The Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) industry has been hopping with news the last month. VMware acquired Datrium, HPE is merging SimpliVity with their up-and-coming Nimble-oriented dHCI product, and per Forrester, Nutanix took a big leap ahead of the competition in the latest HCI Q3 2020 report.
Datrium Acquisition
The VMware Datrium acquisition took place in mid-July, with the goal to enhance VMware’s Data Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) offering. When the acquisition was announced, one could read between the lines and realize the end was near for Datrium. The press release focused on features/capabilities and how they would enhance the DRaaS portfolio. Unfortunately, very little was focused on the Datrium customer base or what would become of the Datrium product itself.
Fast forward a few weeks, and industry intel is stating that VMware has already sent notice to partners that the last date to order any new Datrium hardware is less than 10 weeks away on Oct. 31, 2020. Adding salt to the wound, VMware has also announced support will end in just two years on Oct. 31, 2023. Clients are frustrated, to say the least, and are preparing to evaluate new solutions sooner than later.
SimpliVity Merges With dHCI
SimpliVity was a quality product with a decent market footprint. However, the last year saw HPE heavily invest in Nimble storage-based disaggregated hyperconverged infrastructure (dHCI) and strategically partner with Nutanix, leaving little room for SimpliVity marketing or development prioritization. Roughly 200 people working on SimpliVity were laid off in July 2020, with remaining team members transitioning to the dHCI team.
We expect HPE to establish marketing campaigns targeting their SimpliVity base in late 2020, helping them learn how dHCI and/or Nutanix is a better option, understand migration plans, and to announce timing around future product changes/unification.
Nutanix Lead Grows
The Nutanix market leadership took another step forward, widening the gap from their competition, per the 3Q 2020 Forrester report. Solution scalability, storage functions, professional services, and the ever-expanding Nutanix portfolio were listed as the key competitive differentiators. VMware and Cisco are near-tied at 2nd and 3rd, with the remaining competition fairly far behind.
Nutanix AHV adoption is growing, further pressuring VMware as clients get more comfortable with moving away from vSphere. The Nutanix product line now includes secondary storage and backup with their Mine solution, managed services with Nutanix Xi brand, and partnerships such as HPE’s GreenLake, allowing them to offer a pay-per-use services model. Per Forrester, “It has a clear, impressive roadmap for its product lines.”
HCI Industry Experts
As an independent technology partner, ProActive Solutions understands the various products in the HCI market very well and welcomes the opportunity to share with you what we are seeing in the industry.
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