VMware Partners 'Excited' Pat Gelsinger Won't Seek Intel CEO Position

VMware partners are cheering news that Intel's former chief technology officer, Pat Gelsinger, will keep his leadership and software innovation enterprise inside the virtualization leader following Intel CEO Brian Krzanich abrupt resignation last week.

After some media outlets said Intel should pursue 30-year Intel veteran Gelsinger to replace Krzanich, VMware's CEO took to Twitter.

Thanks for the shout out, but I love being CEO and not going anywhere else. The future is software!!!

VMware partners were relieved that Gelsinger's technology innovation and market expertise were staying inside the Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor.

[Related: Partners: Intel Must Focus On Channel After Krzanich's Sudden Departure ]

"For the past six years under Gelsinger, they've done an amazing job in reshaping enterprise computing and have really focused on breaking down the walls of the data center," said Michael Murphy, president of Nanuet, N.Y.-based solution provider and VMware partner VirtuIT Systems. "He's going to continue to make the infrastructure more efficient and more ubiquitous. I'm excited about him staying."

Murphy was bullish about Gelsinger's decision to stay with VMware , which is majority owned by Dell Technologies, and said the CEO will drive software innovation for years to come.

"He's very much correct about software being the future," said Murphy. "VMware is stretching the data center in to cloud infrastructure with things like NSX, vSAN, hyper-converged, and stretching it even to Amazon . … It is great news for VMware partners."

Michael Tanenhaus, CEO of Mavenspire, an Annapolis, Maryland-based solution provider that works with Dell Technologies, said Gelsinger shooting down the possibility of becoming Intel's next CEO underlines what has always appeared to be a solid commitment to VMware.

"I think he's committed," Tanenhaus said, "and I've always seen Pat as somebody who would possibly take the CEO role at Dell Technologies when [Chairman and CEO] Michael [Dell] steps aside. There are relatively few visionary leaders around, especially in the tech CEO world, and that is everything. There's plenty of great operational people who can implement and drive the vision, but to conceive it is the hard part."

Following Gelsinger's tweet on June 22 about declining the potential Intel CEO position, Michael Dell tweeted his own approval of the news to Gelsinger's Twitter account: a cartoon image of a man with a "you're the best" plaque.

Gelsinger spent 30 years at Intel from 1979 to 2009, becoming the company's first ever CTO in 2000. Gelsinger then joined EMC as President and COO for three years before becoming CEO of VMware in 2012.

Last week, Intel CEO Krzanich resigned after the company learned of a prior consensual relationship he had with an employee. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said an ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel confirmed that Krzanich had violated the company's non-fraternization policy. The relationship with the employee happened "some time back," and the company was only made aware of it recently.

The company said it has begun a "robust" search for a permanent CEO , which will include consideration for both internal and external candidates. An executive search firm will assist in the process. Intel named Chief Financial Officer Robert Swan as interim CEO , effective immediately.