Real world economic potential of tokens will depend on efficient usage of scarce compute resources, Stripe’s Patrick Collison said.

After weeks of speculation, Stripe has announced that it is acquiring New York-based AI marketplace OpenRouter.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but recent reports suggest the acquisition would cost Stripe between $7bn and $10bn – dramatically higher than the $1.3bn valuation OpenRouter hit after a $113m round a few months ago.

Stripe said the acquisition will improve its services that help businesses optimise token costs – something it has undertaken over the past year. It is also gaining a user-base of more than 10m OpenRouter users globally.

Token optimisation is difficult, Stripe explained. “The sheer matrix of variables – which model to use for which tasks, at which speed and at what price – makes managing cost-versus-performance trade-offs in real time extremely difficult,” it said in a statement announcing the acquisition.

Founded in 2023, OpenRouter is a new type of marketplace that offers access to more than 500 large language models (LLMs), routing user requests to the best available AI provider and letting users shop around based on price, speed and reliability among other factors.

It claims to be the first of its kind of platform set up for LLMs, reflecting a growing appetite for AI models and a fast diversifying market and is already used by the likes of Nvidia, Zoom and Swedish vibe-coding start-up Lovable.

“Together, Stripe and OpenRouter will be able to help companies manage both sides of profitability in the AI era; maximising revenue and efficacy while minimising costs,” Stripe said.

The company’s co-founder Patrick Collison said: “Tokens are the central currency for companies building with AI and it’s clear that the real-world economic potential will depend on making good use of scarce compute resources.”

Alex Atallah, the co-founder and CEO of OpenRouter once described his company as an AI equivalent of Stripe.

“Stripe has spent over a decade building trusted, neutral infrastructure for businesses, and OpenRouter was built on the same philosophy,” he said.

“We believe intelligence will be multi-model: no single model will be optimal for every task, and developers need a neutral layer to orchestrate and manage them all. Joining Stripe lets us accelerate that mission and bring the full AI ecosystem to every business.”

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There has been very little pushback against Apple’s new business terms in the EU, primarily from Epic Games, and even the European Commission has welcomed the changes.

The Digital Markets Act forced Apple to rethink its business model in the European Union, which was initially rejected due to the Core Technology Fee and confusing rates. After going back to the negotiating table, Apple seemingly has found a solution that makes almost everyone happy.

A report from Irish Independent detailed the European Commission’s response to Apple’s new business terms for the EU. They share that they welcome the changes and will monitor Apple’s implementation of the terms.

Here is the EC’s full statement:

“The Commission welcomes Apple’s changes to their business terms, which follow a close dialogue between the Commission and Apple after the Commission issued a non-compliance decision related to Apple’s steering terms as well as preliminary findings related to alternative app distribution, both in April 2025,” the spokesperson said.

“Following today’s announcement, the Commission will monitor Apple’s effective implementation of the new terms. Under the DMA, users in the EU have a right to full and effective choice of alternative app distribution channels.”

The point of the DMA was to open up competition and choice for developers, which the EC seems to believe Apple’s terms have accomplished. The new rates eliminate the Core Technology fee and rely upon percentages from 5% to 26% based on how the developer interfaces with Apple’s platform.

One vocal developer was not happy with the results. Predictably, it was Epic Games.

“The law makes it clear that Apple must allow developers to offer link outs to the web for purchases ‘free of charge’ and has to allow ‘effective use’ of competing stores. Apple’s terms deliberately violate the Digital Markets Act.”

Epic has made it clear in the US and the EU that any fee above 0% on purchases made outside of the App Store is too much. Given the EC’s approval of these new business terms, Epic may have to finally accept the reality of the situation.

Either Epic pays, or it can invent its own smartphone platform to profit from. Of course, Epic will continue to litigate until the sun expires.

We haven’t heard the last of Epic either. The lawsuit against Apple involving commission rates is still ongoing as Apple awaits the Supreme Court’s decision in October.

Software subscriptions are easy to justify one at a time.

£10 a month for cloud storage. £20 for an AI tool. £40 for security software. Another £30 for design, £50 for project management, then a few smaller subscriptions that barely seem worth thinking about.

The problem appears when you add them together.

Software has shifted decisively toward recurring billing, which means many of us no longer buy a program once and use it for five years. We maintain a collection of monthly and annual subscriptions instead. For businesses, freelancers and even individual users, those recurring software costs can become a meaningful part of the monthly budget.

The obvious response is to start cancelling things. That can save money, but it can also be a bad trade if you remove software that genuinely saves time or helps you work.

A better approach is to make the subscriptions you keep work harder.

Start by Finding Out What You Actually Pay For

Before looking for cheaper software, work out what you already have.

This is less obvious than it sounds.

Subscriptions can be spread across credit cards, PayPal, app stores, business accounts and individual employee expenses. Annual subscriptions are particularly easy to forget because they disappear from view for eleven months before suddenly renewing.

Make a simple list containing:

• Software name
• Purpose
• Monthly or annual price
• Renewal date
• Number of users
• Current pricing plan
• How frequently it is actually used

You do not need specialist subscription management software to do this. A spreadsheet is enough.

The important part is getting everything into one place.

You may find three categories almost immediately: software you use constantly, software you occasionally need, and software you forgot you were paying for.

The third category is the easiest place to start cutting.

Cancel Software You No Longer Use

Unused subscriptions are the least controversial saving.

Perhaps you needed a video editor for one project. You tested an AI research tool for a month. You signed up for a stock image service while redesigning a website.

The project ended. The subscription didn’t.

Small monthly payments are especially good at surviving unnoticed. A £12 subscription does not feel urgent enough to investigate, but £12 every month is £144 a year.

Multiply that across five or ten forgotten services and the numbers stop looking insignificant.

Before cancelling, check whether you have files or data stored in the platform that need to be exported. Once that is done, remove subscriptions with no current purpose.

There is no clever optimisation here. Stop paying for things you do not use.

Look for Overlapping Features

The next step requires a little more thought.

Software products rarely stay in their original lanes. Project management tools add document editing. Email platforms add CRM features. Design applications add AI image generation. SEO suites add content tools. AI platforms add research, coding and file analysis.

That means your software subscriptions may now overlap considerably.

Imagine paying separately for:

• A meeting transcription tool
• An AI assistant
• A writing tool
• A research platform
• A document summariser

Two years ago, that might have made sense.

Today, one or two products may cover most of those jobs.

Go through the software you use and look at what each platform can actually do now, not what it could do when you first subscribed.

You might find that an existing subscription has quietly made another one redundant.

Do Not Replace Good Software Just Because Something Cheaper Exists

There is a trap at the other end of software cost cutting.

The cheapest subscription is not automatically the best value.

Suppose you pay £50 a month for software that saves five hours of work. Replacing it with a £20 alternative that adds two hours of manual work is unlikely to be a sensible saving.

Time has a cost too.

When comparing software subscriptions, consider:

• Reliability
• Time saved
• Ease of use
• Integrations
• Support
• Security
• Export options
• Collaboration features
• Training required
• Switching costs

This is especially important for software deeply embedded in a workflow.

Moving from one password manager to another is relatively manageable. Migrating a company CRM, automation stack or email marketing system can be considerably more disruptive.

Save money where the difference is largely financial. Be more cautious where the cheaper option creates operational problems.

Compare Monthly and Annual Software Plans

Once you know a product is staying, check how you are paying for it.

Many software companies charge less when customers pay annually rather than monthly.

The discount can be worthwhile, but only if you are confident you will use the software for most or all of the next year.

This creates a useful rule:

Use monthly billing while testing. Switch to annual billing once the software has proved itself.

Monthly plans cost more, but the flexibility has value when you are still deciding whether a product belongs in your workflow.

Annual billing makes more sense for established subscriptions.

If you have used the same software every week for three years and have no intention of replacing it, paying the monthly premium purely for flexibility probably achieves very little.

Check the actual saving before committing. Some annual discounts are substantial. Others barely justify paying twelve months upfront.

Compare the Real Annual Cost

Software pricing pages can make comparisons unnecessarily difficult.

One service advertises “$9.99 per month” but requires annual payment. Another charges £14 monthly with no commitment. A third has a cheap starting plan but locks important functionality behind the next tier.

Compare the cost you will realistically pay over twelve months.

For example:

Software A: £10 per month billed annually = £120 upfront

Software B: £13 per month = £156 annually

Software C: £8 entry plan, but £16 for the features you need = £192 annually

Software A is cheapest in that example, but only if you are comfortable committing for the year.

The headline monthly price is not enough.

Look at the plan you actually need, billing frequency, taxes where applicable, user limits and any usage charges.

Review Your Pricing Tier

You may not need to change software at all.

You may simply be on the wrong plan.

Upgrades tend to happen for specific reasons. A team needs one premium feature. Storage reaches a limit. A business needs more users. An email list grows.

Months later, circumstances change but the expensive plan remains.

Look at the tier below your current subscription and ask what you would genuinely lose by downgrading.

Pay particular attention to:

• Storage
• Usage allowances
• Number of users
• AI credits
• Export limits
• Automations
• Integrations
• Reporting
• Support levels

If you use premium features every day, keep them.

If you are paying an extra £40 a month for something nobody remembers using, downgrade.

Check Per-User Software Costs

Per-seat pricing can become expensive quickly.

A tool that costs £25 per user looks reasonable for a team of three. At 30 users, it becomes £750 every month.

Regularly check who actually needs a paid account.

Former employees, temporary contractors and inactive team members sometimes remain on paid licences long after they stop using the software.

You may also find that some users only need view access or a free account.

For each major platform, compare the number of paid seats with the number of active users.

This is one of the simplest ways businesses can reduce software subscription costs without affecting productivity at all.

Be Careful With AI Subscription Creep

AI software deserves special attention because this market is moving unusually quickly.

It is easy to accumulate separate subscriptions for:

• Writing
• Research
• Coding
• Image generation
• Video
• Presentations
• Transcription
• Meeting notes
• Search
• Data analysis

The problem is that these categories increasingly overlap.

An AI platform you already pay for may have added a feature that makes a separate subscription unnecessary. Likewise, the specialist product may still be significantly better and worth keeping.

The point is not to consolidate everything automatically.

It is to keep checking.

AI tools can change considerably within a few months, so treating the software stack as something you review once a year may be too slow.

Compare Alternatives Before Every Major Renewal

Renewal dates create a natural opportunity to check the market.

If a software subscription costs £20 a month, you may decide that extensive comparison shopping is not worth your time.

If it costs £2,000 a year, the calculation changes.

Before renewing an expensive subscription, check:

1. What does the current plan cost now?
2. Has the price increased?
3. Are you still using all the features?
4. What do competing products offer?
5. Would switching create significant migration costs?
6. Is there a lower tier that now meets your needs?

Software markets change quickly.

The product that represented exceptional value three years ago may no longer be the obvious choice.

Equally, switching simply because a competitor is £5 cheaper is rarely worthwhile. Look at the whole package.

Look for Software Discounts Before Buying

Once you have decided which software you actually want, check whether you need to pay the full advertised price.

Depending on the product, there may be:

• Annual billing discounts
• Introductory offers
• Student pricing
• Startup programmes
• Nonprofit discounts
• Partner promotions
• Seasonal sales
• Bundled plans
• Cashback offers

This step should come after choosing the software.

Buying the wrong product because it has a 30% discount is not saving money.

But if you were going to purchase the subscription anyway, there is little reason to ignore an available saving.

Platforms such as Rewardio offer cashback on software and digital subscriptions across categories including AI tools, marketing software, hosting, VPNs and other online services. Checking for cashback before going directly to the software provider can reduce the effective cost of a subscription without requiring you to switch to a different product.

That can be particularly useful for recurring software you already know you need.

Understand the Difference Between a Discount and Cashback

These are not quite the same thing.

A traditional software discount reduces the purchase price before you pay.

Cashback generally means you make an eligible purchase and receive part of the transaction value back afterwards.

For example, imagine a subscription costs £100.

A 20% discount might reduce the checkout price to £80.

A 20% cashback offer could mean paying £100 initially and receiving £20 back later, subject to the terms of the offer.

The economic result can be similar, but the process is different.

Always check:

• Eligibility
• Whether the offer applies to new or existing customers
• Whether cashback is one-time or recurring
• Minimum payout requirements
• Tracking requirements
• Excluded plans or products

Do not assume every offer works the same way.

Check Whether You Are Paying More Through an App Store

Some software subscriptions can be purchased either directly from the provider or through an app marketplace.

Compare the options.

Pricing, available plans and billing arrangements may differ depending on where the subscription originates.

Buying directly can sometimes give you more control over account management, billing and promotions.

There are also situations where an app-store subscription is more convenient, particularly if you actively manage multiple subscriptions through one account.

Convenience has value. Just make sure you know what you are paying for it.

Use Free Plans Strategically

Free software is not only for people who cannot afford paid tools.

Sometimes the free tier genuinely covers everything you need.

This is particularly common with:

• Password managers
• Cloud storage
• Project management
• Design tools
• VPNs
• Analytics
• Note-taking apps
• Developer tools

The mistake is assuming that “premium” automatically means “appropriate.”

For example, if you are choosing security software or a VPN, the decision should be based primarily on whether the product provides the privacy, performance and security features you need. BlogTheTech’s guide to Android VPNs is a good example of a category where both free and paid options can make sense depending on what you expect from the software.

Start with your requirements.

Then determine whether the paid tier actually solves a problem the free version does not.

Cancel Free Trials Properly

Free trials are useful because they reduce the risk of testing software.

They also have a tendency to become permanent subscriptions.

Whenever you begin a trial, immediately record:

• Trial end date
• Renewal price
• Cancellation deadline
• Whether payment details were required

Set a reminder several days before the trial converts.

That gives you time to decide properly rather than discovering the charge after it happens.

If you already know within two days that you do not want the product, cancel it immediately. Many services allow you to continue using the remaining trial period after cancellation.

Negotiate Business Software Contracts

Consumers generally pay the listed software price.

Businesses often have more room to negotiate, particularly when buying multiple licences or higher-value subscriptions.

If you are dealing with sales rather than simply entering card details at checkout, ask.

Questions worth raising include:

• Is there a discount for annual payment?
• Is there a better price for multiple seats?
• Can unused features be removed?
• Are there startup or small-business plans?
• Is there a retention offer available?
• What happens if we reduce our seat count?
• Can the renewal price be fixed?

The larger the contract, the more worthwhile this becomes.

Do not assume the initial quote is necessarily the final commercial offer.

Watch Out for Introductory Pricing

A cheap first year can disguise a much more expensive long-term subscription.

Hosting companies, security software providers and other digital services sometimes advertise substantial introductory discounts.

There is nothing wrong with taking the deal.

Just check what happens afterwards.

If a service costs £30 in year one and renews at £120, think of it as a £120 subscription with a first-year promotion, not a permanently cheap £30 product.

Put the renewal date and standard price in your subscription list.

That prevents next year’s invoice from becoming an unpleasant surprise.

Do Not Ignore Software Bundles

Bundling can save money when you genuinely need several products from the same provider.

Perhaps one subscription combines:

• Cloud storage
• Email
• Office software
• Video calls

Or:

• VPN
• Password management
• Security monitoring

Or:

• Design
• Photography
• Video editing

Compare the bundled price with buying the components separately.

But apply the same rule as every other discount: only count features you would otherwise pay for.

A £50 bundle containing £200 worth of software is not a bargain if you only use one application that would cost £20 on its own.

Calculate the Cost Per Use

For smaller subscriptions, a useful test is to look at cost per use.

Suppose you pay £25 per month for a tool.

If you use it every working day, the cost per use is tiny.

If you open it twice a month, you are effectively paying £12.50 every time you use it.

That does not automatically mean you should cancel it. Specialist software used occasionally can still provide substantial value.

But cost per use forces you to think about whether the subscription model makes sense.

If you only need something occasionally, look for:

• Pay-as-you-go alternatives
• Monthly cancellation
• Free versions
• One-time purchase software
• Open-source alternatives

A permanent recurring subscription is not always the right purchasing model.

Schedule a Software Subscription Audit Twice a Year

Software costs become difficult to control when nobody revisits them.

Put a recurring review in your calendar every six months.

During the review:

• Cancel unused software
• Remove inactive users
• Check for duplicate functionality
• Compare pricing tiers
• Review expensive renewals
• Check annual versus monthly pricing
• Evaluate new alternatives
• Remove unnecessary AI subscriptions
• Check available discounts and cashback
• Update renewal dates

For a business with a large technology stack, quarterly reviews may make more sense.

The process does not need to become bureaucratic.

You are simply asking whether each recurring payment still deserves to recur.

The Goal Is Better Value, Not Fewer Subscriptions

There is nothing inherently wrong with paying for a lot of software.

A developer may need several professional tools. A marketer might rely on paid SEO, analytics, design and email platforms. A business may run almost entirely on cloud applications.

Those subscriptions can be excellent investments.

The waste appears when software remains on the bill after it stops providing enough value.

So do not judge your software stack by how short you can make it.

Judge it by how much useful work you get for what you spend.

Keep the tools that save time, protect your data or help you earn money. Cancel the ones you forgot about. Consolidate genuine overlap. Use annual pricing where commitment makes sense. Compare competitors before major renewals. Check discounts and cashback before paying full price.

Software subscriptions are unlikely to disappear.

That makes learning how to manage them properly increasingly important.

A few small changes across several recurring subscriptions can produce meaningful annual savings, without giving up any of the technology you actually rely on.

NextLevel Acoustics will officially debut its new immersive audio demo at the upcoming 2026 CEDIA Expo to be held from Sept 2 – 4.  

Produced by Nick Matzke of Bayview Audio, “Beyond the Room” has been created to showcase the movement, dynamics, impact, and scale of high-performance home cinema systems.

“Beyond the Room” pays homage to a part of CEDIA many in the industry remember: discovering new demo material at the show, taking it back to the showroom, and having something exciting to put in front of customers. “Beyond the Room” brings that tradition back, reimagined for a new generation of listeners to discover the excitement of the classic demo disc.

As part of the Paragons of Home Cinema – Episode II 9.4.6 Channel System CEDIA Sound Room 7 experience, attendees will hear a special edition of “Beyond the Room” to open the Paragons demo. From there, the Paragons presentation will continue with a curated selection of additional clips chosen to showcase the very best in audio and video performance from NextLevel speakers, NextLevel Acoustics, and components by Lumagen, Christie, Storm Audio, Stewart Filmscreen, SpeakerPower, Simplified Acoustics, and Cinemotion Posters.

Why “Beyond The Room” Was Created

Rather than relying on typical regurgitated movie clips, “Beyond the Room” was created as dedicated demonstration content, with movement around and above the listener, powerful low-frequency moments, and precise placement of effects and large-scale transitions designed to make the room disappear.

“One of the things we always loved about CEDIA was finding a great new demo and bringing it back to share with friends, family, and customers,“ said Lee Weber, Co-Owner of NextLevel Acoustics. “That was the inspiration behind “Beyond the Room”. We wanted to create something people would be excited to experience at the show—and just as excited to bring home and play in their own theaters.“

In addition to the Paragons of Home Cinema Episode II demo in Sound Room 7, Beyond the Room” will also be featured at CEDIA Expo Booth 1346. 

NextLevel Acoustics “Beyond The Room” FAQs

What is Beyond The Room?

Beyond the Room is an original 90-second demo created by NextLevel Acoustics as a modern tribute to the demo discs once handed out at shows like CEDIA. It has been designed as a fun, impactful way for dealers, calibrators, and enthusiasts to show off, demonstrate, and enjoy their surround sound systems.

How is Beyond The Room related to the Paragons of Home Cinema – Episode II demo in Sound Room SR7 at the 2026 CEDIA Expo?

In addition to providing all of the loudspeakers being featured in SR7, NextLevel Acoustics has created a special 1-minute, 47-second Paragons of Home Cinema – Episode II-branded edition of “Beyond the Room” that will serve as the opening segment of the SR7 presentation. Once the introductory clip concludes, the SR7 demo will continue with a curated selection of movie clips via Kaleidescape.

When and where can I get “Beyond the Room” for dealer, calibrator, and home theater enthusiast use?

“Beyond The Room” will be available beginning September 2nd via the NextLevel Acoustics website, QR codes distributed at CEDIA for downloadable copies, and a limited number of physical copies (USB Drives) available at Booth 1346. Additional special editions and alternate versions are forthcoming. “Beyond The Room” will be available in the MP4 and MKV video formats. 

Bottom Line

One of the great things about attending Audio and AV Tradehows, such as CEDIA, is taking in all the great demos that show off the latest and greatest speakers and components. However, after all the excitement dies down, many times all we have are memories of what we saw and heard. 

In the past, one of the things that attendees and press always looked forward to was getting their hands on DTS, Dolby, THX, and other demo discs that they could use to test and show off the latest gear at dealers and at home. 

The most popular test and demo discs available these days for testing and showing off gear are from Spears and Munsil and Trinnov. For 2026, Next Level Acoustics is joining in with a demo that takes users “Beyond The Room,” putting your speakers and components to the test in a home theater environment. 

We won’t know the specific nature of the original audio demo clips that NextLevel that “Beyond The Room” will provide until its debut and availability begins on Sept 2nd, 2026. 

Related Reading

China holds more than 97pc of the burgeoning humanoid robotics market despite lacking big budget VC attention.

Investors rushed to back China’s first publicly listed humanoid maker Unitree Robotics, sending the company’s share price surging by 460pc in its Shanghai trading debut today (19 August) after it raised $904m in its initial public offering (IPO).

At the peak of the spike, Unitree’s shares rose by nearly 630pc of their IPO price of 150.80 yuan – or roughly $22 – to 1,100 yuan. That figure is now down to 845 yuan.

The company said it plans to invest roughly 4.2bn yuan ($620m) from the IPO proceeds into research, innovation and development projects, and a robot manufacturing base.

Around 20pc of the company’s offering was allocated to select private investors, including Chinese AI research lab DeepSeek and state-owned enterprises including China National Petroleum and China Telecom.

DeepSeek has invested $20.8m in Unitree in exchange for 2.31pc of its shares. The companies have agreed to jointly develop AI models for humanoid machines.

Unitree’s prospectus showed revenue rose to 1.7bn yuan in 2025 from 392.77m yuan in 2024, with humanoid robot shipments exceeding 5,500 units in 2025.

Unitree’s listing comes amid China’s continued dominance over global humanoid robotics, with recent reports suggesting that the country alone holds more than 97pc of the burgeoning market, while also representing more than 85pc of global demand. The sector is expected to grow from nearly $5.5bn this year to more than $50bn by 2035.

Shanghai-based Agibot recently overtook Unitree to become the world’s largest humanoid robot vendor, capturing 44pc of the global market. Together, the two vendors account for 75pc of humanoid robot sales across the world. Behind the two leaders are Beijing-based Galbot, Shenzhen’s Ubtech and Guangdong-based Leju.

Growing advancements in physical AI are helping prove humanoids’ place in industrial settings, as global sales surged 272pc in a year, with shipments growing 14,000 units in the first half of 2026.

Venture capital funding into physical AI – the same technology behind robotaxis, drones, sensors and other industrial automation capabilities – reportedly surged fourfold in the first half of this year, compared to the six months beforehand, totalling more than $47bn across 521 deals.

Combined funding in this space between 2022 and 2024 amounted to $41.9bn, highlighting investor belief in the industry’s maturity.

Major VC investments in this space this year included Waymo’s $16bn Series D, defence company Anduril Industries’ $5bn raise, Germany’s Neura Robotics’ $1.4bn Series C and the UK’s Wayve securing $1.26bn.

AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based start-up building wheeled humanoid robots with five-fingered hands, raised roughly $881m.

China’s humanoid advantage comes as a result of its vast network of component manufacturers and production capacity. Along with government support, this network is able to quickly develop and implement newer technologies with the economies of scale.

JP Morgan data finds that a typical humanoid robot’s materials cost roughly $46,000 in China versus $131,000 in the US. China also produces about 70pc of the global supply of actuators, a key component type in humanoids that can account for up to 50pc of a unit’s total cost.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Google is making Pixel Screenshots more useful with a new update that adds date, collection and app filters. These changes give Pixel users more control over a growing screenshot library, making it easier to find specific images without relying solely on text search.

The update arrives alongside the Pixel 11 series and expands the existing “Filter screenshots” menu. Previously, the menu was limited to tags such as Places, Articles, Events, Notes, Receipts and Tracking info.

With version 1.26.281.05, users can now filter screenshots by date range, with options covering the past 24 hours, seven days, 30 days, six months and one year. There’s also a Custom option that lets you specify a particular period when the preset ranges aren’t enough.

Google has also added Collections as a filter. Rather than opening collections individually, you can now use them to narrow down the screenshots shown in the main feed. The same filtering options are available within Collections, too.

virtualization

Broadcom’s VCF-or-nothing licenses are coming to Azure

Microsoft has signalled it will end one of the last remaining ways to acquire VMware products outside of a big bundle.

Redmond’s main offer for Virtzillains is the Azure VMware Solution (AVS), a cloudy affair that includes vCenter, vSAN, vSphere, and NSX and licenses for them all – but not the Software-Defined Datacenter Manager tool that Broadcom uses to package its wares into a centrally-manageable hybrid cloud in its flagship Cloud Foundation (VCF) suite.

Since acquiring VMware, Broadcom has gone all-in on VCF and no longer sells a standalone low-end server virtualization product. The Register understands the VMware channel and sales team almost never sell licenses for vSphere Foundation, a bundle that’s useful on the edge or branch office, unless it’s part of a bigger deal that includes VCF.

Services like AVS therefore represent an alternative for orgs that want to keep using VMware, but don’t want to jump to VCF.

Broadcom isn’t keen on licensing anything other than the entire VCF bundle and made that plain with licensing changes that mean its hyperscale partners are not allowed to sell VMware licenses. The code-and-chips shop therefore requires customers to bring their own VCF licenses to any cloudy VMware service.

Microsoft this week announced that it will therefore retire the license-included version of AVS, and that customers who use the service will need to acquire a VCF license and move to a different Azure arrangement by August 30, 2027.

The Windows giant said it will stop selling license-included AVS from October 31, 2026 and warned users to start planning a move because their current rigs won’t work in the future.

“Allow plenty of time to purchase VCF licenses from Broadcom and complete the transition to AVS VCF BYOL,” the company advises. “For customers evaluating modernization opportunities, start assessing current AVS environments immediately, and develop a transition roadmap to ensure you have ample time to exit AVS and avoid service disruption on August 31, 2027.”

Broadcom announced the requirement for BYOL licensing late last year, and other hyperscalers have already adopted it, so VCS users should have had an inkling that change was coming.

For some, this will not be their first recent VMware migration, as Broadcom has twice made changes that meant smaller cloud providers had to discontinue service, making a move to an alternative provider or platform necessary.

Broadcom doesn’t mind much if smaller VMware customers move to another server virtualization vendor: it unashamedly focuses on larger customers it thinks will get the most benefit from VCF and points to most of its target customers acquiring the suite, and increased VMware revenue, as evidence its strategy is working. ®

from the worse-before-it-gets-better dept

The past 18 months have seen a significant number of health issues, perhaps crises, arise in America. Measles, cyclosporiasis, whooping cough, and more have all been in the news. RFK Jr. is either stroking his pet conspiracy theories alongside Trump, or else he’s completely out to lunch. In the meantime, Kennedy is also continuing to sow doubts about vaccines generally, while also trying to claim he’s not, which helped result in a Trump executive order to reduce vaccination schedule recommendations for children. It’s as though this administration saw before it a four alarm fire and asked out loud, “How can we make this worse?”

And worse is likely to happen, because, despite all of this, the vaccination rates in American school children continues to fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday released data on the vaccination rates of US kindergarteners in the 2025–2026 school year, revealing that rates have once again decreased from the previous school year.

Vaccination rates have been slipping since the 2019–2020 school year, when the US had obtained rates of around 95 percent, the threshold needed to keep outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading in communities. The latest data shows the US is moving further away from that target.

Nationally, only 92.4 percent of kindergartners were vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the 2025–2026 school year, down from 92.5 percent last year. Coverage with the DTaP vaccine, which covers diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (whooping cough), similarly fell from 92.1 percent to 92.0 percent.

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This is bad quite generally, but it’s not equally bad in every state. And it’s very easy to demonstrate that state and local policies when it comes to vaccine requirements for school and the availability for non-religious exemptions are having quite the effect. This data is partially from the last school year, for instance, but it does a nice job highlighting the differences between states. In California, where exemptions face relatively tight requirements, 95.7% of kindergartners had the MMR vaccinations. In Florida, where the DeSantis administration has attempted to end all vaccination requirements for public schools, 88.9% of kindergartners had their MMR vaccinations.

The messaging from state and local leaders matters. The same is true for federal leaders. Public and health policy matter. And when we fall below herd immunity vaccination levels, the consequences are, well, precisely what we’re seeing out in the American wild at the moment.

If the overall number of exemptions exceeds 5 percent in any given location, it means that the location will not be able to achieve the 95 percent coverage target. Currently, 24 states have exemption rates at or above 5 percent. That’s up from 14 states in the 2023–2024 school year.

The data lands as vaccine-preventable diseases continue to rise and spread in the US. The country is on the verge of losing its measles elimination status as cases have reached a 34-year high and are still ticking upward. Last week, President Trump and Kennedy continued their efforts to undermine childhood vaccines, announcing an executive order to reduce the number of recommended vaccinations. The order has no scientific basis, and at a White House signing event, Trump and Kennedy spread vaccine falsehoods, misinformation, and disinformation.

This will get worse before it gets better, in other words. And the only real question is how many people have to get sick and/or die before we correct course.

Filed Under: anti-vaxxers, cdc, children, florida, health & human services, make america sick again, measles, mmr vaccine, rfk jr., ron desantis, vaccines