Microsoft, Citrix are no threat to us: VMware

BANGALORE, INDIA: Even in the midst of rising competition from the likes of Microsoft and Citrix, virtualisation software maker VMware is very optimistic about being able to hold on and continue to be the numero uno of virtualisation world.

Of late, Microsoft, with its Hyper-V technology, and Citrix, with its desktop virtualisation stack, have been making their presence in the virtualisation space felt more prominently. Such that analyst firm Gartner have placed these two companies, along with VMware, in its Magic Quadrant of Leaders for Virtualisation technology.

So does this mean they can in turn be a threat to VMware?

“No,” says T Srinivasan, managing director, VMware India & SAARC. “Microsoft and Citrix have been in the business for very long time and we are still at 84 per cent.”

He was referring to the report that 84 per cent of all virtualised infrastructure in the world sit on VMware.

And for the question whether he sees this percentage coming down anytime soon, he replied, "Everybody will do well. For the question what percentage will one command in the market, only time will tell; however, we do not see the percentage coming down."

While adding his bit to the query, B S Nagarajan, senior technical manager, VMware India, said: “Yes, all the three vendors are in the Gartner's Leader's Quadrant; however, there is a huge gap between VMware and the other two vendors. We have been prominently placed in the quadrant for more than a year now. In terms of both vision towards the technology and the ability to execute it, we are far ahead of the competitors. So, I don't see any kind of threat from them."

So, if not the threat then what makes VMware to move in to the realms of cloud, one wonders.

"This announcement is not a counter response to the competition from anybody. We are doing it for our customers. We are the ones who started the journey towards cloud with virtualisation. We are just taking it forward now with cloud," Nagarajan asserted.

Both Srinivasan and Nagarajan were talking to CIOL on the sidelines of an event, where VMware announced the launch of a suite of cloud infrastructure technologies, which according to the company will help end users to build private cloud.

To read more about the launch click here

This could be seen as the first serious move by the company towards cloud. Srinivasan termed the announcement as 'no less important for India, as is it for the rest of the world', although statistics say that only about 10-20 per cent of the Indian market is virtualised.

From the company's point of view, this announcement is also meant for India, more so because it sees India as a key component of the marketplace for virtualisation and as per a recent survey conducted by the company, “over 90 per cent of the participants said that virtualisation and journey towards cloud are things that they have in their anvil of plans”.

Even Microsoft and Citrix are thinking seriously on the lines of cloud. Only recently did Citrix acquire a cloud provider start-up, Cloud.com. So, for certain, VMware's journey with cloud will not be as smooth as it was with virtualisation, but maybe by the time others catch up to them, they will come up with a new strategy altogether.