CEO Outlook 2019: 5 Questions For VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger

Gelsinger On 2019

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger says a main priority for his company in 2019 is to work with customers to address the primary challenge they’re facing in what he calls “the multi-cloud era” -- running workloads that span sprawling environments.

“We’ve been saying over the past year that customers want to remove the complexity in their digital infrastructure, so that they can securely run, deliver and manage any app, to any device, on any cloud,” Gelsinger said.

Gelsinger said security remains a strong focus for VMware, echoing a point he made in October at The Channel Company’s Best of Breed conference where he said he wants “to disrupt everything about the security industry.”

“With every new or emerging threat, most customers react by buying more security products,” Gelsinger said. “But a security strategy that involves purchasing dozens or hundreds of products simply creates a patchwork security infrastructure, where cracks can offer more opportunities for attack.”

Here are Gelsigner's predictions for 2019 for both VMware and its channel partners.

What's the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2019?

We've been saying over the past year that customers want to remove the complexity in their digital infrastructure, so that they can securely run, deliver and manage any app, to any device, on any cloud. This is driving strong demand for deployment and adoption of complete solutions beyond compute virtualization more than ever before. VMware Cloud Foundation brings together compute, storage, networking, and security. For digital workspace, WorkspaceONE integrates access control, application management and multi-platform endpoint management. For cloud, VMware Cloud on AWS allows customers to seamlessly migrate and extend their on-premises VMware vSphere-based environments to the AWS Cloud.

In 2019, we will double-down on co-innovation with our partners in these areas, so we are uniquely positioned to grow together with differentiated solutions from the data center, to cloud, to devices and the edge. In turn, this will empower customers to innovate at higher levels of applications and new services.

What are the biggest technology investments you are making in 2019?

As organizations plan their strategies for modern multi-cloud and cloud native applications, VMware's full portfolio of solutions helps customers drive digital transformations from core datacenter, to cloud, to devices and the edge. Of course, we will continue to invest in those areas, but at the same time we will invest to open up huge opportunities for partners to expand and grow their practices into these high growth areas, helping them super-charge their revenues. In 2018, we made significant organic investments in technologies like VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware Cloud on AWS, networking & security, and digital workspace. We have also invested inorganically through acquisitions such as CloudHealth and, most recently, Heptio, to guide our customers as they transition to the multi-cloud era. In 2019, you'll see us do more to accelerate programs that enable greater partner profitability off of these investments, by doing even more to enable partners to sell and deliver services.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing customers in 2019?

In short, customers will continue to see complexity explode in what we're calling the multi-cloud era. A recent survey by Deloitte said the average business today is using eight public clouds, and expected to become 10-plus public clouds. That often means that our customers are managing different tools, different teams, and different architectures. Without a consistent infrastructure and operational environments, innovation can be stifled. We're working with customers now to solve these complexity challenges and see this as a priority for us in 2019 is to address this challenge. Another challenge customers have been facing for years, and will continue to deal with in 2019, is around security. With every new or emerging threat, most customers react by buying more security products. But a security strategy that involves purchasing dozens or hundreds of products (and growing), simply creates a patchwork security infrastructure, where cracks can offer more opportunities for attack. CIO's need to rethink security at the infrastructure level. VMware is responding by building security functions directly into our products, such as NSX and AppDefense.

What is key to success for your channel partners in 2019?

To put it simply: take advantage of the services that will meet your customer challenges as they live in a hybrid and multi-cloud world. As VMware has been shifting its products and go-to-market strategies towards the cloud, partners should assess their cloud priorities and aggressively invest in the VMware cloud practices to stay ahead. Channel partners who want to monetize in the cloud need to build out their hybrid cloud practices. They can do this by offering technologies that modernize their customers' on-premises environments, provide advisory and cloud migration services, embrace a managed services provider model, and drive cloud consumption with their partners. The laws of physics and economics will continue to drive a hybrid and multi-cloud world. Partners do not want to be left behind.

Fill in the blank: 2019 Will Be The Year Of...

We see two things of note: One, 2019 will be the year that the industry extends infrastructure beyond the private and public cloud. Data is moving closer to the edge, and the industry will move the resources once found in the data center closer to the edge to address this. The other is what we are calling the 'self-driving data center,' where AI and machine learning will be deeply infused into private and public clouds, further reducing complexity driving the next-generation of digital infrastructure.