals as a temporary measure to maintain stability while planning a phased transition to next-generation platforms.

This convergence of technical limitations and market dynamics makes modernization not just an optimization — but a strategic necessity.

What Modern Virtualization Really Means

As organizations reassess their virtualization strategy, many first evaluate familiar alternatives. Some choose to remain with their existing hypervisor platforms to avoid disruption. Others explore switching to alternate hypervisors such as Nutanix AHV or OpenStack-based solutions.

While these options may address licensing or vendor concerns, they largely retain the same VM-centric operating model. Infrastructure, operations, and tooling continue to revolve around virtual machines as the primary construct. This can limit alignment with cloud native  development practices, automation models, and modern application architectures.

This is why a growing number of organizations are looking beyond hypervisor replacement and toward a different model entirely — one where virtualization becomes part of a broader, Kubernetes-based platform.

Modern virtualization represents a shift from hypervisor-centric infrastructure to a Kubernetes-based operating model. Rather than treating virtual machines and containers as separate environments, it unifies them under a common, cloud native  control plane designed for API-driven automation, DevOps workflows, and hybrid cloud operations. Unlike staying on traditional platforms or moving to another hypervisor that still centers operations around VM infrastructure, this approach removes virtualization as a standalone operational silo. Instead, virtualization becomes part of the same platform used to run modern, cloud native applications.

This means organizations are not simply replacing one hypervisor with another — they are adopting a unified infrastructure model that reduces operational silos, simplifies automation, aligns with cloud and DevOps practices, and provides a foundation for long-term application modernization rather than another short-term platform transition.

At its core, modern virtualization means:

• Kubernetes acts as the unified control plane for both virtual machines and containers
• VM-based and containerized workloads coexist on the same platform
• Infrastructure is API-driven and automation-first, enabling GitOps and CI/CD workflows
• Storage is cloud native, resilient, and workload-aware, not static or array-bound

This approach allows organizations to modernize incrementally, aligning infrastructure operations with modern application delivery practices.

Traditional vs. Modern Virtualization: A Side-by-Side Comparison

SUSE Virtualization: Virtual Machines Meet Kubernetes

SUSE Virtualization is built exactly for this new reality.

Rather than treating VMs as a separate concern, SUSE Virtualization makes them first-class Kubernetes objects. This means organizations can manage VMs using the same constructs, policies, and workflows they already use for containers.

With SUSE Virtualization, organizations can:

• Run legacy VM-based applications alongside cloud native workloads
• Use a single management plane powered by SUSE Rancher
• Apply consistent RBAC, networking, and observability across workloads
• Modernize at their own pace — without forced rewrites

Equally important, SUSE Virtualization is open and enterprise-ready. It avoids proprietary hypervisor lock-in while still delivering the stability, support, and lifecycle management enterprises expect.

Why Storage Becomes the Deciding Factor

Modern virtualization is not just a compute or orchestration challenge — it’s a data challenge.

Stateful workloads don’t tolerate:

• Storage downtime
• Manual provisioning
• Complex backup processes
• Unreliable disaster recovery

As organizations move VMs and containers onto Kubernetes-based platforms, storage must evolve as well. This is where many modernization efforts struggle — and where Portworx by Pure Storage makes a critical difference.

Portworx: Data Services Built for Modern Platforms

Modern virtualization is not only a compute challenge — it is a data challenge. Stateful workloads such as databases, analytics pipelines, and AI applications require resilient, high-performance storage that can move dynamically with workloads.

Portworx by Pure Storage is a Kubernetes-native data management platform designed for exactly this purpose. Unlike traditional storage systems that sit outside the platform, Portworx is tightly integrated with Kubernetes, making storage lifecycle, protection, and mobility part of the application workflow.

With Portworx, organizations gain:

• High-Performance Persistent Storage
  Consistent, reliable storage for both virtual machines and containers.
• Application-Consistent Protection
  Snapshots and backups designed specifically for Kubernetes-orchestrated applications.
• Built-In Disaster Recovery
  Seamless replication and recovery across clusters and geographically distributed sites.
• Workload-Aware Data Mobility
  Storage that follows the workload — whether it moves within a cluster or across environments.

When integrated with Pure Storage FlashArray, Portworx delivers enterprise-grade performance and high availability without adding operational complexity.

Why SUSE Virtualization and Portworx Are Better Together

Individually, SUSE Virtualization and Portworx are powerful. Together, they form a complete modern virtualization stack.

This combination allows organizations to:

• Run VMs and containers on a single Kubernetes platform
• Protect stateful workloads without external tools
• Simplify day-2 operations through automation and policies
• Build a consistent platform across data center, edge, and cloud

Conclusion: Modern Virtualization Is No Longer Optional

Virtualization continues to evolve alongside cloud native, data-intensive, and edge-focused workloads. Organizations that rely solely on legacy virtualization platforms risk increased complexity and reduced agility.

By combining SUSE Virtualization with Portworx by Pure Storage, enterprises can modernize infrastructure without disrupting existing applications. The result is a unified, Kubernetes-native platform that supports both virtual machines and containers, simplifies operations, and delivers resilient, workload-aware data services — ready to meet today’s demands and adapt to future growth.

To learn more watch our on-demand webinar.