Partners Cheer New HPE Virtualization Capability Being Showcased At HPE Discover

by Steven Burke, CRN

Partners are applauding Hewlett Packard Enterprise's entry into the virtualization market as a new "choice" for customers that are grappling with changes in pricing and go to market in the wake of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware.

"This is another example of HPE giving customers choice especially those customers who would like to consider an alternative to VMware with all of the changes because of the Broadcom acquisition of VMware," said Dan Molina, co-president and chief technology officer of San Diego-based Nth Generation, No. 278 on the CRN SP500. "I think this is going to be positively received because customers don't like to feel locked in. With the changes from Broadcom customers are feeling locked in and some of the price increases are not ordinary. They are extraordinary. That has customers thinking twice about their VMware-centric strategies and there are other alternatives in the market."

Neil Anderson, vice president of cloud infrastructure and AI for World Wide Technology, the $20 billion St. Louis-headquartered solution provider behemoth, said many customers are looking for an alternative to VMware in the wake of the changes that have come with the Broadcom acquisition.

In fact, he said, he recently did an analysis of the requests year to date for consulting help from WWT with the result being a tie for AI strategy engagements and VMware alternative engagements.

"There are just as many engagements with our customers around strategy for virtualization as AI," he said. "It's a huge frustration point…Customers are definitely actively looking for alternatives. It's not easy, not at all. HPE going down this path is going to help customers."

Ultimately, customers are looking for help in making the move off VMware from a trusted partner, said Anderson. "They are looking for help on the migration from very credible suppliers that want a relationship with them and are going to stand behind those products and work through the challenges with them," he said. "Certainly HPE is one of those. They are trusted in the data center and have that tremendous customer focus just like we do. I certainly think that customers are going to take a serious look at it just because of that."