Nutanix CEO: Dell EMC, Lenovo Provide Global 2000 Wins

Nutanix, thanks to partnerships with Dell EMC and Lenovo, continues to gain momentum with Global 2000 customers, according to Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey. That insight, and plenty more, surfaced during the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) company's earnings call on May 25.

Overall, Nutanix now serves 520 Global 2000 customers. Moreover, roughly 50 percent of new customer workloads in Q3 2017 involved top-tier applications like Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange, Oracle, SAP, Hadoop and Splunk, Pandey said.

"Our OEM partners Dell and Lenovo contributed well to our new Global 2000 customer acquisitions complementing a strong number of additions on the NX platform," he added.

Those deals, in turn, contributed to Nutanix's strong revenue growth during Q3 2017. Revenue was $191.8 million, up 67% year-over-year from $114.7 million in Q3 2017.

Nutanix also is making moves in the IBM, Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ecosystems. Plus, the company will tout networking, storage, security and management software partners during the Nutanix .NEXT User Conference, which is set for June in Washington D.C.

Nutanix Partner Program

Despite the momentum with technology alliance partners, Nutanix didn't say much about more traditional channel partners -- VARs, integrators and MSPs -- during the earnings call. And that's a missed opportunity.

Among the moves that likely deserved a mention: Firstnet Solutions, a UK-based managed service provider (MSP), has agreed to sell hybrid cloud services powered exclusively by the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform.

Another true believer: Rick Gouin, chief technology officer at Winslow Technology Group, who is talking up Nutanix and HCI to customers.

No doubt, Nutanix has some momentum. Right now, big OEMs are treating the company well. But global technology alliances can be fickle as M&A deals emerge (example: HPE acquired SimpiVity). That's why CEO Dheeraj Pandey has to double down on VARs, MSPs and integrators.