VMware COO Jumps Ship To Become New Nutanix CEO

‘Rajiv [Ramaswami, pictured] is the right leader at the right time,’ says Nutanix co-founder and now former CEO Dheeraj Pandey.

Nutanix has a new CEO and president in VMware’s chief operating officer, Rajiv Ramaswami, a longtime industry veteran who has led VMware’s cloud products and services development for the past four years.

“I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software,” said Ramaswami in a statement Wednesday. “Working closely with the board, the management team, and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix’s strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company’s next phase of growth and value creation.”

Ramaswami served as chief operating officer of products and cloud services at VMware from 2016 to this month. Prior to VMware, Ramaswami was executive vice president and general manager for infrastructure and networking at Broadcom, where he helped establish Broadcom as a leader in data center, enterprise and carrier networking.

Nutanix co-founder and now former CEO Dheeraj Pandey said Ramaswami is “the right leader” for Nutanix “at the right time.”

“With a future-proof business model, a loyal customer base and a strong technology portfolio, I look forward to seeing Rajiv take the helm to lead this incredible team,” Pandey said in a statement. “On a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve our customers and partners, working closely alongside Nutanix employees.”

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Pandey is expected to resign from his chairmanship at Nutanix on Dec. 14. Earlier this year, Pandey revealed that he would be leaving the San Jose, Calif.-based company he co-founded in 2009 and would retire as CEO upon the hiring of a new leader.

Ramaswami has more than 30 years of IT executive experience, including his top roles at VMware and Broadcom, as well as at Cisco Systems and Nortel. He began his career at IBM in 1988. Ramaswami’s track record includes building and scaling businesses in cloud services, software and network infrastructure. During his tenure, Ramaswami led several important acquisitions and was playing a key role in transitioning VMware toward a subscription and SaaS model, Nutanix said.

For its recent fiscal 2021 first quarter, which ended Oct. 31, Nutanix generated $312.8 million in total revenue, representing flat sales growth year over year. Nutanix’s annual ACV run rate climbed to $1.29 billion in the first quarter. Overall, Nutanix reported a loss of $265.0 million for its first quarter, compared with a loss of $229.3 million during the same quarter one year ago. Nutanix captured 680 net-new customers in the first quarter, bringing its global customer base to more than 18,000.

VMware recently generated $2.86 billion in revenue during its third fiscal quarter, which ended Oct. 30, representing an 8 percent increase in sales year over year. VMware is majority-owned by Dell Technologies.