The customer's requirements include the following:

Carry over existing VLANs for workloads: This can be easily achieved with a vSphere distributed switch (VDS), as it supports the configuration of VLANs and ensures that they can be applied to multiple ESXi hosts across the data center.

Networking for storage must not share the data path with workload traffic: By using aggregated uplinks in the VDS configuration, the architect can easily separate workload traffic and storage traffic by using different uplinks or VLANs. Aggregated uplinks ensure that there is sufficient bandwidth for both workloads and storage, while keeping them logically separated in terms of traffic management.

Add additional VLANs: A VDS supports the dynamic addition of VLANs. New VLANs can be added and managed centrally, reducing the complexity and management overhead when scaling the network.

Reduce management overhead: The use of a single VDS significantly reduces management complexity compared to managing multiple vSphere standard switches (VSS). With VDS, network configuration and management are centralized and simplified across all ESXi hosts.

Given that the new replacement servers have two 100 GB network cards, the aggregated uplinks in a VDS configuration will provide the required network capacity while ensuring that traffic is properly segmented and scalable.