VMware to raise prices in EMEA and ANZ

VMware recently caused a news flurry with their removal of Diane Greene as the CEO and the idea that the announced financials would be less than expected.

And lately, I have been getting emails from readers worried about a possible price hike in VMware’s products and support subscriptions.

So I contacted the company, and VMware had this to say, “There is a price change but it’s due to currency fluctuations relative to the US dollar. Effective September 1, 2008, VMware is adjusting its international price list to properly reflect recent currency fluctuations. The adjustment will result in a 10% increase of the USD Prices in EMEA and ANZ. Based on the recent fluctuation in the USD, VMware’s new adjusted price is relatively equal to the price that customers were seeing earlier in 2008.”

The fact is the company charges the rest of the world for its products in USD. So, what with the high currency volatility that is taking place right now around the world, it sounds like the company is finally trying to adjust USD prices for that part of the world to where they believe it should be. I say finally only because the currency volatility isn’t something new that just appeared.

Some are concerned that raising prices right now sends the wrong message, what with Hyper-V, Diane Greene’s departure, the falling stock price and the less than stellar expected financial numbers.

Is the hypervisor becoming commodity? Should VMware ESX virtualization be offered for free like other products? Keep in mind, the price increase sounds like it is across the board for all VMware products, not just ESX. And so far, the official word seems to be that the increase is for EMEA and ANZ. It also sounds like the price hike doesn’t occur until September 1, 2008.

Won’t higher prices hurt VMware’s chances with the SMB market? With Microsoft now courting these companies with a free Hyper-V solution, price increases (even if justified with the valuation of the USD) right now may seem a little odd.

On the other hand, for companies who are already heavily invested in VMware, this could be a buying opportunity for them before September 1, which could certainly help VMware with their less than expected future financials… at least in the short term.