We all knew it was coming -- HP and Microsoft's eventual response to the VCE Coalition announcement from last November.
Both companies are quite formidable separately ; collectively, what could this mean going forward?
Both companies are quite formidable separately ; collectively, what could this mean going forward?
Disclosure: as an EMC employee (and as someone intimately involved in VCE activities), my biases will be very clear going forward. That being said, I will do my best to compare and contrast the focus areas, and try to avoid general snarky-ness :-)
Our Industry Is Changing
The IT industry is maturing. It's becoming less about individual products, and more about integration, consumption models, business models, etc. Scary stuff for IT vendors.
As a result IT vendors are are starting to fall into each others' arms in a variety of ways as the industry consolidates. "Best of breed" technology can only get you so far in this new world.
Put differently, all of us were expecting something like this. Now that it's here, what can we infer?
The HP / Microsoft Announcement
The hard points are in the press: $250 million, over the next three years, focused on three areas: (1) aligned engineering and roadmaps, (2) creation of new joint solutions and services, (3) increased investment in joint sales and support, presumably through the partner channel.
The soft points are more interesting:
- HP and Microsoft using the term "private and public clouds" to describe cloud model(s) that customers want. Steve Ballmer got his Azure plug in there, although we didn't hear that from the HP crew.
- Strong focus on "application integration" (presumably Exchange, SQLserver and SharePoint) as the unique value the partnership brings. Note: all three -- while very popular -- are facing interesting challenges going forward.
- HP emphasis on integration and management of various infrastructure technologies, as well as ease of consumption, e.g. pre-configured with a Microsoft application ready-to-go. Nice, but hardly transformational stuff.
- Inferred (although not explicit) focus on smaller IT organizations. Both vendors are exceptionally strong downmarket.
- Strong focus on the shared partner channel between HP and Microsoft -- a strength that's hard to ignore.
What Was Missing?
When dissecting big industry announcements, I always find it interesting to look at the white space, i.e. what was not said. This one is no exception.
First, no discussion on how virtualization is transforming IT. Given the respective positions of the two vendors, this is no surprise. However, most IT thinkers would agree -- virtualization is changing everything, and the thought was hanging in the air like a miasma.
Second, nothing really new (technology-wise) to go point at. HP has their stuff, Microsoft has their stuff. I would presume that some of the $250m would eventually go to build new shiny stuff, but we'll have to wait a while to see what's coming.
Not to overstate the obvious, but it's fair to say VMware is leading the way with virtualizing compute. EMC is aggressively virtualizing storage in multiple dimensions. Cisco brings not only fully virtualized networking to the table, but a new integration paradim between server, network and storage. And, collectively, we're bringing entirely new models to the table with regards to management and -- security.
Everyone has their opinions, naturally, but there's some strong differences in the capabilities of the respective technology portfolios.
Third, you'd hope that the marriage might be producing some interesting offspring to evaluate. Not much of that yet, unfortunately. We'll see.
By comparison, at the VCE launch we were able to point at least a few new things. The Vblock garnered a fair amount of attention at the time, and continues to do so. Additionally, the EMC Ionix UIM (unified infrastructure manager) offered a proof point on new ways of managing things in concert with VMware and Cisco.
I also was looking for more specifics as to new forms of business integration between the two companies. By comparison, we were pretty granular with the VCE announcement around a new "seamless support" capability between the three companies, not to mention a new pre-sales construct (the SST) as well as an entirely new joint professional services venture (Acadia) to do build/operate/transfer with industry partners.
Dancing The Openness Dance
Customer love integration, but they also want choices. When we did the VCE announcement, we had to be very clear that we weren't taking anything off the table in terms of customer choices, and were adding new choices for customers to consider, i.e. Vblocks, Acadia, et. al.
HP and Microsoft have to dance the same dance. A lot of Microsoft product gets sold on stuff other than HP kit; HP kit has to support non-Microsoft environments. In larger IT vendors, this can create a lot of internal tension.
So, if you're the Microsoft product line manager for, say, Exchange, SQLserver and/or SharePoint, what's the #1 virtualization environment people want to use? Answer: VMware. Oracle "solved" this problem by basically strong-arming their customers on support and licensing; Microsoft's history and culture point to a more nuanced approach.
Back in the era I grew up in, there were Kremlinologists who could infer a lot from photographs and news releases about what was going on behind the Iron Curtain in the old Soviet Union.
I can't help myself, I'm inferring a lot as I look at this as well.
Third, I found that none of the materials or executives were really breaking any new ground. They were getting back to their core strengths, and didn't really focus on what was going to be different / new / interesting going forward. A bit defensive, to my way of thinking.
Now, all of this is entirely subjective on my part, so make of it what you will.
A Final Thought
The IT industry is maturing. It's becoming less about individual products, and more about integration, consumption models, business models, etc. Scary stuff for IT vendors.
As a result IT vendors are are starting to fall into each others' arms in a variety of ways as the industry consolidates. "Best of breed" technology can only get you so far in this new world.
Put differently, all of us were expecting something like this. Now that it's here, what can we infer?
The HP / Microsoft Announcement
The hard points are in the press: $250 million, over the next three years, focused on three areas: (1) aligned engineering and roadmaps, (2) creation of new joint solutions and services, (3) increased investment in joint sales and support, presumably through the partner channel.
The soft points are more interesting:
- HP and Microsoft using the term "private and public clouds" to describe cloud model(s) that customers want. Steve Ballmer got his Azure plug in there, although we didn't hear that from the HP crew.
- Strong focus on "application integration" (presumably Exchange, SQLserver and SharePoint) as the unique value the partnership brings. Note: all three -- while very popular -- are facing interesting challenges going forward.
- HP emphasis on integration and management of various infrastructure technologies, as well as ease of consumption, e.g. pre-configured with a Microsoft application ready-to-go. Nice, but hardly transformational stuff.
- Inferred (although not explicit) focus on smaller IT organizations. Both vendors are exceptionally strong downmarket.
- Strong focus on the shared partner channel between HP and Microsoft -- a strength that's hard to ignore.
What Was Missing?
When dissecting big industry announcements, I always find it interesting to look at the white space, i.e. what was not said. This one is no exception.
First, no discussion on how virtualization is transforming IT. Given the respective positions of the two vendors, this is no surprise. However, most IT thinkers would agree -- virtualization is changing everything, and the thought was hanging in the air like a miasma.
Second, nothing really new (technology-wise) to go point at. HP has their stuff, Microsoft has their stuff. I would presume that some of the $250m would eventually go to build new shiny stuff, but we'll have to wait a while to see what's coming.
Not to overstate the obvious, but it's fair to say VMware is leading the way with virtualizing compute. EMC is aggressively virtualizing storage in multiple dimensions. Cisco brings not only fully virtualized networking to the table, but a new integration paradim between server, network and storage. And, collectively, we're bringing entirely new models to the table with regards to management and -- security.
Everyone has their opinions, naturally, but there's some strong differences in the capabilities of the respective technology portfolios.
Third, you'd hope that the marriage might be producing some interesting offspring to evaluate. Not much of that yet, unfortunately. We'll see.
By comparison, at the VCE launch we were able to point at least a few new things. The Vblock garnered a fair amount of attention at the time, and continues to do so. Additionally, the EMC Ionix UIM (unified infrastructure manager) offered a proof point on new ways of managing things in concert with VMware and Cisco.
I also was looking for more specifics as to new forms of business integration between the two companies. By comparison, we were pretty granular with the VCE announcement around a new "seamless support" capability between the three companies, not to mention a new pre-sales construct (the SST) as well as an entirely new joint professional services venture (Acadia) to do build/operate/transfer with industry partners.
Dancing The Openness Dance
Customer love integration, but they also want choices. When we did the VCE announcement, we had to be very clear that we weren't taking anything off the table in terms of customer choices, and were adding new choices for customers to consider, i.e. Vblocks, Acadia, et. al.
HP and Microsoft have to dance the same dance. A lot of Microsoft product gets sold on stuff other than HP kit; HP kit has to support non-Microsoft environments. In larger IT vendors, this can create a lot of internal tension.
So, if you're the Microsoft product line manager for, say, Exchange, SQLserver and/or SharePoint, what's the #1 virtualization environment people want to use? Answer: VMware. Oracle "solved" this problem by basically strong-arming their customers on support and licensing; Microsoft's history and culture point to a more nuanced approach.
Similarly, HP does a lot of non-x86 and non-Microsoft business. How will the position this sort of offering vs. more traditional ones that are also paying the bills? My guess is that it'll be some sort of convoluted channel / market segmentation. Again, we'll see.
More interestingly is how things will play out between HP and VMware as a result of this. An awful lot of VMware product gets used with HP servers. I wonder how they'll spin this to their VMware customers?
Other Things I Found InterestingBack in the era I grew up in, there were Kremlinologists who could infer a lot from photographs and news releases about what was going on behind the Iron Curtain in the old Soviet Union.
I can't help myself, I'm inferring a lot as I look at this as well.
First, I found it odd that they didn't name their relationship, alliance, coalition, etc. Important things tend to have names. No real name was assigned to this one, other than "the agreement".
Just so you're clear, there are lots and lots of people across many disciplines at VMware, Cisco and EMC who work full-time on VCE stuff. It's a big deal to all of us. We couldn't imagine not giving it a clear name and an identity: the VCE Coalition.
Second, I found the event itself a bit light and perhaps rushed. No CEOs on stage together, limited press and analyst outreach, no new web sites, testimonials, etc. Felt a bit like they all just phoned it in, so to speak. Very different to the VCE event in terms of scope, impact and intensity.Third, I found that none of the materials or executives were really breaking any new ground. They were getting back to their core strengths, and didn't really focus on what was going to be different / new / interesting going forward. A bit defensive, to my way of thinking.
Now, all of this is entirely subjective on my part, so make of it what you will.
A Final Thought
It should be obvious that HP and Microsoft had to make this sort of announcement -- it's expected, and will probably be good for both companies.
Someone just asked me -- what did I think about the $250 million investment over three years?
My answer? Nothing more than a small down payment on the future of IT.
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