Joseph Kovar’s CRN story on VMware Inc. embedding EMC Corp. backup technology in its flagship vSphere virtualization product carries some colourful quotes from Greg Knieriemen, vice-president of marketing at solution provider Chi Corp. Knieriemen warns of a potential “nerd riot” at VMWorld, and says it’s not so much stepping on storage partners’ toes as “kicking them in the (groin).”
Will VMWare face a “nerd riot” at its annual conference?
(I love the transparent bowdlerization, by the way. One guess as to what he actually said. But I digress.)
Why this comes as a shock eludes me. Yes, since EMC acquired VMware in 2003, they’ve been run as discrete businesses. Yes, VMware was built on partnerships. But the two were made for integration — why else would EMC bought VMware in the first place? — and as virtualization becomes a dominant theme in enterprise technology, integration of the various pieces of the puzzle will only increase.
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VMWare recently acquired virtual switching company Nicira to integrate networking in its virtual environment. And storage networking is not only a critical element of a virtualization strategy, virtual storage was probably the first technology to gain a foothold in the new era of virtualization. Integrating EMC technology is a no-brainer.
Kovar notes that partners will ask, “Is VMware going to start selling storage.” In fact, the corollary was already true: EMC, through VMware, was already selling virtualization.
Will VMware’s storage partners be annoyed? Certainly. But they should have seen it coming.