back to article Irritable Cisco kicks Nutanix out of partner program

Dis is not welcome so we're going to diss it. That's Cisco's view, in a nutshell, of Nutanix jumping on its UCS servers as a means of selling its hyper-converged system software into the Cisco customer base and channel. A source in the channel slipped us an email Cisco sent to some of its partners – here's the crucial portion …

  1. Dead Parrot

    A Question...

    Is Cisco still Switchzilla? Or is Huawei the new Chipzilla?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A Question...

      And Cisco is now "Please buy our blade centre, please... pretty please... stop buying supermicro... please. We're the best, gartner said so."

      1. Dead Parrot

        Re: A Question...

        So, Microsoft, but with cables...

    2. Credo
      Trollface

      Re: A Question...

      Hah! ... They wish,...

    3. Luke 11

      Re: A Question...

      "Huawei the new Chipzilla"... HA HA HA HA HA.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Odd that they wouldn't want to keep Nutanix in the tent as opposed to out of the tent... I don't think any sales rep from Cisco is wondering which hyperconverged systems Cisco would rather have them sell, just skew the quota recognition towards HyperFlex... but you would think they would want to keep Nutanix in the bag, if for no other reason than to more easily be able to flip people to HyperFlex in the future.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That's ridiculous, you don't just jump from one HCI solution to another like flipping a switch.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        No, but you can switch selling .....

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          yes, it's like changing toilet papers right?

  3. klaxhu

    Losing the dell OEM and now this

    So they lost the OEM with Dell basically although it is still available now, EMC will push vxrack, Chad was soft but quite serious about the future of how that will work.

    Now this...which makes sense strategically for Cisco - I know it is not the same thing as the OEM stuff, but still, it hits Nutanix hard.

    That IPO is not looking so great for this year I think now ...

    1. Pancakes

      Re: Losing the dell OEM and now this

      wow, what have you been smoking?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Losing the dell OEM and now this

      @klaxhu - obviously you never saw the announcement where Dell just signed a (5) year extension of the Nutanix / XC OEM agreement. #sanctimonious

    3. Millennia

      Re: Losing the dell OEM and now this

      ROFL - I was in the room when they announced a 5 year extension to Dell deal.

      Quit with the FUD, eh?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nutanix have to now justify its IPO?

    Now nutanix is getting squeezed by other server vendors, will have tough time in the market to justify its presence as well as its IPO plans given that other products is beats their own turf even though they claim they are the leader.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When "Meet in the Channel" goes wrong...

    When "Meet in the Channel" goes wrong...

    Cue Dave Chappelle skit of IT enginerd and his build-your-own stack with a support issue

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Other HCI Still in program - not competitors?

    So Simplivity, Maxta, and Pivot3 can stay in the program? So they must not be a "...direct competitor of Cisco's own technology". No threat from those three then.

    When did Cisco BUY Springpath? Hyperflex is Springpath's technology unless Cisco buys them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Other HCI Still in program - not competitors?

      Any lawyers here? is this considered anti competitive? I am nervous about what type of legal hoopla this can create (I am a reseller and risk is the last is the last thing I need to increase).

      1. Metrognome

        Re: Other HCI Still in program - not competitors?

        Well, I work in purchasing and married to lawyer who works on precisely those issues (as well as transfer pricing malarkey but that's for another day).

        The short of it is that it's legit because it's their "program" so their rules. A bit like AOSP and Google. If you go AOSP do as you please but if you want to bundle Google apps on the phone who have to play by their rules.

        And of course, regarding the other members of the program, it may be clear that they are not competitors to Cisco today but there's no re-assurance that Cisco won't ever decide to branch out hence rendering members in direct competition beyond their will. Very far fetched but as a re-seller you may want to consider it.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. returnofthemus

    Hyped-up Converged from Junk-to-Joke

    What a sorry state of affairs, ironically started by a handful of startups, followed by a bunch of desperate x86 server vendors who were locked out of the cloud, now all clamouring for growth, leading to incestuous relationships that no-one can make sense of, LOL!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Others HCI partners next? Pow!

    With SimpliVity suing Springpath for IP infringement and Pivot3, Maxta and Atlantis also around as distractions for HyperFlex, you wonder if Cisco will kick all of them out from their Solution Partner Program. Can't just pick on poor Nutanix alone, can you Cisco? The FTC would be interested in this situation. I wonder what customers are thinking.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Others HCI partners next? Pow!

      It's Cisco's partner program, they can choose who they partner with. Cisco is an also-ran in x86 rack servers and HCI; the FTC doesn't go after the distant #4 player in a market.

  9. TRay25

    Coopetition

    For all the years I've been in the industry, it's not unique to have companies that partner and compete. Dell and EMC had coopetition on the Clariion arrays for years. The coopetition is only successful when both sides agree to the rules. When one side makes their own rules then it gets away from coopetition and gets to competition. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

  10. WageSlave

    From Nutanix's viewpoint, they will not want to make & support their own hardware, hence why the renewed deal with Dell makes sense, and why they are prepared to self-support on CISCO.

    But CISCO want a walled garden that they alone control, which goes in the face of Software-Defined in the truest sense.

    It is my suspicion that Nutanix has the means to properly commoditise the server platform into an SDDC, and so is a real threat to CISCO's UCS margins & customer control.

    The question will then remain: how much control can CISCO maintain inside their (possibly shrinking) garden, or how much control will customer start to reclaim by such commoditisation.

    Interesting times ...

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