Storage in a Seller’s Market: Flash Prices, Licensing Shifts, and Why IT Leaders Must Move Faster
Disclaimer as always: Opinions all solely my own. The storage industry is entering a phase that feels uncomfortably familiar: constrained supply, rising prices, and vendors tightening control over how customers consume technology. Two seemingly separate forces are converging to reshape IT decision-making: The NAND flash supply crunch and price escalation Post-acquisition licensing shifts following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware Together, they signal a transition from a buyer’s market to a seller-advantaged landscape —one where hesitation, legacy assumptions, and slow procurement cycles can carry real financial and operational penalties. The VMware Effect: When Licensing Strategy Becomes a Market Signal The acquisition of VMware by Broadcom marked more than a corporate transaction—it signaled a shift in how enterprise software value is captured. VMware’s move from perpetual licensing to subscription models, and the bundling of core capabilities into VMware Cloud Fo...