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IT director warns of VMware cost increase and asks for an extra technician/manager
Summary
The county IT director said Broadcom’s VMware pricing pushed a roughly $30,000 increase into the county’s maintenance line and requested a technical support manager to reduce 24/7 strain; the department said its ticket queue often holds "about 60 or 70" items.
The county IT director told the board that Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has driven a significant maintenance increase and that the IT budget includes a requested additional $30,000 for VMware licensing and related support. "The VMware software was purchased by Broadcom... they did by a significant amount," the director said, explaining the need to retain service while staff evaluate alternate solutions.
The director characterized the IT shop as lean and said staff routinely juggle operational tickets and after‑hours duties for public‑safety systems. "Our ticket queue usually has about 60 or 70 things that are waiting for our support," he said, and asked for a new technical support/manager position to improve service levels, manage projects, and reduce individual on‑call burden. The director estimated a multi‑month timeline (optimistically six months) to migrate off the current VMware setup if the board chose to pursue alternatives; he cautioned that migration could require hardware and integration costs.
Board members asked about SLAs, overtime, and whether internal staff could be promoted into the manager role; the director said internal candidates were possible but that an outside hire was likely. Staff will return with additional cost estimates and alternatives for the VMware contract and a staffing plan.
