Nutanix CEO slams 'bully' VMware after 'threatening' email sent to customer
Datacentre vendors clash over 'vitriolic' Nutanix marketing campaign
Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey has branded VMware a "bully" in a blog, referring to what he claims is a threatening email from VMware COO Sanjay Poonen to a customer.
The two vendors have clashed over a Nutanix marketing campaign encouraging businesses to shun legacy datacentre infrastructure and "say no to vTAX".
Nutanix claims that vTAX refers to no specific company, but to old datacentre technology and the costs associated with running and maintaining it. However, the term has historically been used to reference charges imposed by VMware in relation to vSphere.
Pandey's blog contains a screenshot of an email which he says was sent from Poonen to a Nutanix customer.
The email appears to warn the customer against being associated with the marketing campaign, claiming that involvement is an act of aggression against VMware and parent company Dell.
The email states: "I wanted to let you know that your name and your companies [sic] brand is being used in a vitriolic anti-VMware and anti-Dell campaign by Nutanix.
"We totally respect that customers might pick different technologies, and maybe you prefer Nutanix for hyperconverged in your IT systems, and your partner practice, over VMware.
"Yet, I think you are still a VMware partner, and more importantly VMware is part of Dell Technologies, so this ad campaign is a frontal attack on both VMware and Dell."
In a blog post, Nutanix's Pandey outlined the rationale behind the campaign, claiming the aim is to encourage customers to move away from costly infrastructure and towards hyperconvergence, referring to "heavyweight hypervisors" and "expensive virtualisation software".
The CEO insisted that the campaign was not aimed at VMware specifically, blasting VMware's Poonen for threatening the email's recipient with the might of parent company Dell.
"For one, this email is full of fear and prejudice, given the number of times he has used the word "vitriolic" for our campaign that espouses a new way of life.
"Then he drags Dell into this for no good reason. This argument that No-VTAX is about Dell is as preposterous as saying that HPE, Lenovo, NEC, Fujitsu, Huawei, Inspur, and other competing server manufacturers should stop supporting VMware, now that Dell is an investor in VMware.
"But most alarmingly, the veiled threat - "we don't want it to affect your brand" - in this email is an act of bullying that has no place in a world where the customer is all powerful."
CRN has contacted VMware for comment.