Broadcom's acquisition of VMware ended perpetual licensing, killed the VCSP program, and pushed per-core subscription pricing that has tripled costs for many organisations. If you're looking for an exit, Proxmox VE is the most proven path — and Instelligence has the experience to get you there without disruption.
Our five-phase migration process
Every migration is different, but the discipline is consistent. Here's what you can expect at each phase.
Assessment
We audit your VMware environment: VM inventory, resource consumption, networking topology, storage layout, and specialised configurations (vSAN, NSX, vSphere HA, vCenter dependencies). Workloads are classified by migration complexity. You receive a written findings report and a clear recommendation before any commitment.
Blueprint
We design your target Proxmox VE environment: cluster layout, compute sizing, storage architecture (Ceph, ZFS, or a combination), SDN and VLAN design, Proxmox Backup Server layout, and HA configuration. The blueprint is reviewed, iterated, and signed off before a single cable is run.
Build & Test
The Proxmox environment is built and validated before any production workload is moved. Testing includes HA failover, backup and restore validation, performance benchmarking against your VMware baseline, and application-specific smoke tests agreed with your team.
Data Migration
Workloads are migrated in controlled batches, scheduled around your operational windows. We use the right tool per workload: Proxmox's built-in import, virt-v2v, or a storage-level approach. Downtime windows are brief, planned, and communicated clearly in advance.
Validation & Handover
After cutover we run a structured validation checklist: connectivity, storage performance, backup jobs, HA, and application-level smoke tests. We provide full as-built documentation, a knowledge transfer session, and an operational runbook. You own a fully documented environment.
What makes our migrations different
Senior engineers only
No juniors or offshore resources on your migration. The person on your discovery call is the person doing the work.
Written deliverables at every phase
Assessment report, blueprint, migration runbook, and as-built docs. You own everything we produce.
Rollback plans defined upfront
Every cutover window has a tested rollback procedure defined before we start — not improvised if something goes wrong.
We've done this before
We know where VMware-to-Proxmox migrations fail and how to avoid it. Experience isn't a selling point — it's a risk mitigant.
Post-migration managed services
We can stay on as your managed services partner so you're not left to operate a new platform without support.
Proxmox licensing included
As an authorised Proxmox reseller we handle all licensing for your new environment. Proxmox VE is licensed per CPU socket — not per core, not per VM. For most organisations migrating from VMware, this alone delivers six-figure savings over three years.