Nutanix, a leader in hyper-converged infrastructure, is seizing the opportunity to attract VMware customers following the latter’s acquisition by Broadcom. This shift was a major topic at Nutanix’s recent .Next event held in Washington DC, where discussions centered around transitioning from VMware to Nutanix’s Acropolis hypervisor (AHV).
Customer Experiences in Transitioning from VMware to Nutanix
Nutanix hosted three customers who shared insights on their migrations from VMware to its platform. These testimonials highlighted various catalysts for their decisions, including Broadcom’s licensing changes and cost increases linked to the VMware-Amazon Web Services (AWS) relationship.
- Dom Johnston, IT Manager at Golding, a civil and mining contracting firm in Australia.
- Kee Yew Wei, Associate VP of Infrastructure and Operations at MSIG, an international insurance company based in Japan.
- Mike Taylor, a hospital ship joint task director for the Military Sealift Command and the US Navy.
Motivations for Migration
Dom Johnston: Golding relied on VMware hosted on AWS. The end of their three-year contract in February and the fallout from the VMware-AWS partnership left them uncertain about future operations. They recognized the risks of prolonging their reliance on this infrastructure, leading them to explore alternatives. Ultimately, they adopted Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) to facilitate their production workloads and disaster recovery (DR) capabilities.
Kee Yew Wei: MSIG began their journey with Nutanix in 2017, initially seeking to modernize their IT infrastructure. After gaining confidence in Nutanix over the years, they completed their transition from VMware to AHV last month, spurred by a substantial renewal price increase following Broadcom’s acquisition.
Mike Taylor: Taylor’s transition began in 2017, driven by the need to reduce the power consumption of rack-mounted servers on naval hospital ships. After evaluating several solutions, Nutanix was implemented on his ships in 2019 and 2020, enhancing efficiency and usability for his crew.
Pain Points Leading to the Shift
Mike Taylor: A pivotal moment came when Taylor realized the inefficiencies of maintaining older SAN technologies. With energy consumption becoming a pressing issue, he sought a streamlined solution and found it in Nutanix, which facilitated an easier management environment.
Dom Johnston: Johnston’s experience underscored the risks tied to VMware’s inability to provide on-demand DR cluster spins without shutting down the production cluster first, resulting in reduced testing confidence.
Kee Yew Wei: Cost was the primary factor for Wei’s decision. A massive increase in renewal pricing prompted a reevaluation of their IT strategy, paving the way for the switch to Nutanix.
Trade-offs in Functionality Following Migration
Mike Taylor: The transition involved minimal trade-offs. Despite their team’s familiarity with VMware, they found Nutanix intuitive, with a shorter learning curve. The shift resulted in enhanced features and better security measures compared to their previous systems.
Dom Johnston: Johnston echoed this sentiment, noting that while there were differences in specific functionalities, the overall capabilities met or exceeded what VMware offered. Effective training facilitated a smooth transition, allowing his team to adapt quickly.
Kee Yew Wei: Wei confirmed that he did not encounter significant drawbacks in migrating to Nutanix, highlighting that compatibility issues have lessened over time, allowing for a seamless integration of their operations.