“Offering a cloud-based DR service is really smart, because the concept lends to Multi-Cloud.
If I understand this correctly, you could have an on-prem DC, utilize Azure, and have GCP as the DR site via Xi services. (maybe I have this wrong, but that is just an example)”
DreamerDad - I think this is the intent, and what drew my initial interest. With some maturity, you could in theory shut down your secondary DC sites. At worst, optimize them for something other than waiting for a DR event - which I would imagine many IT Ops groups looking at tech like HCI have already done to some degree.
But I think this could also pave the way for services to provide temporary capacity bursting and many other services. Google supports SAP HANA in GCP, so you could theoretically spin up a HANA environment to run your quarterly reporting for two weeks, then shut it all down. This way you host and operate an expensive platform for 8 weeks a year instead of 52. Maybe you keep a small environment up for Dev/Test, or even monthly reporting. The big, resource intensive platforms are only bursted. BTW, AWS can do this too, but the trick here is the automated migration and data replication activity that Nutanix would provide, which to be honest is a PITA. Another topic is how the SAPs, Oracles etc of the world handle the licensing of these situations, but that is an entire other (painful) topic.
I also agree with your point on their expansion plan. Xi could easily be a loss leader to expand their HCI offering. I know other posters mentioned less than stellar experiences with Nutanix HCI, but in my experience, all of the main providers have their issues - and Cisco, Dell(VMW) are not exactly setting the world on fire with their software. Many of the things we are discussing could (should?) have been done already. In my opinion, Nutanix is getting in first with a more complete offering and the backing of a major public cloud provider. Their HW platform is fine, but their software sets them apart, which is why you see factors like net promoter score being stratospheric.
I think the plan for Nutanix to partner with AWS and Azure in addition to GCP makes absolute sense for them, but to me it makes less sense for Google. I am curious about the nature of this “strategic alliance” and if this gives Google a period of exclusivity, or other entitlements. The DR offering with Xi being limited to a small portion of Google’s DC scope hints to me that they are going to watch to see if this is successful. If it is, I really don’t see them excited at the prospect of the playing field being leveled with AWS and Azure for this tech.
Notmalware