Thread regarding Dell Inc. layoffs

Yes, Dell signed a 4 year extension shortly before the EMC deal, doesn't mean diddly other than another customer for Dell to push servers to and increase that revenue stream. Internally storage SE were being told to forget Nutanix and focus on selling Vx whatever, adding some hocus pocus to the comp plan to make sure it was not worth anyone's time to actually sell Nutanix when they could retire quota faster selling VX. Only ones really pushing it are partners, and that mainly because they get a slightly better deal than Ntx direct.

Rest assured that once that contract extension expires it's highly unlikely it will get renewed unless Dell really needs that avenue to continue pushing server platforms out the door, otherwise it's a dead duck. Look for VX to get rid of it's VSAN underlying architecture in order to be able to accommodate other hypervisors and then Ntx is little more than competition Dell doesn't need.

Partnership extension

While the terms and conditions of the partnering agreement between Dell Technologies and Nutanix cannot be divulged, I can tell you that the two entities have a signed partnership extension for multiple years. Existing Dell XC Series customers can rest easy knowing that Dell EMC and Nutanix continue to collaborate supporting them and providing them with enhanced hyper-converged infrastructure and new functionality to enable the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud platform on Dell EMC XC appliances. These enhancements target additional workloads and efficiencies for the customers. Prospects can now move forward with their plans of procuring and migrating from traditional infrastructure enabling them to focus on their business versus managing their environment.

https://www.nutanix.com/2016/09/19/dust-settles-dell-emc-xc-series-rolls/

Eventually the only companies that will be buying storage arrays are those that own cloud data centers and then it will mostly be for archive and nearline storage of cold but still possibly relevant data that their customers would rather not have on tape cartridges. By that time the majority of businesses will be entirely converged infrastructure based largely in cloud and hybrid cloud, having a storage array on site will be about as relevant as having a card reader is today. NVMe or like technology in distributed hypervisor nodes will be as close to having a storage array as anyone will get, and that day is approaching far more rapidly than the Gouldens of the world would have you believe.

Big mistake buying EMC, Nutanix would have been a far more visionary acquisition and a heck of a lot less expensive as well. Someone down in Round Rock should realize that now that sales of VX rail/rack/etc have increased far more quickly than sales of any storage array. At the end of the day it's still only server based hardware that needs a hypervisor to be of any use so don't expect Vx to makeup the gap in revenues, eventually it will start to falter as well. It will be interesting to see if HP can stop tripping over it's own feet and actually do something with Simplivity other than let it quietly fade into the portfolio jumble that all their other acquisitions have fallen into.

very pertinent write up. What keeps the dell-emc group going during the downfall are the enterprise customers who have brought the products.

The final countdown

like a terminal sufferer, no one decides to disconnect the plug