Predictions: The Return of Diane Greene
Everybody's making predictions so I thought I'd jump into the fray. When I was an analyst, cranking out predictions this time every year was part of the job so it still seems second nature. So here's my two cents:
- Diane Greene will resurface with a new company that will be focused on virtualization management and automation. (Ok I had a little inside info to help me out with this one, but the management piece is very much my own bit of crystal ball gazing.)
- There will be increasing friction between VMware and partners over systems management as the company moves ahead aggressively to develop additional management tool sets and capabilities to support the roll out of VDC-OS products and the so called dynamic data center.
- HP and/or IBM will acquire a virtualization management startup this year. There are a rather impressive number of management startups in the market right now. (We've been profiling a few here on the Web site such as Bluestripe Software and Netuitive)
- Citrix will begin to steal market share from VMware in VDI. This won't be a coup so much as a slow steady erosion as Citrix starts looking to convert some of its XenApp base to more comprehensive XenDesktop solutions. Citrix isn't interested in cannibalizing its XenApp business, a key element in its strong desktop franchise and a business that many other key products (such as Netscaler) depend on.
Tell me if you agree or disagree with any of these predictions. Post here or shoot me an e-mail.
Posted by Tom Valovic on 01/18/2009 at 12:49 PM