Leave VMware. Without the manual work.
FCS Beam migrates your virtual machines from VMware vSphere to SUSE Virtualization, OpenStack, Proxmox VE, or Hyper-V — and rebuilds the guest operating system along the way. Nothing gets installed inside your running machines.
Why the move stalls right now
The contract is pressing
Many existing customers report sharply increased licence and support costs. Anyone who wants to move needs a controlled migration path with traceable steps.
Manual work does not scale
Export, convert, swap drivers, repair the bootloader, redo the networking — for every single machine. What works for five VMs collapses at eighty.
The guest OS is the hard part
Copying a disk is easy. Getting Windows Server to boot without its VMware drivers, and Linux to find its new network card, is the actual work.
Four things that make the difference
Not a pile of scripts, but one continuous path from the source to a running machine.
The guest OS is rebuilt with it
Beam swaps the drivers inside the guest, sets up the bootloader again, carries the network configuration over, and removes the VMware drivers — for Linux and for Windows Server.
No agent in the source VM
Beam talks to vCenter and reads the disks. Nothing is installed inside your running machines. For application-consistent snapshots, Beam uses the VMware Tools already present there.
Only the final delta run in your window
Beam syncs up front and then transfers only changed blocks. Your maintenance window carries the final delta run instead of a full copy.
Nothing goes live that is incomplete
Beam boots the target machine before the switch and checks that it comes up and is reachable. No machine is released whose transfer is not proven complete — and if something is off, it goes back to the source.
The data stream runs straight from the source into the target volumes — not through a service of ours or anyone else's.
Six phases, one migration
01Plan
Beam inventories the environment, checks every machine against the supported operating systems, and reports blockers before a single byte is copied.
02Replicate
The first run transfers the full disks; every run after that carries only the blocks that changed since.
03Provision
Machine, volumes, and network attachment are created on the target platform — following a mapping that was validated against the live environment first.
04Rebuild
The guest system is adapted offline: drivers, bootloader, network configuration. The source stays untouched.
05Verify
Beam boots the target machine and checks that it comes up and is reachable. No machine goes live whose transfer is not proven complete.
06Cut over
The switch happens in your maintenance window. If something is off, it goes back to the source.
Where from, where to, and what runs inside
VMware vSphere
Connected through vCenter. Beam does not support other source systems today.
- SUSE Virtualization (KubeVirt)
- OpenStack
- Proxmox VE
- Microsoft Hyper-V
RHEL family
RHEL, CentOS, Oracle Linux, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux
Debian and Ubuntu
Debian, Ubuntu
SUSE
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, openSUSE
Windows Server
2016, 2019, 2022, 2025
Current versions are released; older ones we review case by case.
What you need to bring
So you know what you are signing up for before you sign up.
Access to vCenter
An account with enough privileges to inventory machines and export their disks.
Your own VMware SDK
You upload the VDDK yourself through the interface — while your contract is still running. Without that SDK the migration still works, but over a slower path and without incremental transfers.
Room for the appliance
Beam runs as a virtual appliance inside your vSphere environment and is activated through the focusnet portal.
Beam is a migration tool — not a replication or failover product, and not a replacement for a backup solution. You still need your backup exactly as before.
Try it for free, before it becomes a product
The beta starts shortly — everyone signed up hears it first. Places are limited because we accompany every migration personally.
What you get
- The appliance for your own vSphere environment
- Our hands-on support for your first migration
- A direct line to the engineering team
What we ask for
- Feedback from real migrations — what worked and what did not
- Feedback that helps us keep improving the tool
Taking part is free and non-binding. What Beam will cost after the beta is not decided yet; signing up commits you to nothing.
Sign up for the beta
We will get in touch as soon as the beta starts — with access and a suggested slot for your first migration.
What people ask first
- What does the beta cost?
- Nothing. There are no costs and no obligation to buy Beam afterwards.
- When does it start?
- Shortly. Everyone signed up hears it first.
- Do I really need a VMware SDK?
- For VDDK-based export and incremental transfers, yes — you upload your own VDDK through the interface. Without it Beam still migrates, but over a slower path and without incremental runs.
- Where does my VM data go?
- Straight from the source into the target volumes. The data stream does not pass through a service of ours or anyone else's. For execution plans and activation the appliance talks to the focusnet portal; that carries configuration data, not the contents of your machines.
- Do I have to migrate to focusnet?
- No. Beam migrates to the target platform of your choice, including your own data center.
- Does Beam replace my backup?
- No. Beam is a migration tool. You still need your backup exactly as before.
- Which guest operating systems are supported?
- The RHEL family including CentOS, Oracle Linux, Rocky, and AlmaLinux, plus Debian and Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE, as well as Windows Server 2016 through 2025. Older versions we review case by case.
VMware and vSphere are trademarks of Broadcom. SUSE is a trademark of the SUSE group. Proxmox is a trademark of Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. OpenStack is a trademark of the OpenInfra Foundation. Microsoft and Hyper-V are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. They are named descriptively only and imply no partnership.