Mainframes Cheaper Than VMware Licensing

Enterprises running hundreds of Linux virtual machines are beginning to find IBM mainframes a lower total‑cost option than staying on VMware after Broadcom raised licensing costs. Analysts (Gartner) point to built‑in high‑availability, long backward‑compatibility, and the z/VM hypervisor as reasons some mission‑critical workloads make economic sense to migrate to mainframes. — This flips a familiar diffusion story — modern cloud/VM stacks always cheaper — and implies vendor licensing policy can redirect infrastructure demand, regional data‑center economics, and workforce needs.