José Miguel Guzmán
Co-Founder Whitestack.
Whitestack Supports the Transition to an Open and Sovereign Cloud
For over two decades, VMware was synonymous with enterprise virtualization. Products like vSphere, vSAN, and NSX enabled thousands of organizations to consolidate their infrastructure and take their first steps toward hybrid and multicloud architectures. Its stability, partner ecosystem, and platform maturity made it the de facto standard in corporate data centers.
However, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in November 2023 for $69 billion marked a turning point. Broadcom not only eliminated perpetual licenses but also consolidated thousands of products into just five offerings, enforcing annual subscriptions under new—and often more expensive—terms. Reports of price hikes of up to 175%, coupled with reduced flexibility and financial predictability, have created uncertainty for thousands of organizations, especially governments, educational institutions, and mid-sized enterprises now facing urgent decisions about their infrastructure’s future.
In this context, many organizations seek alternatives that allow them to continue operating on-premises without vendor lock-in or financial dependency on a closed ecosystem. The need to retain control over data, preserve existing investments, and transition to cloud-native models has become critical.
Whitestack: A Seamless transition to cloud-native
Whitestack offers a technology portfolio designed to simplify migration from VMware to modern, open, and efficient environments. With deployment experience across Latin America, Whitestack’s approach leverages proven open-source technologies, enterprise-grade support, and a gradual migration strategy to minimize risk and disruption.
Depending on an organization’s maturity level and specific needs, Whitestack proposes three evolutionary paths:
1. Nephora: Direct Hypervisor Replacement
Based on the XCP-ng project (a XenServer derivative), Nephora maintains the classic hypervisor model while supporting live migration, snapshots, persistent disks, and tools like Ansible and Terraform. Designed for simplicity, stability, and efficiency, it’s ideal for small-to-midsize environments seeking a VMware-like experience without Broadcom’s costs or restrictions.
Key features:
Lightweight installation, rapid VM provisioning, and web-based monitoring.
Centralized management via Xen Orchestra.
Shared storage integration, scheduled backups, programmable snapshots, and live migration.
Compatibility with VHD and QCOW2 formats for reusing existing disks.
2. WhiteCloud: OpenStack-Based Private Cloud
For organizations scaling toward automation and abstraction from hypervisor management, WhiteCloud (powered by OpenStack) delivers a full IaaS private cloud. It enables frictionless VM imports from VMware and operates with distributed storage (Ceph), SDN networking, open APIs, and multi-tenant governance.
Why WhiteCloud?
Transforms IT into an internal service provider, shifting focus from host management to “machines-as-a-service.”
Enables instant provisioning, image catalogs, and API-driven automation.
Aligns with public cloud agility while ensuring governance and control.
Integrates with Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Grafana.
OpenStack is a mature platform used by AT&T, CERN, and NASA, backed by an active community for long-term support.
3. WhiteCruiser: VM/Container Convergence
Built on Kubernetes and KubeVirt, WhiteCruiser manages VMs as declarative objects alongside containers—all within a single cluster, interface, and security model. Ideal for DevOps, GitOps, or infrastructure-as-code adoption.
Key advantages:
Unified management of VMs and containers with auto-scaling, versioned deployments, and self-healing.
Infrastructure-as-YAML for reproducible environments and reduced human error.
Gradual modernization of legacy VMs into Kubernetes-native resources.
Conoce la solución ideal para tu empresa
Whitestack Solutions: Technical Comparison
Solution | Nephora | WhiteCloud | WhiteCruiser |
Classification | Hypervisor | Cloud IaaS | Cloud PaaS |
Cloud Model | – | IaaS | PaaS |
Compute | |||
Virtualization Tech | Xen | KVM | KVM |
Container Tech | – | – | Docker and ContainerD |
Orchestration | – | Openstack | Kubernetes |
Networking | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 |
Redes | |||
Bridged | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Routed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
VLANs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
VXLAN | No | Yes | Yes |
GRE | No | No | Yes |
Storage | |||
Ephemeral Disks | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Persistent Disks | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Backups | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 | Thin-provisioning QCOW2 |
Snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes (Standard CSI) |
Backups | Yes | Yes | Yes(Standard CSI) |
Deployment | |||
Installation | ISO image | Automated/unattended | Real-time via Manager |
Control Plane | 1 servidor adicional para la GUI | 1 extra server (GUI) | 3 servers (Master Nodes, dedicated or shared) |
Operations | |||
Operational Model | Imperative | Imperative & Declarative | Declarative |
| Interface | Web Console | Web Console Command Line API | Web Console Command Line API |
VMware Similarity | High | Medium | Low |
IaC (Infra as Code | Terraform or similar | Terraform or similar | Native Kubernetes |
Scalability | |||
Small Scale (<10 physical servers) | HIGH | LOW (requires 3 dedicated control nodes) | MEDIUM (requires 3 master nodes, dedicated/shared) |
Medium Scale (10–30 servers) | MEDIUM (management complexity) | HIGH (cloud handles placement) | HIGH (cloud handles placement) |
Large Scale (>30 servers) | LOW (unmanageable) | HIGH (cloud handles placement) | HIGH (cloud handles placement) |
A strategic decision for the future
Choosing between Nephora, WhiteCloud, or WhiteCruiser depends on operational style, container adoption, projected scale, and DevOps maturity. Whitestack ensures a supported, progressive transition with expert guidance.
Moving beyond VMware isn’t just a technological shift—it’s an opportunity to rethink infrastructure, regain control, optimize costs, and align with digital sovereignty and operational efficiency. With Whitestack, organizations can turn this transition into a long-term strategic advantage.
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Whitestack es una empresa líder en el despliegue productivo de soluciones basadas en tecnologías y código abierto, con un fuerte foco en la industria de telecomunicaciones.
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