There’s been a lot of noise lately about cloud repatriation, and not the sci-fi kind where data blasts back to Earth in a flaming pod.
No, this is the real-world trend of companies pulling workloads out of the public cloud and bringing them back to private infrastructure — whether that’s on-prem, colo, or with a trusted Cloud Service Provider (CSP). Companies are tired of unpredictable costs, egress fees that feel like highway robbery, or a general vibe of “why are we paying more for worse performance?”
It’s not even a “maybe we should exit cloud” kind of move anymore. It’s more of a “we literally can’t afford not to” situation — especially after Broadcom announced that VMware licenses now require a 72-core minimum.
Yes, even if you're only running workloads that sip 16 cores like cold brew.
So, what’s a savvy IT leader to do?
Well...cloud repatriation is suddenly looking a lot more appealing. It’s not anti-cloud. It’s pro-sanity.
Recapping Broadcom’s VMware takeover
Broadcom bought VMware in 2023 and promptly changed the rules of the game. To recap:
- Perpetual VMware licenses are gone. Instead of paying for a VMware license once, you have to buy a monthly VMware subscription.
- Broadcom charges based on cores instead of memory.
Starting now, Broadcom decided that all VMware licenses are sold with a 72-core minimum whether you need that many cores or not. So if you’ve got a 16-core or 32-core environment? Tough luck. You’re paying for 72. This hits smaller and mid-sized IT shops especially hard. Suddenly, that lean, efficient footprint you built is a financial liability. Licensing costs skyrocket, TCO models implode, and CFOs start questioning line items.
How to get around Broadcom’s 72-core requirement
Option 1: DIY
Now, you could go full DIY. But that usually means CapEx, hardware refreshes, and finding someone who still remembers how to cable a SAN. (Good luck. They’re all consultants now.)
Option 2: Avoid the 72-core trap with a Cloud Service Provider (CSP)
CSPs play by a different set of Broadcom rules. We can optimize VMware licensing across customers, so you don’t get hit with a minimum 72-core penalty.
Instead, you get right-sized environments that scale with your actual usage. No bloated licensing, no paying for cores that sit around doing crossword puzzles.
With a CSP, you still get the best parts of public cloud — elasticity, automation, self-service — without the surprise billing, weird regional pricing, and the general theme of "Oh, that costs extra." And with a CSP like Summit, you also get monitoring dashboards that don’t require a PhD and SLAs without fine print.
Little-known benefits of working with a third-party CSP like Summit
Compliance
Compliance can be a full-time job. And if you're in finance, healthcare, or any industry with an acronym-based regulatory body, it's even worse.
Summit bakes in the security and compliance you need — HIPAA, SOC 2, whatever the cool kids are doing — so your team doesn’t have to burn cycles on audits, patching, or late-night incident response.
In sum: You get data locality, logical isolation, and peace of mind without needing a separate ops team.
TCO that won’t make you cry into your budget spreadsheet
Between public cloud overruns and Broadcom’s licensing judo, IT budgets are taking hits from both sides. Summit helps you fight back with:
- Predictable pricing (no gotchas)
- No egress fees
- Lower infrastructure overhead
- Zero CapEx (buy that espresso machine instead)
Organizations moving from public cloud to Summit often see 30–50% savings. That’s the kind of number that makes your finance team say, “We should do more of that.”
We’re actually helpful (seriously)
A lot of providers say, “we’re a partner,” but what they really mean is “we’ll invoice you monthly.” Summit backs it up with real humans who:
- Help you decide what to repatriate and what to leave alone
- Build and optionally perform a migration plan that doesn’t break stuff
- Tune your environment for performance and cost
- Keep an eye on licensing updates so you don’t have to
We’re your pit crew for IT strategy, plus or minus some overalls.
❝Before Summit, we were staring down a 3x increase in VMware licensing costs when we didn’t even need 72 cores. Summit helped us right-size everything, get our most expensive workloads out of the cloud, and cut infrastructure costs by 40%.
10/10 would migrate again.
Repatriation isn’t a step back. It’s a power move.
The hype cycle for public cloud is winding down and businesses are starting to think critically again. If your workloads are getting punished by per-minute billing and core minimums, maybe it’s time to consider working with a provider like Summit.
Need a sanity check on your current setup?
Summit can help you cut waste and build something that actually makes sense for your business. Because in a world of 72-core minimums, it literally pays to outsmart the system. Contact us if you want to chat about your options.
Aaron Biggs
Aaron Biggs is a tenured revenue leader with over 15 years in the trenches of sales, operations, and revenue management. He blends high-level strategy with practical, hands-on expertise, offering a balanced perspective valued by colleagues and clients alike.Aaron has served as Summit's Vice President of Revenue since 2022, where he's responsible for customer acquisition, growth, and solution design. Prior to Summit, Aaron honed his skills at tech powerhouses like Google, Lenovo, and Motorola. He combines thoughtful leadership with a data-driven mindset to maximize revenue growth and customer success in the cloud technology infrastructure space.
