Nutanix creates cloud flexibility to show its range as a vendor

Nutanix has taken a step toward its vision of becoming the platform of choice by announcing a pivotal partnership with Pure Storage during its annual .Next conference.

The companies have launched the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure solution, which integrates Nutanix’s Acropolis hypervisor and Flow security features with Pure Storage’s FlashArray technology. The solution utilises non-volatile memory express over transmission control protocol (NVMe/TCP) to improve storage performance.

In his keynote presentation, Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami explained that the solution was developed to support virtual workloads, including those for artificial intelligence applications.

“You told us you wanted more flexibility in how hardware is deployed, and we listened,” said Ramaswami. “Last year, we talked about combining the intelligence of our platform with external storage. This year, we’ve delivered on that promise.”

This partnership reflects Nutanix’s ongoing investment in its strategic direction while addressing customer requests for additional deployment options.

Cisco was also expanding its FlashStack solutions to include Nutanix, offering integrated management through Cisco Intersight.

As for the “app ecosystem”, Nutanix is focused on becoming the “platform choice for any workload”, said Ramaswami.

Nutanix has more than 1,000 certified independent software vendor applications on its platform, including strong support for end-user computing workloads like virtual desktop infrastructure.

This is backed by its long-standing technical partnership with Citrix, now featuring native integration and load balancing to manage and scale large virtual desktop deployments.

Step-by-step

Nutanix vice president partner sales Asia Pacific Japan Michael Magura said this was an “incremental step” to where partners really want to get to.

In an interview with ARN at .Next25 Magura said a lot of resellers he spoke with still think of Nutanix as primarily a HCI vendor, a VMware alternative with a built-in hypervisor.

“That used to be true, we’ve evolved,” he said. “We’re far more than just HCI or virtualisation. Our strategy has been building toward becoming a full cloud infrastructure platform, one that supports app development and deployment anywhere, on-prem, hybrid, or cloud, based on what matters most to customers, like cost, time, or security.”

This provides Nutanix partners, especially for managed service providers (MSPs), with huge opportunities if they are willing to move away from rigid and less scalable traditional infrastructure to modern alternatives, explained Magura.

“Many partners, [like] MSPs, operate at the infrastructure or virtual machine level,” he said. “But if that’s where they stay, they risk missing where the market is going, toward cloud-native apps, AI, containers, and Kubernetes.

The opportunities

“For those willing to lean into that shift, there’s a huge opportunity.”

According to Magura in some countries like India, he has seen partners “aggressively embrace new offerings like Kubernetes and AI”.

“They come to us because they have enquiries from customers and need to speak confidently about it,” he said. “That hunger creates fast adoption.”

“In other regions, like Australia and New Zealand, it’s more mixed.”

In India, Nutanix has seen a partner help a customer migrate dozens of critical apps after the Broadcom-VMware deal.

“They used Nutanix Move to demonstrate real-time app migration, which built trust and confidence. In Japan, customers are more methodical, measure twice, cut once. Australia, again, is a mixed bag.”

“Some MSPs in Australia are still selling traditional three-tier infrastructure because it works for them,” he said. “But others like Think Solutions, a long-time partner of ours have evolved.

“It has launched managed services, moved beyond HCI, and are helping customers migrate to modern platforms. That evolution is where the real value lies.”

Manifesting IT advancement

Magura noted that in the last six months larger IT service providers have come to the vendor with enquiries about products and implementation.

“Mid-range partners of ours are definitely coming with service providing offerings,” he said. “MSPs, provide a specific role in IT consumption and efficiency.

“The desire to lead and climb to the top is deeply embedded in the [Australian] culture, but it’s not just about adding servers anymore, the real challenge is manifesting that desire into IT advancements.”

Its MSP program, Nutanix Elevate, “has been in place for years”, while service provider program (SPP) focuses on key areas like micro-segmentation, multi-tenancy, metering, and providing commercial flexibility to ensure profitability for Nutanix partners.

“Our program is designed with flexibility,” he said. “Multi-tenancy is there, though it’s not always easy to execute with a single cluster. While our commercial offerings are designed to help MSPs work with us to meet their specific business needs.”

“We provide training and certifications to ensure partners can deploy solutions successfully,” said Magura. “Our focus on these elements is designed to ensure that partners can deploy solutions effectively while maintaining profitability.

“We have improved the deployment process to make it more efficient and beneficial for our partners.”

Making good on support

When it comes to support for partners Magura explained the vendor understands that “local knowledge and local teams are critical for understanding the nuances of the market.”  

“We’ve recently gained more trust from partners, particularly those who were hesitant in the past due to earlier challenges with Nutanix,” he said. “Our growth and success in Australia are starting to accelerate, especially with the new leadership in place.”

Magura noted that despite challenges in Australia, still managed to grow, and this is starting to accelerate.

In New Zealand the vendor works with providers like Spectrum.

“One of the key conversations we’ve had with the provider was about understanding the unique requirements in in the country,” he said.

“Spectrum is one of our good customers and it provides feedback on what Nutanix offers and how we could support them in New Zealand.”

Magura said Nutanix was committed to supporting its partners by “staying humble, being transparent and open to feedback”.

“We’re not going to push changes on our partners without considering their needs, and we always strive to collaborate on solutions that benefit everyone,” he said.

Lilia Guan travelled to Nutanix .Next 2025 conference as a guest of Nutanix.