Chuck's Blog

What Doesn’t Work With Hyperconverged

In an industry powered by new, shiny things — we’ve got a new one that’s gaining traction: hyperconverged.

The basic idea is simple: collapse external storage (and, eventually networking) into a single, software-powered environment that runs on commodity servers.

The potential benefit is two-fold: reduced capex through use of commodity server platforms, and reduced opex through less reliance on storage (and network) specialists.

The market pundits forecast that this category will continue to grow.  VMware plays in multiple ways, but so do a bevy of startups.

The realist in me knows that everything has its pros and cons.  Enterprise IT is a diverse, complex beast — where does hyperconverged fit, and — most importantly — where does it not?

Life Beyond Hyperconverged

Well, I certainly gave the hornet’s nest a good, healthy smack with my recent post (“Ten Reasons Why VMware Is Leading The Hyperconverged Market”).  

Never underestimate the power of a well-written blog post to shake things up :)

In addition to hearing from dozens of enraged Nutanix employees, the usual round of pundits are now weighing in with their perspectives as well.  Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and there seems to be no shortage of those.  

Although I do find it interesting that no one has yet attempted to refute any of the facts behind the ten arguments I presented.  That's typical in these situations: lots of passionate emotions, very little discussion of the underlying facts.

The good news: I did have a chance to have a few great conversations with intelligent, non-partisan folks who said they were thinking differently after reading my thoughts.

Thinking differently is always a good thing :)

The observation: most strategic technologies in IT put their users on a pathway to something bigger and better.  That’s what makes them strategic, no?

The basic question: if hyperconverged is truly “strategic”, what bigger and better world should it lead to?   Or, is it an end unto itself in its present form, and thus not strategic?

Clearly, this is a great question, and worth a blog post or two to discuss …

Ten Reasons Why VMware Is Leading The Hyperconverged Industry

Those of you who have followed me over the years know that I’m not shy when it comes to a good competitive dust-up.  I’m OK with the usual puffery and slightly exaggerated claims.  All part of the fun.

I’m not OK when I believe the claims are misleading.

One startup is working very hard to convince everyone that they (and they alone) are leading the current trend in HCI — hyperconverged infrastructure.  One of their spokespeople even published a thoughtful piece listing the ten reasons why they thought they deserved the “leader” mantle.

While I admire their bravado, I felt the piece did a disservice to both the industry and to customers.  I thought it grossly misrepresented both the current and future state of the market.  

Perhaps most importantly, there was little talk about what mattered most to customers.

So — while staying positive — I’d like to share my "ten reasons" why I think VMware is leading — and will continue to lead — the hyperconverged marketplace.