2024-25 DCIG TOP 5

VMware vSphere Alternatives

SMB/EDGE EDITION

By
Jerome M Wendt, Principal Analyst
Todd Dorsey, Sr Analyst
Ken Clipperton, Principal Researcher

E M P O W E R I N G T H E I T I N D U S T R Y W I T H A C T I O N A B L E A N A LY S I S · W W W. D C I G . C O M
2024-25 DCIG TOP 5
VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

Table of Contents

3 VMware by Broadcom Licensing Changes

Prompting SMBs and Edge Sites to Reevaluate
Their Choice of Hypervisor

4 Working Definitions of SMB and Edge Site

4 Specific VMware vSphere Alternative Considerations

for SMBs and Edge Environments

5 VMware vSphere Standard’s Software License Features

6 Common Features Across All SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Standard Alternative Solutions

7 Similarities between the DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Alternative Solutions

7 Differences between the TOP 5 SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Alternative Solutions

8 TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere Alternative

Solution Profiles
9 StorMagic SvHCi
10 HiveIO Hive Fabric
11 NodeWeaver
12 Scale Computing Platform
13 VergeIO VergeOS

14 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere Alternative Solution

Inclusion Criteria

14 DCIG Disclosures

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VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

VMware by Broadcom Licensing Changes

Prompting SMBs and Edge Sites to Reevaluate
Their Choice of Hypervisor
Broadcom’s formal announcement of the scope of the changes to VMware’s software
StorMagic SvHCI
licensing in December 2023 sent shockwaves through many organizations. Many
HiveIO Hive Fabric expected Broadcom to fully adopt subscription-based software licensing once it
completed its acquisition of VMware. However, few organizations, if any, had insight into
NodeWeaver the breadth of these changes or how these changes might impact them.
Scale Computing Platform What caught many organizations off guard was Broadcom’s decision to reduce the number
of VMware software licensing options. Many VMware software features that organizations
VergeIO VergeOS could once license individually they could now only obtain as part of a software bundle.
*Products are listed with the licensee’s product on top, followed
by the other TOP 5 award recipients in alphabetical order. Enterprises that use many or all available VMware software features may well lower their
overall software licensing costs. However, small and midsized businesses (SMBs) and
organizations with edge sites rarely find themselves in that position. They may only use
SOLUTIONS EVALUATED VMware’s core, or standard, software features.
• ArcherOS As a result, VMware’s new, more all-inclusive software licensing model may benefit
• Harvester SMBs and edge sites less frequently. Granting them access to more software features
• HiveIO Hive Fabric under the new software licensing model will only help them if they can use these features.
• NodeWeaver Further, many report significant cost increases associated with Broadcom’s new software
• oVirt licensing model.1
• Proxmox Virtual Environment Other VMware software licensing challenges have also emerged in SMBs and edge sites.
• Sangfor HCI SMBs and edge sites may use older servers or servers with fewer than 16 processors.
• Scale Computing SC//Platform Now, going forward, they must license VMware vSphere Standard for at least 16 CPU
• SmartX HCI cores per server processor. This per-processor requirement applies even if a server has a
• SoftIron VM Squared processor with fewer than 16 CPU cores in it.2
• StorMagic SvHCI The situation becomes even more untenable for SMBs and edge sites that utilize other
• Sunlight HyperConverged Edge VMware software such as vSAN. Previously, they could obtain vSAN as a standalone
• VergeIO VergeOS product from VMware.
• Virtuozzo Hybrid Infrastructure The option to license vSAN as a standalone product, either using a perpetual or subscrip-
• Xen Orchestra tion-based licensing, no longer exists. Now, they must license VMware Cloud Foundation
(VCF) or VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) to obtain vSAN.3
These factors and others have contributed to SMBs and organizations with edge sites to
reevaluate their virtualization platform. To make the best choice of a VMware vSphere
Standard alternative solution, they must first quantify:
• The VMware software features they currently use.
• How broadly they use VMware and its features across their organization.
• How well competing hypervisors stack up.

Alternative virtualization solutions vary in their architecture, deployment options, software

features, and software licensing and technical support options. In choosing an alternative,
organizations must consider which vSphere features they currently use and how broadly
they use them.

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VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

Working Definitions of SMB and Edge Site

DCIG generally defines a small and medium business (SMB) as having between 10 and
99 employees. Further, an SMB typically operates as its own entity with no larger organization
SMBs and edge sites tend to necessarily overseeing its daily IT operations. The SMB handles the management of its IT func-
tions with one, a few, and perhaps even no fulltime IT staff.
explore a VMware vSphere
An edge site resembles an SMB in terms of the number of employees that work at its physi-
alternative’s minimum hardware cal location. Like an SMB, it may also have one, a few, or no IT staff onsite to manage its IT
and software requirements. operations. However, the edge site is part of a larger organization that generally handles its
IT operations.
This larger, parent organization will usually have full-time IT staff that manage and oversee
the IT operations at edge sites. This parent organization may manage tens, hundreds, or even
thousands of edge and remote sites.
Examples of edge sites include any organization that has parts of its operations running
remotely. These may include churches, convenience stores, retail stores, and federal, state, and
local government agencies.

Specific VMware vSphere Alternative Considerations

for SMBs and Edge Environments
SMBs and organizations with edge environments possess different requirements for a
VMware vSphere alternative than enterprises. They still need a vSphere alternative to offer
specific core features. These include high-availability, product reliability, software-defined
storage, software-defined networking, and the ability to host Windows and Linux guest
OSes. They also often look to the provider to deliver education, training, and 24x7x365
technical support.
However, the need to scale the solution to support the highest levels of capacity, network-
ing, and processing may not exist. SMBs and edge sites tend not to run applications and
workloads that test the technical limits of the solutions that host them. Further, SMBs and
edge sites tend to less frequently experience sudden growth or performance spikes.
This situation leads SMBs and edge sites to explore a VMware vSphere alternative’s
minimum hardware and software requirements. Four hardware and software options that
they should examine include the following:
• Deployment options. Deployment options may include software for use on existing
server hardware, a preconfigured hardware appliance, or a combination of these.
Some providers also partner with hardware OEMs. Using this option, SMBs and orga-
nizations with edge sites may order preconfigured appliances from their preferred
OEM. A few providers even make infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) available as an
option. If electing to use IaaS, the provider manages the software after an SMB or
organization with edge sites deploys it.
• Minimum networking requirements. Delivering centralized management, high
availability, and meeting expected levels of performance require LAN and WAN connec-
tions with the appropriate bandwidth. Here again, an alternative solution may need less
LAN and WAN bandwidth. This again results in fewer or no changes to existing
networking configurations and may keep recurring networking expenses lower.

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VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

• Minimum server hardware requirements. SMBs and edge sites may already own
server hardware that was used to host VMware vSphere. If so, they may want to
re-purpose this server hardware and use it to host the VMware vSphere alternative
solution. Alternatively, if they must acquire new server hardware, an alternative
vSphere solution may have lower server hardware minimums. These lower hardware
thresholds typically translate into lower upfront hardware costs.
• Software licensing features and costs. VMware vSphere alternative providers have
taken steps to offer software licensing options that cater to SMBs and edge sites.
They may offer licensing options that only contain the primary software features that
VMware vSphere alternative SMBs and edge sites need. Alternatively, they may still tie their software licensing to
the underlying server hardware.
providers have taken steps to In this case, SMBs and edge sites that use less robust server hardware can still lower
offer software licensing options their software licensing costs. Some even offer lower cost software licenses that
include all software features but limit the number of supported VMs. Still others offer a
that cater to SMBs and edge sites. low- or no-cost software licensing to encourage organizations to use their software.
They adopted this tactic in response to Broadcom’s decision to end the availability of
the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (free edition).4

VMware vSphere Standard’s Software License Features

This DCIG TOP 5 report seeks to help SMBs and edge sites identify and create a short list of
VMware vSphere Standard alternatives. DCIG did NOT attempt to quantify every feature that
either VCF or VVF offers and identify viable alternatives to them. This report primarily focuses
on alternatives to a subscription-based software license for VMware vSphere Standard.
Broadcom currently lists the following features as included with a subscription-based VMware
vSphere Standard software license:5
• Up to at least 16 Core licenses for each server Processor.
• VMware vCenter Server.
• VMware vSphere Hypervisor.
• vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI)
• vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA)
• vSphere API for Third Party Multipathing.
• vSphere Data Protection.
• vSphere Replication.
• vSphere Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM).
• vSphere Virtual Volumes (VVOL).

The more VMware vSphere Standard features that an SMB or edge site currently uses, the
more critically it should examine alternatives. SMBs and edge sites using fewer VMware
vSphere Standard features may find more vSphere alternatives that meet their needs.
Broadcom now licenses NSX, vSAN, and other VMware software features as part of VCF and
VVF. SMBs and edge sites that use these VMware software features should separately validate
how or if alternative solutions deliver comparable functionality.

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Common Features Across All SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Standard Alternative Solutions
DCIG evaluated over 25 different VMware vSphere Standard alternatives of which 15 met
DCIG’s inclusion criteria for this report. Across these 15 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere
Standard alternative solutions DCIG evaluated over 250 features on each one.
13 of the 15 solutions minimally offer the following seven (7) core features. DCIG believes
the other two products also minimally support these seven features. However, DCIG could
not authoritatively confirm their support of them prior to publication of this report.
Linux variants represent 1. Hypervisor. The hypervisor permits an SMB or edge site to run one or more virtual
the only guest OS for which machines (VMs) on a single computer. Each of these 15 solutions includes a hypervi-
sor by default. Generally, SMBs and edge sites should expect the solution to offer a
all 15 vSphere alternative Linux-based KVM or a variant based on KVM.
solutions offer support. 2. Management interface. The management interface facilitates the management of
the VMs and other software features offered by the solution. Many include multiple
management interfaces. These may include a CLI, a web-based GUI, REST APIs,
and integration with third-party management platforms.
3. Software-defined networking (SDN). SDN, included in all 15 solutions, enables
centralized control, programmability, and flexibility to adapt the network infrastructure
to changing needs. This feature handles, directs, and prioritizes the communication
between the different nodes in the solution.
4. Software-defined storage (SDS). SDS, also included in all 15 solutions, virtualizes
physical hard disk and solid state drives. This feature will minimally virtualize the serv-
er’s physical disk drives, though some include options to virtualize external storage
arrays. SDS generally puts all the physical storage together into one central pool of
storage. It then partitions this storage pool into smaller storage segments and assigns
individual storage partitions to specific VMs.
5. Support Linux guest operating systems. SMBs and edge sites increasingly use
Linux as a guest operating system (OS) as an alternative to Windows. This trend has
accelerated in recent years. Global tensions have led some international providers to
no longer formally support Windows as a guest OS. While over 70 percent of the
solutions support the Windows guest OS, Linux variants represent the only guest OS
for which all 15 vSphere alternative solutions offer support.
6. Web-based management GUI. All 15 products minimally provide SMBs and edge
sites with a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) to manage their solution.
However, each solution’s GUI may differ in terms of its capabilities. For instance,
SMBs and edge sites should verify if the GUI can access, visualize, and manage all
installed instances of the solution in their environment. Some may achieve this feat.
Other GUIs may require SMBs and edge sites to enter the IP address of each installed
solution to manage that instance.
7. Command-line interface (CLI). SMB and edge site administrators often need a CLI
to facilitate scripting specific administrative tasks. Each of these 15 solutions offers a
CLI to perform these tasks. However, the CLI commands that each solution supports
may and likely do differ. If SMB and edge site administrators plan to use the CLI, they
should verify the solution’s CLI includes the commands they need.

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Similarities between the DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Alternative Solutions
In addition to supporting all the features listed above, all DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware
vSphere alternative solutions support the following features. These include:
• Installation services. Each provider provides installation services to SMBs and edge
sites in helping them deploy its solution. The type and scope of installation services
Each DCIG TOP 5 solu­tion offered by each provider likely varies. Organizations should verify each provider’s
provider offers remote monitoring installation services aligns with their respective needs.
• Multiple features to deliver high availability (HA). SMBs and edge sites ideally want
to help diagnose and troubleshoot these solutions to run without interruption. To meet these HA expectations, each of
issues on its solution. these solutions offers redundancy and failover options. Each one supports redundancy
for components such as disk drives, network connectivity, and individual cluster nodes.
They also all support VM failover to other nodes in a cluster or to another cluster.
• Multiple SDN implementation and management options. Each VMware vSphere
alternative solution relies heavily upon its own networking features to run well. This reli-
ance upon them makes it imperative each solution possesses robust features to effec-
tively implement and manage its SDN. Each DCIG TOP 5 solution offers alerting,
analysis and reporting, virtual switching, and the flexibility to define, interconnect, and
manage virtual networks.
• Remote monitoring and login/problem resolution. Many SMBs and edge sites
prefer to avoid calling technical support. Instead, they want the provider to tell them
their infrastructure has an issue before it impacts operations. Each DCIG TOP 5 solu-
tion provider offers remote monitoring to help diagnose and troubleshoot issues on its
solution. Its technical support staff can also optionally remotely log into its solution to
help resolve any issues.
• Windows guest operating system. Each TOP 5 solution supports Windows as a
guest OS in addition to multiple Linux variants. However, organizations should verify
that the solution being considered supports the version or versions of Windows that
they run in their environment.
• 24x7x365 technical support with 1 hour or less response times. Organizations
need to have complete confidence that they can reach technical support anytime, day
or night. Each DCIG TOP 5 VMware vSphere alternative solution provider offers this
high level of technical support. Organizations may access each provider’s technical
support by phone or via its online knowledge base.

Differences between the TOP 5 SMB/Edge

VMware vSphere Alternative Solutions
The DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere alternative solutions possess some notable
differences between them. Their differences stem, in part, from the specific challenges that
some SMBs and edge sites face. In response, these solutions take different tactics and
implement various features to help SMBs and edge sites address them. Differences
between the DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere alternative solutions surface in at
least the following three ways:
• Data protection and replication options. The flexibility to make copies of VMs and
move them between cluster instances represents one of server virtualization’s key
benefits. In this respect, each TOP 5 solution offers a mix of snapshot and replication
features. However, they do not all offer the same combination or implement them in
the same way.

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For example, all five solutions offer the option to replicate data. However, four of them
offer asynchronous replication. SMBs and edge sites may use this feature to replicate
data either locally or remotely. In contrast, two offer synchronous replication. This form
of replication primarily gets implemented when replicating data locally for HA.
All five TOP 5 solutions also support snapshot functionality which often gets used for
backups and recoveries. Here again, the solutions implement this feature differently. Four
support space-efficient snapshots and a form of snapshots referred to as cloning. Two
offer application consistent snapshots which another two supporting the creation of
All five TOP 5 solutions support immutable snapshots. These subtle differences between how each solution implements
these technologies impacts the data protection and disaster recovery options it offers.
snapshot functionality which • High availability. High availability in an SMB or edge site represents one of server
often gets used for backups virtualization’s most sought after benefits. To deliver HA, hypervisors often get
deployed on a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution. HCI solutions use redun-
and recoveries. dant server hardware to facilitate ease of deployment, growth, and affordable HA.
To achieve HA, an SMB or edge site must minimally each deploy at least two or three
servers. To control costs, these solutions each adopt different tactics to minimize the
number of servers deployed and hardware resources required.
For instance, at least two of the solutions make use of a witness. This technique
reduces the minimum number of servers needed at a site for HA down to two. The
witness can then run in another location to resolve split-brain scenarios.
The other solutions do require a minimum of three servers for HA. However, they
support server hardware with minimal CPU, memory, networking, and storage
resources requirements. Some also offer preconfigured appliances optimized for SMB
and edge deployments.
• Technical support. All these providers check the box for providing 24x7x365 techni-
cal support. However, it behooves SMBs and organizations with edge sites to under-
stand exactly how they deliver their technical support. For instance, those organizations
that operate globally may want technical support available out of North America. While
four offer technical support in Europe, only one offers support in Africa or Asia Pacific.
Technical support becomes more fragmented when evaluating other technical support
options such as community forums, multi-language support, and web chats. Only two
offer a community forum, only one provider provides multi-language support, and only
three offer a web chat option.

TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere Alternative

Solution Profiles
Each of the following DCIG TOP 5 SMB/Edge VMware vSphere alternative solution profiles
highlight at least three ways they differentiate themselves from one another. These differen-
tiators represent some of the primary reasons that an SMB or edge site may want to
consider one solution over another as an SMB/Edge VMware vSphere alternative. Within
each solution, SMBs and edge sites may find features that better meet their specific needs.

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VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

StorMagic SvHCi
StorMagic SvHCI represents one of the “newest” products in the VMware vSphere alternative
market. Though StorMagic only formally announced SvHCI’s public availability in August 2024,
StorMagic has internally used SvHCI for multiple years. With SvHCI’s internal engineering
and testing already largely complete, StorMagic simply needed demand to emerge to bring
SvHCI to market.
Broadcom’s decisions to end the availability of vSphere Hypervisor (free edition) and adopt
SvHCI’s low hardware subscription-based licensing helped create that demand. StorMagic specifically saw a demand
minimums give SMBs and edge for a vSphere alternative in the SMB and edge environments as a result of Broadcom’s changes.
These market forces, coupled with StorMagic’s heavy presence in SMB and edge environ-
sites greater flexibility to re-use ments, led StorMagic to formally release SvHCI.
server hardware or acquire new, Features that StorMagic SvHCI offers that help differentiate it from other TOP 5 VMware
lower cost server hardware. vSphere alternative SMB/Edge solutions include:
• Software-only offering with nominal server hardware requirements. StorMagic
SvHCI has nominal server hardware demands for a baseline SvHCI installation. An
x86 server must contain at least: one CPU with 2+ cores; 2GB of RAM; a 32GB boot
disk; any type of disk drive for data storage; and, one 1Gb Ethernet port.
SMBs and edge sites may and often will want or need to use more robust server hard-
ware. However, SvHCI’s low hardware minimums give SMBs and edge sites greater
flexibility to re-use server hardware or acquire new, lower-cost server hardware.
• Offers one and two-node deployment options. SvHCI helps address many of the
historical challenges associated with providing HA in SMB and edge sites. On the
software side, SvHCI includes HA as a standard software feature. On the hardware
side, it supports the deployment of only two servers, or nodes, in any location. It
avoids split-brain scenarios that can result from two-node deployments by offering a
remote witness that can run locally or remotely.
SvHCI does support single node deployments for those SMBs and edge sites that do
not need HA. A one-node deployment still offers SvHCI’s other features (hypervisor,
virtual network, virtual storage, etc.) minus the HA functionality.
• SvSAN virtual storage. Access to StorMagic’s SvSAN virtual storage feature may seem
like an interesting perk when licensing SvHCI. While SvSAN contributes to SvHCI’s own
ability to deliver HA, it can serve another important purpose. Some organizations may still
need to run another hypervisor such as HyperV, a Linux KVM variant, or even vSphere
in some locations. These other locations may use any of these other hypervisors with
SvHCI’s SvSAN feature to create an HA configuration.

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HiveIO Hive Fabric

The HiveIO Hive Fabric distinguishes itself from other Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine
(KVM) hypervisor solutions with its intelligent message bus. Features such as pool orches-
tration and shared storage heavily leverage its intelligent message bus to orchestrate
activities across Hive Fabric. SMBs and organizations with edge sites may also use
HiveIO’s Hive Sense to proactively monitor and detect anomalies.
Hive Fabric Enterprise Other features that HiveIO Hive Fabric offers that help differentiate it from other TOP 5
gives SMBs or edge sites the VMware vSphere alternative SMB/Edge solutions include:

flexibility to license it based • Two software licensing options to meet the specific needs of SMBs and edge
sites. HiveIO updated its software licensing options to better meet the needs of an
on either the number of cores SMB or edge site looking for a VMware vSphere alternative. HiveIO currently offers two
or number of VMs. software licensing models for SMBs and edge sites that include:
• Hive Fabric Community Edition (CE). CE represents its entry level offering. An
SMB or edge site may run and manage an unlimited number of VMs on a single
host using the built-in KVM-based hypervisor. An SMB or edge site may also, if
needed, obtain paid-for support.
• Hive Fabric Core. Using this paid edition, an SMB or edge site may virtualize
desktops and servers. They also obtain high availability (HA), disaster recovery
(DR), and live VM and storage migration capabilities.
• Licenses Hive Fabric Enterprise by core or by VM. Sometimes a SMB or edge site
may need to host only a few VMs to meet that location’s business requirements. Other
times, a SMB or edge site may need to host many VMs. A third licensing option from
HiveIO, Hive Fabric Enterprise, gives SMBs or edge sites the flexibility to license either
based on the number of cores or VMs. For instance, they may license Hive Fabric
Enterprise by VM for those sites with only a few VMs. Alternatively, they may license
Hive Fabric Enterprise by core for locations that host many VMs on a node.
• Multiple built-in storage and data protection capabilities. An SMB or edge site
may access Hive Fabric’s built-in storage and Data Protection (DP) features available
with its Core and Enterprise licenses.
Its storage feature integrates with network and cloud-based storage technologies. It
also includes deduplication, deduplication-aware snapshots, and basic storage live
migration capabilities. Using HiveIO’s DP feature, an SMB or edge site may replicate
critical VMs, User Volumes, and Templates. They may replicate this data to the cloud
or on-premises storage on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly schedule.

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NodeWeaver
Headquarted in Florida with an office in Italy, NodeWeaver distinguishes itself by tailor-
ing its solution for edge deployments at scale. Leveraging open source technologies,
NodeWeaver specifically optimizes its software to support the deployment of cost-
effective, hardware-efficient edge nodes.
NodeWeaver recommends a node minimally contain at least a 4-core CPU, 8 GB RAM,
Leveraging open source 500GB storage, and two 1Gb NICs for running applications.6 While organizations may
technologies, Node­Weaver deploy NodeWeaver in single node configurations, using at least two nodes assures
high availability and data redundancy.
specifically optimizes its
Other features that NodeWear offers that help differentiate it from other TOP 5 VMware
software to support the vSphere alternative SMB/Edge solutions include:
deployment of cost-effective, • Simplified deployments of NodeWeaver at edge sites. Organizations often face
hardware-efficient edge nodes. multiple challenges when deploying software on server hardware at the edge.
NodeWeaver addresses these challenges with its patent-pending DNSOps deploy-
ment mechanism. It transforms blank servers into clusters that includes the creation
and customization of virtual networks and instantiating VMs. An individual can install
NodeWeaver by simply attaching power, a network cable, and the USB installer stick,
and then pushing the power button. Organizations choose whether to store cluster
configurations using a USB installer or the cloud storage platform of their choice.
• Centralized, API-based node and cluster management at edge sites. NodeWeaver
delivers on the more complex requirements associated with managing edge sites at
scale. It offers a GUI that organizations may use to initially visualize the deployment and
status of nodes and clusters in edge sites.
NodeWeaver also offers its own full-service APIs. Organizations may use these APIs to
then programmatically perform more advanced management tasks. These tasks may
include scheduling and performing NodeWeaver backups, upgrades and patches, and
creating file shares, among others. NodeWeaver’s API also integrates with Ansible,
Terraform, or Salt that may be used to perform these management tasks.
• Set user and group quotas to limit access to available node and cluster resources.
NodeWeaver offers user and group quotas that limit the number of VMs a Nodeweaver
instance may create. It can also put caps on the amount of memory, CPU capacity, or
storage they can request. Each of these respective quota limits may be centrally managed
and dynamically changed using NodeWeaver’s APIs.

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Scale Computing Platform

The SC//Platform distinguishes itself by providing an all-in-one hardware and software HCI
solution that includes all software licenses. Software features it offers at no additional
charge include HA clustering, built-in DR, replication, and software-defined storage (SDS),
among others.
The SC//HyperCore hypervisor serves as the foundation for the SC//Platform. Based on
components of the Linux KVM hypervisor, SC//HyperCore leverages the virtualization
Scale Computing provides offload capabilities available in modern CPU architectures.
SC//Migrate and Scale Computing The SC//Platform embeds storage with SC//HyperCore and pools it across the entire clus-
Move to facilitate migrating ter automatically adding storage from new nodes. This design enables direct data flows
from the SC//HyperCore hypervisor to its virtual storage device (VSD) virtual disks. Faster
physical, virtual, or cloud communication between the hypervisor and storage layers occurs thereby improving the
workloads to the SC//Platform. SC//Platform’s overall performance.
Additional features the SC//Platform offers that further help differentiate it from other TOP
5 VMware vSphere alternative solutions include:
• Preconfigured appliances optimized for highly available, space efficient edge
deployments. SMBs and edge sites may like the idea of a software-only solutions.
However, they often need the practicality of a preconfigured appliance when deploy-
ing solutions. Scale Computing addresses this concern with its HE100 and HE200
series of appliances that it optimizes for space efficient edge deployments. Organiza-
tions may also opt to deploy three HE100 or HE200 series of appliances in a single
site to create a highly available configuration.
• SC//Migrate and Scale Computing Move for vSphere VM migrations. Successfully
moving existing VMware vSphere VMs into an alternative hypervisor represents an initial
concern many SMBs and edge sites face. Scale Computing provides SC//Migrate and
Scale Computing Move to facilitate migrating physical, virtual, or cloud workloads to the
SC//Platform.
Available for both Linux and Windows guest OSes, SC//Migrate and Scale Comput-
ing Move both automatically replicate data. SC//Migrate handles the automated
migration of larger numbers of VMs while Scale Computing Move handles smaller VM
migration workloads.
• Centrally manage all SC/HyperCore through SC//Fleet Management. Central-
ized management of all HCI clusters regardless of their location often emerges as an
organizational prerequisite. Using Scale Computing’s SC//Fleet Management, an
organization can monitor and manage up to 50,000 clusters. If offer advanced
management capabilities such as automatic cluster provisioning, SC//HyperCore
firmware upgrades, and access to any specific SC//HyperCore cluster.
• Mix and match different size nodes in a cluster. Scale Computing gives SMBs and
edge sites the flexibility to mix dissimilar hardware appliances in a cluster (with the
exception of the HE100). These different size nodes may then coexist together in the
cluster. Further, each node in the cluster may possess dissimilar storage such as all
HDDs, hybrid HDD/SSD, or all SSDs.

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VergeIO VergeOS
VergeIO distinguishes VergeOS by delivering its self-described next iteration of the hypercon-
verged infrastructure: the ultraconverged infrastructure (UCI). Rather than simply virtualizing
the normal server stack (compute, networking, and storage) as separate modules behind a
GUI. VergeOS integrates them into a single software application.
VergeOS also offers a deduplication feature that globally deduplicates all data stored across
all the storage resources it manages. In addition to reducing data stores, it specifically helps
VergeIO’s global deduplication VergeOS operate more efficiently in edge environments by using fewer resources.
feature specifically helps Other features that the VergeIO VergeOS offers that help differentiate it from other TOP 5
VergeOS operate more efficiently VMware vSphere alternative solutions include:

in edge environments by • Delivering multi-tenancy by creating its own VDCs with each having its own
data center capabilities. Multi-tenancy often gets deployed by only logically group-
using fewer resources. ing certain resources and users together. VergeOS implements multi-tenancy by
creating a virtual data center (VDC).
Each new VDC has its own compute, network, storage, management interface, and
even its own mini-VergeOS instance assigned to it. SMBs and edge sites may then
manage and use each VergeOS VDC much like they manage and use virtual private
clouds (VPCs) offered by general-purpose public cloud providers.
• An integrated VMware service to facilitate VMware vSphere migrations. VergeOS
offers its own VMware service that SMBs and edge sites may leverage to migrate
existing vSphere VMs onto a VergeOS VDC. Once an SMB or edge site creates a
VDC, an administrator points the VergeOS VDC VMware service to an existing VMware
vSphere instance.
As VergeOS imports the vSphere VMs, an SMB or edge site may start using the VMs
immediately. Alternatively, the SMB or edge site may test the VMs to ensure they work
once hosted on VergeOS. Meanwhile, the source vSphere VMs continue to run in
production.
• Specific all-inclusive software licensing for edge deployments. VergeIO licenses
VergeOS by each physical machine, or node, in a VergeOS cluster. A VergeIO environ-
ment can start with as few as two nodes and scale to hundreds. It has a Web interface
that allows the management of many remote sites from a single interface.
VergeIO uses an all-inclusive software licensing model for VergeOS. VergeIO also does
not require SMBs and edge sites to adhere to a hardware compatibility list (HCL) or
certified vendor list when selecting server hardware.7 While VergeIO does have mini-
mum physical server hardware guidelines, SMBs and edge sites may find they can
re-use available existing servers to host VergeOS.8

© 2024 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 13

2024-25 DCIG TOP 5
VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

SMB/Edge VMware vSphere Alternative Solution

Inclusion Criteria
In considering solutions for inclusion in this report, a SMB/Edge VMware vSphere Alternative
solution must meet the following criteria:
• Offers a virtualization solution for compute, networking and storage with a hypervisor.
• Intended and optimized for use by SMBs and edge sites that
may operate anywhere globally.
• May be software-only that runs on standard x86 hardware
or select OEM server platforms.
• May be pre-integrated appliance that includes all needed hardware and software.
• Shipping and available by August 2024.
• Sufficient information available for DCIG to make an informed, defensible decision.

DCIG Disclosures
Providers of some of the SMB/Edge VMware vSphere alternative solutions covered in
this DCIG TOP 5 report are or have been DCIG clients. In that vein, please keep the
following points in mind when considering the information contained in this TOP 5 report:
• No provider paid DCIG a fee to research this topic or arrive
at predetermined conclusions.
• DCIG did not guarantee any provider that its solution would be
included in this TOP 5 report.
• DCIG did not imply or guarantee that a specific solution
would receive a TOP 5 designation.
• All research is based upon publicly available information, information shared
by the provider, and the expertise of those evaluating the information.
• DCIG conducted no hands-on testing to validate how or if the features
worked as described.
• No negative inferences should be made against any provider or solution
not covered in this TOP 5 report.
• It is a misuse of this TOP 5 report to compare solutions included in this report
against solutions not included in it.

No provider was privy to how DCIG weighted individual features. In every case the
provider only found out the ranking of its solution after the analysis was complete. To
arrive at the TOP 5 solutions included in this report, DCIG went through a seven-step
process to come to the most objective conclusions possible.
1. DCIG established which features would be evaluated.
2. The features were grouped into five general categories.
3. DCIG weighted each feature to establish a scoring rubric.
4. DCIG identified solutions that met DCIG’s definition for a VMware vSphere solution.
5. A survey was completed for each software or pre-integrated appliance
(hardware + software) VMware vSphere alternative solution.
6. DCIG evaluated each VMware vSphere alternative solution based
on information gathered in its survey.
7. Solutions were ranked using standard scoring techniques.

© 2024 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 14

2024-25 DCIG TOP 5
VMware vSphere Alternatives // SMB/Edge Edition

Sources

1. https://www.device42.com/blog/2024/03/21/broadcom-makes-major-changes-to-vmware-licensing-model/. Referenced 6/29/2024.

2. The features were grouped into five general categories.

3. DCIG weighted each feature to establish a scoring rubric.

4. DCIG identified solutions that met DCIG’s definition for a VMware vSphere solution.

5. A survey was completed for software or pre-integrated appliance (hardware + software) competitor to VMware vSphere.

6. DCIG evaluated each VMware vSphere alternative solution based on information gathered in its survey.

7. Solutions were ranked using standard scoring techniques.

About DCIG
The Data Center Intelligence Group (DCIG) empowers the IT industry with actionable analysis. DCIG analysts provide informed third-party analysis of various
cloud, data protection, and data storage technologies. DCIG independently develops licensed content in the form of DCIG TOP 5 Reports and Solution Profiles.
Please visit www.dcig.com.

DCIG, LLC // 7511 MADISON STREET // OMAHA NE 68127 // 844.324.4552 dcig.com

© 2024 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. Other trademarks appearing in this document are the property of their respective owners. This DCIG report is a product of DCIG, LLC. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders and should be treated as such. Product information was compiled from both publicly available and vendor-provided resources. While DCIG has attempted to verify that product information is correct and complete, feature support can
change and is subject to interpretation. All features represent the opinion of DCIG. DCIG cannot be held responsible for any errors that may appear.

Licensed to StorMagic with unlimited, unrestricted global distribution rights through December 2025. August 2024 15