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Nutanix is out in front - but can it stay ahead of the burgeoning pack?

They talk the talk but they'd better not walk - it's time to run

Comment Hype-converged server/storage product startup Nutanix has got itself 1,200 customers and reached a $300m/year run rate - it says.

That’s based on results from its second quarter which finished at the end of January, meaning $75m in bookings for the quarter.

It says more than 50 customers have bought more than a million bucks-worth of product and services. That’s an increase of 21 in five months. Nutanix is keen to talk about its tier 1 enterprise supplier credentials, saying more than 50 customer companies are in the top quarter of the Forbes Global 2000 list.

It’s also got good international representation; bookings outside the US in the quarter passed 40 per cent.

What Nutanix wants to do and needs to do is to rise clear of the shoal of storage and system suppliers now embracing vSphere/VSAN 6 and EVO: RAIL to provide similar hyper-converged systems to its own.

It’s hyping its success. Sudheesh Nair, Nutanix SVP for sales and business development, said:

“Our largest deals the past two quarters were from Global 2000 organisations looking to run their business-critical applications such as databases, Oracle and SAP, Microsoft Exchange, unified communications and line-of-business.”

You can understand Nutanix’s execs thinking they have the best server/storage platform thing since sliced bread was invented. They have the bit between their teeth and they don't want to get locked back in the stable.

The momentum is real but so too is the rise in competitive pressure. Nutanix is hoping that momentum will propel it through the competitive racecourse that lies ahead.

IDC’s hyperconverged systems Marketscape report says:

“Nutanix has been a key player in the emergence of the hyperconverged market and was early to demonstrate demand for the technology. The result has been a leading position in mindshare, as well as market share. The company generated 52 per cent of all global hyperconverged revenue during the first half of 2014.”

Impressive, but can that continue as everybody else piles in?

IDC recognises this, saying:

“Nutanix's most pressing challenge will be to defend the company's market leader position with many new vendors entering the hyperconverged market within a very short period of time.”

Hear that vSphere 6 marketing roar? It’s the sound of Nutanix’s competition getting ready to hit the market. There are more than 850 Nutanix employees now and they are pushing forward. Can they do it, keep Nutanix surfing along atop the hyperconverged wave and not have a wipeout letting everybody else catch up? That’s the huge question of the moment. ®

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