SDxCentral Weekly Wrap for Sept. 6, 2019
Plus, Nutanix CEO takes a dig at VMware, and AT&T names Jeff McElfresh as its new CEO
Broadcom releases new PCIe switches; VMware the butt of Nutanix CEO barb; and AT&T names a new CEO to replace Donovan.
Broadcom Releases PCIe Switches for Data Centers
Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey: ‘We Don’t Sell Vaporware’
AT&T Taps Jeff McElfresh to Lead Telecom
Story 1:
Today is September 6, 2019, and this is the SDxCentral Weekly Wrap where we cover the week’s top stories on next-generation IT infrastructure.
Broadcom released new switches and a retimer for data centers and cloud providers targeted at addressing the rising demand for high performance computing and storage.
The new switches have up to 98 lanes and ports that can support high-throughput and low-latency applications such as deep learning, high-performance computing, and non-volatile memory access all-flash arrays.
The switches also play a critical role in interconnecting general-purpose computing on graphics processing units, compute accelerators, and central processing units.
The new retimer is designed to foster the deployment of the new switches in applications that make use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing.
Will Townsend, a senior analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, expects the new products to be impactful in the white-box market with companies like Arrcus, Cumulus, and others that focus on merchant silicon solutions.
Townsend also said the move maintains Broadcom’s position as a major player in the networking infrastructure market.
The vendor’s closest competitor in the data center interconnect and switch silicon space is Barefoot, which recently inked a deal to be acquired by Intel.
Despite that move, Townsend said that Broadcom remains well positioned due to its incumbent position and market momentum.
Story 2:
Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey took a pointed dig at rival VMware as part of the company’s most recent quarterly financial release.
In an interview with SDxCentral, Pandey said the company did not sell vaporware in pointing to a large contract it recently won at the apparent expense of its rival.
Pandey’s competitive spirit showed through as he also would not say the name of that rival.
The contract win was with a Fortune 25 customer and worth more than $15 million.
That same customer has now spent $30 million with Nutanix over the past 18 months.
The company signed 58 deals during the quarter with each worth more than $1 million.
It now has 16 customers that have spent more than $20 million in lifetime bookings.
Nutanix’s stock price surged following release of the company’s results as they surpassed expectations.
However, those results were still in the red as the company continues to shift its operational model from a hardware to a software- and subscription-focused business.
Pandey told SDxCentral that shift has been a painful transition but that he feels good about the company’s ability to show measurable progress in subscriptions.
He added that it was looking forward to a world where its licenses can be ported back and forth between on-prem and off-prem.
Story 3:
AT&T Communication named Jeff McElfresh as its new CEO replacing John Donovan who last week announced that he was leaving the company effective October 1.
McElfresh has been at AT&T for 25 years and currently serves as president of AT&T Communications’ Technology and Operations group.
He previously served as head of its DirecTV subsidiary in Latin America and president of AT&T Mexico.
Like Donovan, McElfresh has a pedigree in SDN that placed him in a lead position for the new role as the carrier continues to polish its cloud strategy amid its nationwide 5G deployment efforts.
On his LinkedIn page, McElfresh boldly describes himself as responsible for AT&T’s transition to a software-defined and future 5G network.
He will assume his new role once Donovan steps down.
As part of that transition he will also be reporting to a new position created within the company’s executive ranks.
John Stankey, who is CEO of WarnerMedia at AT&T, has been appointed president and COO of the mothership effective October 1 and will oversee McElfresh’s operations.
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