The migration catalyst: turning virtualization disruption into application innovation

Starting nearly three decades ago, the cost efficiencies of server virtualization drove the first waves of IT transformation, wringing new efficiency out of the x86 servers that had already shaped the data center. Today, a new era featuring rapidly growing data volumes and emerging AI workflows is testing the limits of traditional architectures and forcing organizations to adapt. But these aren’t the only pressures enterprises are facing. At the business level, they’re experiencing a virtualization cost crisis. Broadcom's acquisition of VMware introduced changes to product packaging and licensing that organizations must address as they reevaluate their IT strategies. This is a central finding in a recent 451 Research, part of S&P Global, report sponsored by Red Hat, which finds that more than half of private cloud users are actively pursuing or evaluating alternatives to VMware solutions as they consider the next steps in their IT transformation.

I find that many enterprise IT leaders are facing a decision that impacts both their business health and bottom-line efficiency. While tactical migration addresses immediate overhead concerns, looking past simple “lift and shift” approaches reveals a compelling path toward platform and long-term cloud-native application modernization. The key point I try to get across when meeting with IT leaders is this: you aren’t just making a decision based purely on the cost of your virtualization infrastructure; you need a platform that can support your organization well beyond this migration and support future-ready pathways ready for innovation.

The opportunity to consolidate operations onto a unified control plane

When organizations reevaluate their application estates, their underlying motivations usually extend beyond basic licensing relief. According to 451 Research's Voice of the Enterprise: Cloud Native, Modernization 2025 study, top drivers for application modernization include improving security (54%) and enhancing operational agility (50%), with improving customer experience (43%) and better use of automation of AI/ML (37%) close behind.

Achieving these business outcomes requires addressing long-standing operational silos. Traditionally, organizations maintain separate teams, tooling, and processes for virtual machine (VM)-centric infrastructure versus modern workloads. Managing these parallel infrastructure stacks increases structural overhead and operational complexity. 

Migration opens the door to consolidate workloads and standardize tools. Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization makes that consolidation possible: a built-in capability of Red Hat OpenShift, the broader application platform, that runs VMs natively alongside containers rather than on a separate stack. By bringing VMs and containers onto that single, unified control plane organizations can break down team silos and establish consistent governance across on-premises, cloud, and edge environments. 

A modern platform for AI and emerging workloads 

IT leaders are currently balancing two major pressures: navigating virtualization disruptions while rapidly preparing for the AI era. But these two imperatives don't require two separate platform strategies. 

Companies should adopt a unified hybrid platform capable of running AI and emerging workloads alongside traditional applications, rather than building isolated, dedicated infrastructure stacks. Running AI models, containers, and legacy VMs on a single foundation means organizations can build AI capabilities directly into core enterprise applications while maximizing their existing investment. 

Underpinning this flexibility are open source foundations, such as the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor that powers Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. Open solutions protect against future vendor lock-in and grant teams the adaptability required as AI tooling rapidly shifts. 

Ultimately, Red Hat OpenShift helps organizations navigate this infrastructure shift by treating both VMs and containers as first-class citizens on a modern platform. Market momentum reflects this need. According to Red Hat’s own telemetry data over the past year, the number of VMs running on OpenShift Virtualization grew by 417%, while clusters running VMs nearly doubled. Organizations don’t just need a temporary landing spot for legacy workloads, they need a unified, modern application platform that supports what they run today alongside what they build tomorrow. 

In the video below, I sit down with Melanie Posey from 451 Research, part of S&P Global, to discuss the economics of this shift, strategies to respond quickly in the age of AI, and methods for converting sudden market disruption into a long-term competitive advantage.