The Cloud Native Escape Route: Why IT Leaders Are Rethinking Virtualization

Key Takeaways:

• Enterprise virtualization costs are rising sharply, forcing IT leaders to evaluate open-source alternatives that reduce total cost of ownership
• Organizations struggle to maintain legacy VM infrastructure while adopting cloud-native practices and AI workloads without running two separate stacks
• SUSE Virtualization bridges traditional VM infrastructures and containers, allowing administrators to build Kubernetes skills gradually through phased migration
• Modern hyperconverged infrastructure includes enterprise features like live VM migration, data protection and micro-segmentation as built-in capabilities, not expensive add-ons
• Platforms support demanding AI/ML workloads with vGPU support and edge deployments with highly available two-node configurations
• SUSE Virtualization leverages the Kubernetes ecosystem to integrate emerging technologies like AI with VMs and containers on a single platform

Here’s a scenario that might sound familiar: 

Your CFO just forwarded you the renewal quote from your virtualization vendor. The number is eye-watering. Your team is simultaneously trying to keep legacy VMs running while executives ask why you’re not “doing more with containers” and “leveraging AI.” Meanwhile, you’re managing what feels like two completely separate infrastructure stacks, and the budget for neither is getting any friendlier.

If this resonates, we’ve got something that might help.

In this first installment of a three-part virtualization series on our podcast, The Future is Open, host Cameron Seader sits down with Alejandro Bonilla to map out what’s actually happening in enterprise virtualization right now and what your realistic options are for moving forward without breaking the company bank or your sanity.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you tune in.

Why Virtualization Is Having Its Moment (Again)

Virtualization isn’t new, but the conversation around it has fundamentally shifted. What used to be a stable foundation for enterprise IT has become a pressure point, with proprietary vendors hiking prices at rates that make even seasoned budget planners wince.

Meanwhile, organizations must adopt cloud-native practices, support GPU-intensive AI workloads and deploy edge infrastructure while maintaining the VM environments running most critical applications.

The result is a growing architectural divide. Operating two separate stacks isn’t sustainable, and migrating everything overnight isn’t realistic. 

So what’s the path forward? The answer is in platforms that leverage the Kubernetes ecosystem to bridge this divide, bringing technologies like AI directly into the same environment where your VMs and containers already run.

You Have Problems, We Have Solutions

The first episode of this mini-series doesn’t just diagnose the problem, but also offers a practical blueprint for a potential transition. Tune in to Cameron and Alejandro’s conversation, in which they unpack:

Financial freedom through open source: Discover how a fully open-source virtualization stack can help you escape the cycle of unpredictable renewal costs and dramatically reduce your total cost of ownership without sacrificing enterprise-grade capabilities.

The cloud-native on-ramp: Learn why SUSE Virtualization (the enterprise-supported version of the open-source Harvester project) functions as “training wheels for Kubernetes,” allowing traditional VM administrators to gradually build cloud-native skills without feeling thrown into the deep end.

A phased migration strategy: Hear the expert-recommended approach for moving workloads in three controlled stages, starting with low-risk developer environments, progressing to stateless applications and eventually tackling mission-critical databases when your team is ready.

Enterprise features that come standard: Find out which capabilities you actually need for production environments, like live VM migration, data protection, micro-segmentation and how they’re built into the platform rather than sold as expensive add-ons.

Edge and AI readiness: Understand how modern hyperconverged infrastructure leverages the extensibility of the Kubernetes ecosystem to support demanding workloads like AI/ML (with vGPU support) and minimal-footprint edge deployments (including highly available two-node configurations with a witness node), bringing rising technologies closer to your existing VM and container workloads.

Expert Advice in Audio Format

Whether you’re evaluating alternatives to your current virtualization platform or trying to understand how containers and VMs can coexist without doubling operational complexity, this conversation with Cameron and Alejandro is for you.

Tune in now to get practical insights for mapping out multi-year modernization plans and exploring options beyond your current vendor relationships.

And if you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe to The Future is Open to catch all parts of this installment, where we’ll continue exploring the cloud-native shift with perspectives from SUSE’s ecosystem partners.

[Listen Now]