Why Tottenham’s move from VMware should prompt organisations to review their virtualisation strategy

Gemma Skelley
Marketing Director
September 3, 2026

Tottenham Hotspur’s reported 85% reduction in virtualisation licensing costs has brought renewed attention to a question many IT leaders are already asking: does their current virtualisation platform still offer the right value?

The Premier League club achieved the reported saving after replacing VMware with HPE VM Essentials as part of its wider technology partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

It’s a significant decision for an organisation operating such a complex and highly connected environment. Technology supports everything from day-to-day operations to the experience provided to tens of thousands of supporters during matches and other major events.

While not every organisation operates a stadium of this scale, the pressures behind the decision will sound familiar to many IT teams: rising licensing costs, changing vendor relationships and the need for greater flexibility.

The virtualisation market is changing

VMware has been a dominant force in virtualisation for many years, but recent changes have encouraged organisations to reassess their options.

Gemma Skelley, Marketing Director here at DTP Group, says the Tottenham story reflects conversations DTP is increasingly having with customers.

"We’ve followed the Tottenham Hotspur and HPE story since the partnership began, and it’s an interesting one because technology is such a big part of how the stadium operates and the supporter experience. It’s a modern, highly connected environment where reliability really matters, so the decision to move away from VMware and adopt HPE VM Essentials is significant. At DTP, we’re also seeing customers question rising costs and the engagement they have with the vendor."
Gemma Skelley, Marketing Director
"VMware has dominated the virtualisation market for years but the cost difference, with credible alternatives such as HPE VM Essentials, is hard to ignore. Plus HPE has created a really strong product roadmap for it, with more innovation to come. We’re seeing more and more of our own customers exploring VM Essentials for exactly that reason. For an organisation like Spurs to back HPE VM Essentials signals a strong vote of confidence. This is a high-profile organisation where the technology has to work, they can't afford to get it wrong. What we've found refreshing, and our customers echo the sentiment too, is that it's good to have choice."

Look beyond the headline saving

HPE VM Essentials gives organisations a choice in how they manage virtualised workloads, including support for existing VMware environments alongside HPE’s own hypervisor. This can help IT teams reduce their reliance on a single vendor and create a more flexible route forward.

An 85% reported reduction in licensing costs will inevitably attract attention, but cost should not be the only factor behind a change of platform.

Any review should also consider compatibility with existing infrastructure, application requirements, operational resilience, migration complexity, future development and the support available throughout the transition.

Gemma continued:

“Organisations shouldn’t move just because an alternative is cheaper. They should use this as an opportunity to review what they genuinely need from their virtualisation environment and whether their current platform is still delivering it. The right decision will be different for every organisation. The important thing is that IT teams now have greater choice, whether they want to reduce costs, simplify management, modernise their environment or take a more gradual approach to moving away from their existing platform.”

That assessment may confirm that the current environment remains the right fit. Alternatively, it may reveal opportunities to lower costs, reduce complexity or create a virtualisation strategy that offers greater flexibility in the future.

Technical expertise matters

Technology selection is only one part of the decision. Organisations also need the right technical expertise to assess their existing environment, understand dependencies and build a realistic migration plan.

DTP’s technical team recently attended the HPE VM Essentials Champions Club in Manchester, where Senior Storage Architect Graham Forrest was recognised by HPE as the VM Essentials “greatest of all time” for his outstanding contribution to the community.

The recognition reflects the expertise, enthusiasm and practical knowledge Graham and DTP’s wider technical team continue to share as the HPE VM Essentials platform develops.

This enables DTP to help organisations move beyond a simple comparison of licence prices. Our specialists can assess the wider technical and operational implications, identify suitable workloads and explore whether a full migration, phased transition or mixed virtualisation environment offers the best route forward.

Is it time to reassess your virtualisation environment?

Tottenham Hotspur’s decision does not mean every organisation should immediately replace VMware. It does, however, demonstrate that credible alternatives now exist and that the potential commercial benefits can be substantial.

For IT leaders, the key question is whether their current virtualisation strategy continues to provide the right balance of cost, performance, resilience, flexibility and support.