Strategic Alignment Between Cisco and Nutanix
Combining the individual strategies from both Cisco and Nutanix was not a small effort but the work paid off to provide customers a market differentiated solution.
From the on-set of the partnership, it was clear that both companies wanted (needed, really) to ensure that the product released to customers didn't follow a single company's strategy but incorporated the strengths of both Cisco and Nutanix with no concessions from either side. Coming to market with another "me too" product wouldn't be successful and this was never the intention. So far, the executed roadmap (and what's coming!) truly embodies this mindset.
Imagine a world where Cisco came to market with Nutanix and couldn't take advantage of its Cisco UCS server differentiators with the virtual interface cards (VICs), fabric interconnects (FIs), management modes, or leverage the rest Cisco's portfolio but simply offer a traditional resell structure. It just wouldn't make sense and is in a way a bit hard to think through.
Conversely, imagine a world where Nutanix would make concessions to it's software, a flexible, easy to use and consume hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution that aims to break down and simplify datacenter technology silos that has made the company what it is today in order to support the Cisco UCS server platform. It just doesn't make sense.
Come back from your imaginative nightmare - no concessions were made! The solution has taken the strengths of both companies and smashed them together to bring a differentiated solution. One of the partnership slogans is a bit "market-y" ("1+1=3" and recently "1+1=11") but when you start digging into the solution, you start to get a feel of why this is used. Could it be better? I don't know - there are some fun AI generated alternatives ... anyway.
Cisco's Strategy
For Cisco, the strategy was clear (and extensive):
- Direct integration with Cisco's server managment software - Cisco Intersight
- Support for rackmount C-Series servers
- Support for the Virtual Interface Cards (VICs)
- Support for the Fabric Interconnects (FIs)
- Support for the different deployment modes
- UCS Managed Mode (UMM)
- Intersight Standalone Mode (ISM)
- Intersight Managed Mode (IMM)
- Continued joint innovation for future server platforms
- This included the UCS X-Series Modular servers
- Cisco software portfolio integrations
Nutanix's Strategy
For Nutanix, the strategy was also clear:
- Support the hypervisors - ESXi and AHV
- Support the entire software portfolio
- Continue the "1-click" upgrades functionality with lifecycle manager (LCM)
- Don't get in the way of the support organization
While the convergence of these strategies may appear straightforward, it required significant co-engineering effort from both companies. This comprehensive strategy is built upon three foundational pillars—Engineering, Support, and Go-to-Market—to ensure a unified and effective solution.
We'll break down these pillars and what they mean for the overall solution in future posts.