Tottenham Hotspur, a key player in the Premier League, has slashed its licensing fees by 85 percent by switching from VMware to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s Morpheus VM Essentials, according to The Register.

The move is part of a broader redesign of the club’s stadium’s data center and network infrastructure, with the support of HPE’s hybrid cloud management platform, GreenLake. Tottenham’s CTO, Rob Pickering, revealed that the migration is underpinned by VME and HPE’s OpsRamp software, with HPE overseeing the hybrid cloud-managed service.

The club hasn’t disclosed which VMware products were used or the exact amount saved, but it is clear that this transition has allowed Tottenham to modernize its virtualization platforms and reduce operational overhead. The shift also reflects a broader trend where established tech giants are facing competition from more agile players in the market.

For at least as long as Pickering’s career in technology, hypervisors have been a mundane yet crucial aspect of IT infrastructure. VMware, the 400-pound gorilla in the virtualization space, has taken some decisions that may be seen as counterproductive from both a system integrator and customer perspective, leading to this kind of significant cost-saving switch.

The move by Tottenham Hotspur not only saves the club money but also sets a precedent for other organizations considering similar migrations, highlighting the importance of evaluating and choosing the right technology solutions for long-term benefits.