Pull on your branded rival T-shirt, it's time to party with Nutanix Here I am sitting at a bar at 4:50am (jet lag is my friend) after the Nutanix's annual event, .NEXT. I’m attending the event with a backpack I received at PureAccelerate (rival Pure Storage's event). I’m not carrying it with me because I want to publicize Pure, I actually love it because it is a sturdy bag and solves my day-to …
Try to take a wider look at HCI.
Why are you so hell-bent on profit? It takes years and years for the most successful of companies to show a profit. Consider Facebook: Quite possibly the largest company in Silicon Valley took over 8 years to make a profit. It took Microsoft even longer.
So, what's the difference in those companies and Nutanix? They employ tens of thousands of employees. Nutanix employs about 2500.
Give 'em a little more time. I think we are witnessing the next great infrastructure company.
I heard about that ferris wheel. Hey, it's vegas.
To that end, I always hated it when Microsofties would show up at Novell Brainshare wearing their branded shirts and driving around, circling the Salt Palace, in a completely Microsoft-badged Hummer.
Never liked Microsoft. Still don't.
It's quite telling for them to talk about "transforming the data center" and firing salvos at the competition. They have yet to post any profit, their burn rate is atrocious, and their core business is under pummeling attacks.
* Core business: They are basically reselling Supermicro servers with their software on top. 30-40% of their deal revenue is simple pass through. Thus 60-70% of their revenue is actually their own. Right now they are at what 30? 40? percent loss rate? so they would have to increase their prices by another 30% to break even. That puts them in quite a conundrum, doesn't it? Their prices are already 20-30% higher than the enterprise competition (HP, Dell/VCE, Cisco), I have trouble seeing them making a profit.
* The hyper converged market is becoming saturated. It is quickly becoming a match about who has the better GUI. The incumbents Dell, EMC, Cisco, and HP are protecting their installed base against Nutanix by selling their own HCI product, the easy times are over. At the same time, a legion of desperate storage vendors (Nimble, Tintri, Tegile, ...) us fighting over the remaining pie. I can't see any growth here.
* Cloud: hahaha Nutanix as cloud platform? They drank their own KoolAid apparently. Why would I run containers on Nutanix when I can just spin them up in AWS or Azure. Or Server2016? Or just do it the way it's supposed to be done ... on Mesosphere
* Nutanix is developing a cult like following, pretty much like NetApp, so they'll probably stick around for a while. But perhaps someone can enlighten me what the exit strategy is: IPO? that has been delayed twice, no? Acquisition? Who is going to buy them?
* Culture: The leadership at Nutanix has propagated a culture of douchecnoe-ism. This company has been one of the worst offenders of Silicon Valley arrogance and obnoxiousness with unfounded braggadocio and ridiculous claims. They have burned a lot of bridges in the tech community with their juvenile behavior and I find it hard to believe they have many friends left. The folks I spoke to are passionately opposed to any cooperation with Nutanix whatsoever (but I am just a little foot soldier, what do I know?)
Yes, I am biased. I think these guys are posers and frauds and I will have a drink when they fold their tables. Alas, the same assholes will find jobs somewhere else and poison the culture elsewhere
Hhhhmmm, where to start?
Nutanix doesn't "just" resell Super Micro servers. It's available on Dell and Lenovo hardware, too.
Nutanix' prices are higher because they are offering more features, superior stability, and a simpler, more intelligent management interface.
"The incumbants Dell, EMC, HP, and Cisco are protecting their installed bases". If this is true, then why are storage sales flat, or declining amongst all of these companies and yet growing significantly (double, to triple digits) for companies like Nutanix?
"You can't see any growth here"? Are you so clueless that you do not see the need for more and more storage? Where do you think all the data is going that people create every day? Where are all the cat pictures, baby pictures, family movies and YouTube videos going? In case you do not know, storage is growing significantly; however, the only companies showing any appreciable growth for this storage are HCI vendors (and I'm not including those incumbants).
If Cloud is so great, then why isn't everybody already using AWS and Azure? Because they are too expensive. A Nutanix HCI solution can give you everything you could get from AWS or Azure but at a fraction of the cost.
I do not see Nutanix getting purchased. They will IPO once the market settles down. Only a fool would IPO in an unsettled market. (just ask Pure: Opened at $10 almost a year ago; still there)
If you are "just a foot soldier", then who could you possibly speak to that would make a difference or have any say at all in, how did you put it, doucheism? I think you answered your own question: You are insignificant, you don't know anybody, the people you talked to either are the same, or jealous. Solved.
point is Nutanix is passing along the servers, right? they're maybe making a buck on it but that's not the business model. Their revenue is increasing but so are the losses. Makes me think they are selling in quite a competitive environment and have to just take moral wins, not monetary.
all the "cat pictures, baby pictures, videos..." you mention are not going on Nutanix. they are going on unstructured object storage platforms. if you use nutanix to store photos and videos and web scale stuff you are a moron.
cloud may or may not be great, evidence from real customers i work with points to it being hit or miss, but it's on everyone's mind and every customer i deal with, big or small, is either looking at cloud or already there.
BTW Pure didn't open at 10. it opened around 17 and it's decimated. that's a lesson for Nutanix. sooner or later you have to MAKE MONEY. you're running a business. Pure gives away their stuff too, it's just a brutal market and so the company valuation reflects that.
personally, i think HCI and Cloud are the future. Nutanix has a head start and a good product. but their marketing and culture leaves a lot to be desired. And with Cisco and EMC getting serious with new products that are quickly maturing, it'll only get tougher for them.
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