* An update from VMware’s new Senior Director of Storage Ecosystem Alliances
On my return from Storage Networking World this past November, I wrote a nastygram about the leading player in application virtualization, VMware. Since then a few thongs have happened, and fairness dictates I bring you up to date.
VMware plays an important role in enterprise IT rooms, providing a technology around which companies can build reduced-cost infrastructures at the expense of losing just a bit in the way of performance. This offers the potential for savings in capital expense (you may be able to buy fewer servers) and in operational expense (virtual machines, after all, use much less power than the physical ones they replace). VMware, like its several competitors (IBM’s Integrated Virtualization Manager, and the open source Xen are examples), offers many managers some hope for streamlining their operations, and has become a key part of many sites’ IT growth plans.
VMware cut its teeth on application servers, but ever since VMware became a part of EMC in 2003, it was only a matter of time before they began to extend their interests into the storage arena. VMware is wading into the storage pool now (5 Network World virtual points for those finding the pun there), where it is likely to play a role in many vendors’ strategies, not just EMC’s. All that will require a significant partnering effort to ensure the compatibility and interoperability testing that are prerequisite to claiming “certification” within the VMware environment.
And that was the problem. Many of the smaller vendors I met with at SNW complained that VMware was only set up to do alliances with the largest vendors, which exasperated the smaller ones who also wanted to play. I went on to say that “VMware leaves you with the impression that, at best, smaller companies are an afterthought when it comes to being included within the VMware ecosystem.”
The issue for most IT vendors is that at some sites today, requests for quote (RFQ) may require that a product appear on VMware’s compatibility matrix (the “SAN Compatibility Guide”) in order for a company to bid it for enterprise-level business. Smaller companies’ ability to get on that list has been limited because VMware, understandably, gave prominence to bringing its larger technology partners onboard first. This left many smaller players out in the cold.
Happily, the times they are a-changing. VMware read the article too, and as a result, last week I met with Parag Patel, VMware’s new Senior Director of Storage Ecosystem Alliances. The “X” is on his back to fix things and, based on what we discussed, the wheels appear to be turning. Here is what is in the works.
Parag stressed that it has been lack of bandwidth, not lack of interest that has caused the company to be so slow in bringing new partners on board. VMware is addressing this problem in two ways. First, the company is staffing up its alliance program with several new hires – as an additional headcount comes online, expect someone to be tasked with dealing with the smaller companies.
That’s a step in the right direction. It is impractical, however, to think of any business as ever having enough alliance managers to address all the needs of the many smaller storage vendors. How to get those companies involved? VMware looks to break that logjam in another way. In the first half of the year, they will be implementing a self-certification program to be run through third party testing houses, a program aimed at faster recognition of product compatibility. VMware should be making announcements regarding this in the next few months. If all goes according to plan, smaller companies that want their storage products listed in VMware’s SAN Compatibility Guide may find life easier.
Let me know if it works for you.
