Change is often thrust upon us, but how we respond defines our technical strategy for the next decade and more. VMware customers using vSphere 8 currently face a significant transition: the requirement to migrate to VMware vCloud Foundation (VCF) version 9 before vSphere 8 goes end of life in October 2027.
This transition is not a minor update. It represents a major architectural shift that requires administrators to learn new skills and rethink their infrastructure. While there are published migration guides, the complexity of moving to VCF 9, which includes navigating over 300 known VCF 9 issues, can be a significant undertaking.
A unified platform for VMs and containers
Instead, many organizations are viewing this moment as an opportunity to simplify. By transitioning to Red Hat OpenShift, you can adopt a platform designed to carry you through the next generation of application development. But moving to OpenShift is not a simple task, and there is a learning path to help you adapt to a new interface and cloud-native concepts.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, a feature of Red Hat OpenShift, allows you to run your VMware virtual machine (VM) workloads alongside Kubernetes-based container applications. These applications and workloads can run in your datacenter, in the cloud, in a disconnected environment or at the edge of the network, offering a comprehensive hybrid cloud application platform.
If you like the ClickOps environment in the VMware vSphere Client, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes provides a familiar interface for managing the OpenShift platform. Benefits of Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes include:
- Reduced operational costs: Automates routine tasks, freeing up IT teams for strategic work.
- Consistency and compliance: Helps all clusters and VMs adhere to corporate governance and security standards.
- Performance optimization: Real-time monitoring and historical data help administrators optimize performance for geographically dispersed applications.
- Modernization path: Provides a bridge for traditional virtualized workloads to exist alongside cloud-native infrastructure within the OpenShift ecosystem.
Will your ISV applications run on OpenShift Virtualization?
You can continue to use your existing software with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. While SAP is not yet certified, the configuration is documented. You can also follow the reference architecture for running Oracle Database on the platform.
For data protection and infrastructure, Red Hat supports partners including Veeam and Trilio for backups, Dell and IBM for storage, and Calico, Cisco, and Tigera for networking. All of these options are available through Red Hat's catalog of certified ISVs.
Red Hat offers choice. By using the Red Hat migration toolkit for virtualization, teams can automate the transition of workloads from VMware. Global banks, automotive manufacturers, major e-commerce vendors, and more are executing this transition at scale.
As stated in the IBM Q4 2025 results: "While a longer growth arc, [Red Hat OpenShift]" virtualization continues to gain momentum including over $500 million of contracts signed over the last two years.""
The developer advantage: Build for what's next
Moving to Red Hat OpenShift also provides access to a 100% open source, CNCF-certified platform. Organizations get an engineered stack where Linux, Kubernetes, and your development tools are tested to work together.
When building out a cloud-native stack—incorporating CI/CD pipelines, service mesh, serverless, web IDE, or other cloud native functionality—choosing free distributions can introduce risks. A minor Kubernetes update could inadvertently break your Argo CD functionality. A Linux patch might disable your pipeline, leading to hours of manual troubleshooting.
With Red Hat OpenShift, organizations benefit from a fully engineered and tested stack where the platform, Linux operating system, and your development tools are validated to work together. This is backed by a 24/7 SLA, immediate security response, backports, and a three-year support lifecycle.
The platform also includes tools to streamline development and operations:
- Develop cloud native applications using Red Hat Developer Hub.
- Got Java apps? Modernize them for a Kubernetes-based cloud-native environment using Quarkus.
- Automate your operations using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
- AI workloads? OpenShift has you covered for the complete AI/ML lifecycle—data acquisition and preparation, model training, fine-tuning, serving and monitoring, and hardware acceleration—for generative and predictive AI.
While the timing of this migration might be outside your control, you can choose a platform that supports your long-term strategy. Red Hat OpenShift provides a unified platform for your virtual machines, cloud-native applications, and AI workloads.
