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Nutanix scoops Cisco. Everyone's really happy ... but Cisco is strangely quiet about it

It's a meet-in-the-channel affair for resellers

Nutanix has independently validated Cisco UCS C-Series servers to run its hyper-converged Enterprise Cloud Platform software.

The hyper-converged product market leader says its software is now available on the platforms of three of the four leading x86 server vendors, meaning Dell and Lenovo, which we knew about in June. Adding Cisco makes three.

Nutanix said: "Deployment of Nutanix software on UCS C-Series hardware is fully supported by Nutanix’s global support and services teams throughout the entire IT lifecycle, including initial installation, infrastructure scaling and troubleshooting.”

But that doesn’t say UCS server hardware problems and their resolution are supported by Nutanix. We asked Nutanix if the Cisco UCS hardware was supported by Nutanix, and here's the reply:

Nutanix’s world-class support and services organization will offer full support of our software to customers looking to deploy the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform on Cisco UCS. As Nutanix and Cisco are both members of TSAnet, we’re confident customers will enjoy a seamless and industry-standard support experience, regardless of whether issue lies in the hardware or software.

That's a "no" then. Customers will need to call Cisco about that.

Back in June rumours that Cisco would partner with Nutanix and have Nutanix software running on its UCS servers were denied by Nutanix.

Now we see Nutanix independently validating its software on Cisco’s UCS servers, not Cisco. The networking giant has its own HyperFlex hyper-converged offering, using OEM’d Springpath software.

Nutanix president Sudheesh Nair blogged about this, saying: "Lacking an OEM appliance agreement with Cisco, Nutanix created a new software-only approach specifically for UCS."

He continued:

This distribution model change was by no means easy. Without intimate insight into the full hardware stack nor the foresight into upcoming hardware changes as we do with our OEM partners, we shifted our focus to responding quickly to UCS hardware updates as they appear on the market. We are confident that Nutanix now can offer the similar world-class capabilities and software support to UCS shops as to our other NX and OEM customers.

The Nutanix press release announcing its UCS support and validation features enthusiastically supportive quotes from Presidio, Sirius Computer Solutions, HCL Technologies and SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH – but not one from Cisco.

The Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform for Cisco UCS rack-mount servers is available now through select Cisco and Nutanix partners worldwide.

There will be a launch event on Sunday, August 21 at The Heart of OMNIA nightclub in Las Vegas, organized by Nutanix and Presidio – and held just before the Cisco GSX (Global Sales Experience) event in Las Vegas.

We somehow doubt Cisco staffers will attend as they will be walking along a different (Spring)path. ®

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