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VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said the virtualization company will continue to innovate to stay ahead of Microsoft, Citrix Systems and Red Hat.
The VAR Guy
March 5, 2013
5 Min Read
VMware (NYSE: VMW) CEO Pat Gelsinger says the virtualization giant has three core missions, and he vowed that VMware will continue to innovate in order to stay ahead of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) in the virtualization market. Those comments, and more, surfaced today at the VMware Partner Exchange conference in Las Vegas. Here’s a recap.
“We are no longer a startup,” said Gelsinger. “We are the target of competition. Microsoft has more money than many nations. We’ll continue to innovate and stay ahead of them. With over $50 billion in total market to address, there’s huge opportunity for us.”
On the competitive front, Gelsinger conceded that VMware will need to both partner and compete with some companies and technologies. He mentioned HP, Cisco, IBM and OpenStack by name. Gelsinger mentioned the classic “coopetition” (compete and cooperate) term first coined by the late Novell CEO Ray Noorda.
Among the three missions for VMware…
Mission 1: Software-defined Data Center
Here, Gelsinger hammered home the value of the Nicera acquisition. The VAR Guy will be meeting with VMware channel partner executives for more insights soon.”
All infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, and the control of this data center is entirely automated by software.
Mission 2: Hybrid Cloud
Gelsinger pointed to a new Cloud Credits program to bring together the best of the channel with cloud services providers. The VAR Guy will share more details today.
Mission 3: End-user Computing
Here, it’s all about delivering the best application experience across any device — thin clients, PCs, mobile devices, etc. Gelsinger noted that he’s a former Intel guy. And former VMware CEO Paul Maritz is a former Microsoft guy. But the world has evolved beyond “Wintel.”
The big theme here is managing the Bring Your Own Device wave. The VAR Guy will share more details today.
On Stage Now Carl Eschenbach, President and COO
He noted that 85 percent of VMware’s sales flow through the channel.
On Priorities: “If you’re not aligned with one of our three priorities then you’re not onboard. It’s simple. We’re not trying to boil the ocean. We’re trying to be really focused on our three priorities and they have resonated loud and clear inside the walls of VMware.”
On Rival Claims: “A lot of our competitors say virtualization is old. You know what I find very interesting about that statement: When you look at Software Defined Data Center: Everyone is talking about virtualizing not just compute but moving to network and moving to storage. This is about leveraging what we’ve done over the past decade.”
On the Cloud: “Nobody at VMware can say we invented the cloud. But we can say there is not a single cloud in the world today being built on anything other than virtualization on x86. There are no mainframe clouds. No Unix clouds. This is x86, which Mr. Gelsinger helped to create. We didn’t create it. But I think we had something to do with helping it become a reality.”
On Software Defined Datacenter: “It will drive innovation on hardware.”
Stay tuned for more thoughts and live coverage throughout the day.
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