What changed
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware fundamentally changed licensing for Citrix estates. Buying the hypervisor as “vSphere for Desktops”, per user and cheaply, is no longer an option.
The three shapes, compared
Before: vSphere for Desktops per user, with vCenter Server and vSphere Enterprise Plus included, plus the Citrix licences on top. That combination was inexpensive.
Now: vSphere Foundation on subscription per core, with vCenter Server, vSphere Enterprise Plus and vSAN, and still the Citrix licences on top. Per core rather than per user is the reason for the jump.
The alternative: moving from the Citrix platform to Omnissa’s Horizon editions, which removes the separate Citrix licence.
Whether it pays
That comes down to two numbers: users relative to cores, and when the current Citrix contract ends. Both can be worked out, and both should be worked out rather than estimated. The move is a project rather than a licence swap: profiles, printing and the line-of-business applications all come along.
