Nutanix to build hyper-converged enterprise cloud hardware on IBM Power

Nutanix tie-up with IBM follows Dell EMC combination and HPE's acquisition of SimpliVity

Nutanix has inked a deal with IBM to that will see the enterprise cloud hardware company build systems on IBM Power-based servers.

The integrated offering will run Nutanix's Enterprise Cloud Platform software on IBM Power servers, delivering a turnkey hyper-converged solution targeting critical workloads in large enterprises. The partnership will deliver a full-stack combination with built-in Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) virtualisation.

Nutanix claims that the combination will provide a simple-to-deploy, web-scale architecture based on IBM's Power chip architecture, and will be able to handle a variety of enterprise workloads, including:

• Next generation cognitive workloads, including big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence;
• Mission-critical workloads, such as databases, large scale data warehouses, web infrastructure, and mainstream enterprise apps;
• Cloud Native Workloads, including full stack open source middleware and enterprise databases and Containers.

The combination will enable IBM customers to enjoy a "public cloud-like experience with their on premise infrastructure", according to Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey. He continued: "With the planned design, enterprise customers will be able to run any mission-critical workload, at any scale, with world-class virtualisation and automation capabilities built into a scale out fabric leveraging IBM's server technology."

The deal between the two companies over enterprise private-cloud infrastructure is significant because of the Dell EMC combination, as well as HPE's purchase of SimpliVity, completed in February this year.

These combinations will bring together both software and hardware under one vendor, making it more challenging for an independent provider like Nutanix to compete. Not only do HPE and Dell EMC have the customers but, more importantly, they have the resources that they can bring to bear as organisations shift their infrastructure towards the cloud, whether public or private.

For IBM, meanwhile, the tie-up with Nutanix not only helps bring a well-regarded private cloud platform to its customers, but could represent a prelude to a full-scale acquisition. The company is currently trading around a one-year low, with shares around half of what they were just six months ago. And, with a market capitalisation of $2.43bn today, Nutanix would be an affordable acquisition for IBM.