Tesco replacing VMware with Proxmox in its stores and on the edge

UK retail giant Tesco appears to have decided to replace VMware with Proxmox in its stores.

A job ad for a new Head of Software Engineering: Edge Platform role says the gig involves leading “two major, interconnected engineering priorities: modernising Tesco’s edge virtualisation estate through the migration from VMware to Proxmox, and building a robust, scalable software-driven Edge Management Platform to provision, manage, monitor and maintain the retail edge estate throughout its lifecycle.”

The stakes are high because the job ad says Tesco’s Edge Platform “provides the underlying computing environment and software capabilities that enable applications to run across our stores.”

“Store technology must remain dependable despite connectivity disruptions, constrained local resources and the complexity of managing software and infrastructure changes across thousands of locations. Failures or poorly executed changes can directly affect store operations, colleague productivity and customer experience.”

Whoever scores the job will “own the engineering strategy and execution of Tesco’s migration from VMware to Proxmox across the edge estate, delivering a secure, reliable and cost-effective alternative virtualisation platform” - and do it from Bengaluru, India.

One KPI is “Safe and predictable migration from VMware to Proxmox, successful validation of required store configurations, reduced legacy dependencies and effective operational handover.”

In case you came in late, Proxmox is an open-source virtualization platform offered by an Austrian company. The product has gained considerable interest as a VMware alternative for edge, hyperconverged, and basic server virtualization scenarios. Proxmox is trying to grow into a full software-defined datacenter contender, too.

Independent analyst Michael Warrilow rates [PDF] Proxmox as technically strong but warns would-be users will need to find a support partner because until recently the company only offered support during business hours in Austria. That changed in September when Proxmox announced 24/7 support for enterprise customers.

In an email to The Register, Warrilow said “Modernisation is the key to reducing the dependence on VMware: reduce legacy whilst adding incremental value to a new initiative.”

“Supermarkets and general merchandise are ripe for this, more so given they are a location where VMware had more competition and less differentiation.”

“The Tesco job spec has many of the ingredients for a next-gen, cloud-inspired instore experience,” he added. “API-driven, ‘programmable’ infrastructure that allows rapid deployment and a better experience for customers.”

Tesco operates over 5,000 stores around the world. We’ve asked the retail giant to enumerate the extent of its planned Proxmox rollout.

Scuttlebutt suggests Tesco will adopt Microsoft’s Hyper-V for its core workloads. VMware, however, has indicated to The Register it does not consider Tesco a lost cause.

Court cases continue

Tesco is making the move after suing VMware over a contract dispute. The retailer claims VMware is bound to support software it acquired under a perpetual license, and to upgrade some software. The virtualization giant retorted that it no longer makes the software Tesco wants to upgrade to. Tesco says that during negotiations, VMware made an offer that represented a 175 percent price increase.

The matter remains before the courts, with hearings likely in 2027.

VMware’s dispute with several Siemens companies also continues. In that case, VMware alleged Siemens abused copyright by using more software than its licenses permitted.

Siemens’ parent company, Siemens AG, appears to have recently exited the case, an important change as it is Germany-based and the case is being heard in the USA. The remaining defendants last week filed a defence that denies VMware’s claims.

In better news for VMware, it last week announced a ten-year agreement with Japanese carrier NTT Docomo and a continued engagement at transport giant FedEx. Both companies will use VMware’s flagship Cloud Foundation private cloud bundle to power their operations. ®