Hyperconverged Infrastructure Can Help Maintain Competitiveness

Q: How is hyperconverged infrastructure the foundation of Nutanix’s services?

A: Nutanix started introducing the hyperconverged infrastructure concept (HCI) when it was founded in 2009. The first product came to the market in 2011 and it has evolved since then. All of Nutanix’s innovation is based on HCI, which we believe will eventually replace all of the industry’s infrastructure.

HCI is our core. Nutanix has evolved as HCI has become more capable in terms of performance, features and reliability. The world and the IT industry have changed. When we started, we were talking about the on-premise and public clouds. We are now talking about the hybrid cloud, which is the latest trend. The world will continue becoming hybrid and it is important to have a system, architecture or platform that allows clients to move freely from on-premise to public cloud or from one public cloud to another, transparently.

Q: Why is hybrid cloud the best option for most customers?

A: For most clients, the best option is hybrid cloud but it depends on preferences and specific needs. A major point is control. When an application is on the on-premise cloud, the developer has more control over certain aspects, such as performance and gravity, which refers to how close data is to the actual user. In addition, customers are always looking at costs.

When an application needs elasticity, public cloud is the ideal option. In that case, it is not possible to have it on an on-premise cloud because it would require all the hardware to run. This is why public clouds excel at elasticity. Hybrid clouds allow clients to combine the benefits of both types of cloud cost-effectively.

Q: What role does cost play in decisions regarding cloud?

A: It is all about the specific needs of the client. We use the rent-versus-buy concept as an example. If you travel for work for a week, you will not buy a house but stay in a hotel. If you travel for a six-month or one-year assignment, you might not stay in a hotel but rent an apartment. If you move permanently, you are more likely to buy a property rather than renting it.

These cost implications of hotels versus rental versus buying are the best examples to illustrate the cloud, the differences between public and on-premise and the importance of the hybrid cloud. Sometimes you need the hotel and sometimes you need to own the house.

Q: How has Nutanix evolved from offering products to more at-scale solutions?

A: Nutanix implemented a subscription business model because customers buy in different ways. Clients want to be free to buy the service for six months, a year, three years or five years. Several customers — governments, for example — are still buying the service for five years. The private sector is mindful of its cash flow so it usually prefers to go year by year.

Q: How is Nutanix innovating to help customers on their cloud journey?

A: We are investing in a new product, Nutanix database services, which will allow the customer to manage the life cycle of a database. We believe it has huge potential in the market and we are basically the first to offer it. Nutanix is the first company to offer on-premise cloud to manage multiple databases, including those of Oracle, SQL, Posterous and MongoDB. This will have a large impact on customers’ operations, especially for those with complex database environments.

Q: How are Latin American and US perspectives changing regarding the cloud?

A: Customers are more conscious of costs and run deeper analyses before deciding to use the public or on-premise cloud. Most large customers in Latin America and the US are opting for the hybrid model. The public cloud is being used in many applications but most companies still run on-premises.

Q: What kind of partnerships are boosting Nutanix’s growth?

A: Nutanix has worked with several partners, such as Citrix. The pandemic boosted the growth and adoption of virtual desktop housing (VDI), so we introduced our own product called Frame. We have a close relationship with Citrix due to the potential we see in VDI. In addition, Nutanix is working very closely with IBM Red Hat OpenShift. We see a large opportunity in the hybrid cloud and an orchestrator such as OpenShift is a key component. Our partnerships with Citrix and Red Hat will be key in the next few quarters and years.

Q: What are Nutanix’s plans for the Latin American region?

A: The goal is to continue growing and expanding Nutanix’s footprint in Latin America. We are already present in key metropolitan areas, such as Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Rio, Sao Paulo, Brasilia and other parts of Brazil. Currently, Nutanix is expanding to Buenos Aires and Santiago and aims to continue growing in Colombia and Central America. We will also keep working with our hiring partners and expanding our presence through partnerships. We currently have hundreds of partners in the region that help us explore new markets.

Nutanix, founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Jose, California, engages in the provision of enterprise virtualization and storage solutions. Its cloud solutions merge traditional silos of server, virtualization, storage and networking into one integrated product.