Azure VMware Solution Roadmap

by
Jim Gaynor

by
Jim Gaynor

Jim leads the Directions on Microsoft editorial team and has been writing about technology since the early 1990s. Most recently... more

Azure VMware Solution (AVS) offers virtualization, storage, and networking for managed VMs using VMware software deployed on single-tenant infrastructure housed within Azure datacenters. This control provides physical isolation from other customers and is like the type of control available in on-premises datacenters.

Product: Azure VMware Solution

Near Term (2025–2026)

In addition to capabilities delivered with updated versions of VMware hosting software, AVS receives regular enhancements from Microsoft to attract VMware customers from on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS to Azure. These focus primarily on AVS management and closer integration with Azure resources. Capabilities in public preview include the following:

New Broadcom license terms take effect Oct. 16, 2025. New or existing AVS customers purchasing new/additional AVS nodes will need to provide their own VMware Cloud Foundation licenses (VCF) from Broadcom or of its partners. VCF is the umbrella term for the private cloud solution that includes VMware vSphere (compute), vSAN (storage), NSX (network), and cloud management software. This is a Broadcom licensing change only; Microsoft says that it will continue to offer AVS as a fully managed service in Azure. Customers using AVS reserved instances purchased before the cutoff date will see no licensing or product changes through the term of their reserved instances. See the Broadcom announcement and the Microsoft announcement for additional details.