Nutanix and AWS are partnering to attract VMware customers to the hybrid cloud, including through promotions to encourage the move to Nutanix Cloud Cluster (NC2) on AWS.
Nutanix announced a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help manage hybrid environments. For businesses migrating to AWS as part of their hybrid cloud strategy, this partnership aims to remove barriers by simplifying the movement of workloads. This partnership goes hand in hand with various promotions. For customers using VMware on-premises, Nutanix and AWS offer one year of free Nutanix licensing on contracts of three years or more, along with migration support. Enterprises can also access credits for migrating workloads from VMware to Nutanix Cloud Cluster (NC2) on AWS.
Nutanix’s announcements therefore explicitly target VMware users, in a context where major changes have occurred concerning the offering for VMware Cloud on AWS, recently available only via VMware. These changes are the result of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, which also led to controversial licensing shakeups. Last May, AWS began promoting its own VMware Cloud service on AWS.
Are we seeing a rush for alternatives to VMware?
Are these changes, coupled with concerns about Broadcom’s service and support, causing businesses to flock to alternatives? Not quite, if we rely on the latest State of the Cloud 2024 study from Flexera, which shows that, at the start of 2024, VMware vSphere/vCenter established itself as the second private cloud environment in terms of active usage (behind Azure Stack). “These trends indicate that the momentum associated with VMware remains considerable and that it will take time for enterprises to move away from these offerings,” according to Flexera analysts.
We cannot therefore speak of a rush towards alternatives to VMware, but the movement seems inevitable, according to Garner. Quoted by the specialist site SDxCentral, the firm predicts half of companies will launch, over the next two years, “proofs of concept for alternative distributed hybrid infrastructure products to replace their VMware-based deployments and adopt provision of hybrid cloud infrastructure, up from 10% in 2024. Same story from the investment bank William Blair, according to whom 30% of customers could end up turning away from VMware.
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