Approaching OpenShift Virtualization: What customers wish they knew

I had the pleasure to attend Red Hat Summit for the very first time this year. Amidst all of the buzz, announcements and engaging hallway conversations, what stood out most to me were the authentic stories from customers on stage. I jotted down as many notes as I could to capture raw user experiences, detailing their exploration, adoption and implementation of Red Hat Openshift Virtualization. Below are some of the top lessons I learned from technical leaders approaching OpenShift Virtualization within their organization.

Be the advocate for change

A consistent theme among organizations considering alternatives to their legacy virtualization platforms was the importance of executive buy-in. Across industries, technical leaders emphasized that a top-down approach was essential to spark real change.

Many teams were facing growing pressure from licensing changes and rising costs with their existing vendors, and knew that the status quo wasn’t an option. Senior leadership needed to hear that staying put would carry even more risk and cost over time. Leaders who were able to clearly articulate the urgency around making a change sooner rather than later often found it easier to gain support and advance decision-making to adopt OpenShift Virtualization. 

Be prepared for internal pushback

Several speakers cautioned listeners to expect resistance from internal teams during their transition to OpenShift Virtualization, and to meet that resistance with empathy and structure. For those teams familiar with existing virtualization tooling, moving to an application development platform can spark fear and uncertainty. One speaker put it simply, “It’s a big mind shift.” 

A key piece of advice from these leaders is to involve teams early—particularly Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) teams. While these groups often operate separately, OpenShift Virtualization works to bring them together through a unified platform to manage both virtual machines (VMs) and containers.

The most successful organizations intentionally cultivated this collaboration. By communicating a shared goal, offering courses like Managing Virtual Machines with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and reassuring everyone that there’s a role for their unique expertise in the new environment, leaders were able to ease this transition among their teams. 

The learning curve isn’t as scary as it seems

From my perspective, the most reassuring message from many speakers throughout the week was that the learning curve to adopt and implement OpenShift Virtualization is much less intimidating than expected. While OpenShift may seem complex (especially when migrating from platforms that have been in place for decades), several leaders noted that once the migration journey began, things moved much faster than anticipated.

In fact, multiple speakers said that the migration itself was the easiest part, thanks to well-developed tools like the migration toolkit for virtualization enabling minimal business disruption, thoughtful planning and close support from Red Hat. Once teams started seeing production workloads running reliably on OpenShift, overall confidence grew quickly.

Another common success factor was working closely with a Red Hat Technical Account Manager. These experts help customers escalate feedback quickly, navigate blockers and apply tooling fixes and enhancements rapidly— a huge advantage for teams working on tight timelines.

Final thoughts

After listening to these sessions, it became clear that while each virtualization journey is unique, many organizations are navigating very similar challenges when approaching OpenShift Virtualization. Whether it’s obtaining executive advocacy, implementing team collaboration or planning technical migrations, these leaders recognize that while change can be hard, it is also worth it. 

My personal takeaway for those considering OpenShift Virtualization: Don’t be afraid to get started. With the right leadership, communication and vendor support, you can make the transition to a modern virtualization platform now. 

Want to learn more?

• Check out our ebook: “15 Reasons to Adopt OpenShift Virtualization”
• Coming from a VMware background? Start with this Learning Path: OpenShift Virtualization for VMware Users.
• Curious about how OpenShift Virtualization can fit into your infrastructure strategy? Get in touch with Red Hat Consulting Services to explore migration planning, training and deployment services.