Nutanix sovereign cloud hits Broadcom with multi-cloud hook
Nutanix expands its differentiation from Broadcom with a distributed sovereign cloud approach that supports both self-managed and multi-cloud deployments.
Nutanix customers can now operate the company's infrastructure control plane behind their own firewalls, as regulatory compliance and data gravity around AI workloads have increased enterprise interest in sovereign cloud.
Sovereign cloudrefers to cloud infrastructure or services designed to reside within a specific geographic boundary, often to comply with regulations such as the EU's GDPR. Enterprise interest in sovereign cloud has grown over the last two years, partly due to increased geopolitical volatility and the fact that companies are reluctant to move large repositories of enterprise data into public clouds to support AI applications, due to both cost and security concerns.
"There's no doubt this is becoming more important to a range of customers -- chiefly government and public sector companies -- but by no means limited to them, especially outside of the US," said Simon Robinson, an analyst at Omdia, a division of Informa TechTarget. "Our research found 74% of organizations say sovereign clouds are more important now than two years ago, for example."
In response, the Nutanix Cloud Platform, previously managed only using SaaS, now offers an entirely self-managed option for its Nutanix Central control plane, including support for completely disconnected environments. Plans are also in place to support self-management for the Nutanix Data Lens data security service.
Given the widespread appeal of sovereign cloud, Nutanix is far from alone in adjusting its products accordingly. Most major IT infrastructure vendors and cloud providers also offer sovereign cloud and disaggregated infrastructure products designed to maintain data residency in specific locations.
However, the Nutanix approach to sovereign cloud also maintains connections to public cloud providers, including a new Nutanix Government Cloud Clusters (GC2) service on AWS. Federal agencies in the United States can use GC2 to run a distributed sovereign cloud within their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud with no external SaaS connections or shared credentials. A Nutanix Cloud Clusters service is also now generally available on Google Cloud and Europe's OVHcloud, as well as for additional regions within Azure and AWS.
The sovereignty dynamic is fast evolving, and really varies depending on location and industry … customers are going to value a platform that offers them choice and agility.
Simon RobinsonAnalyst, Omdia
Distributed sovereign cloud assets will be accompanied by updates to Nutanix management tools, which the vendor is also rolling out this week. These include a new Infrastructure Manager tool within its Nutanix Prism Central application, which streamlines setup and maintenance for management domains such as sovereign clouds within larger environments.
Distributed sovereign cloud takes on Broadcom
This distributed sovereign cloud approach, with centralized management among various private and public cloud entities, differentiates Nutanix, Robinson said.
"The sovereignty dynamic is fast evolving, and really varies depending on location and industry," he said. "In some scenarios, the requirements are clear, but in others, it’s still to be determined exactly how other factors, such as geopolitics, will influence strategic cloud decisions. Amidst this uncertainty, customers are going to value a platform that offers them choice and agility."
Another industry analyst agreed that this update strengthens Nutanix as sovereign cloud evolves in the AI age.
"I see this as Nutanix doubling down on what they are strong at: on-premises, disconnected environments, and simplicity of control," said Rob Strechay, an analyst at TheCube Research. "Leveraging cloud providers as an option makes a lot of sense in the AI world, given the need for data to be mobile across hybrid cloud environments."
"The fact that OVH is also providing this is significant for Nutanix in the EU for sovereign cloud," Strechay said. "[Nutanix] has long been OpenStack- and VMware-based. Bringing a third control plane into the mix is a big undertaking and signals, more than anything else, continued movement away from [Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation] in the EU."
That said, Nutanix didn't publicly disclose its pricing for all of these components, which will be an important consideration for prospective enterprise IT buyers, Strechay said.
"Nutanix has a robust stack to compete with VMware in the private cloud business and is becoming stronger through its integrations with third-party storage vendors, helping to open an ecosystem that did not exist two years ago," he said. "Do they have everything? No. But if they support the [equivalent of] one to three features, like ESX, vSAN and vCenter, which you were using VMware for, are cheaper, easier to manage at scale, and easier to work with commercially, why wouldn't you consider them?"
Beth Pariseau, a senior news writer for Informa TechTarget, is an award-winning veteran of IT journalism covering DevOps. Have a tip? Email her or reach out @PariseauTT.
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