HCI darling Nutanix has completed its search for a CEO with the hiring of Rajiv Ramaswami, a senior exec at arch-rival VMware.
“I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software,” he said in a press statement today.
Ramaswami succeeds Dheeraj Pandey, who in August announced his plans to retire. With his replacement at the helm, Pandey leaves the company he co-founded on December 12.
“Rajiv is the right leader at the right time,” Pandey said. “With a future-proof business model, a loyal and expanding customer base, and a strong technology portfolio, I look forward to seeing Rajiv take the helm to lead this incredible team.”
This is Ramaswami’s first CEO position. He has been VMware’s COO for products and cloud services since October 2016 and, according to Nutanix, led several important acquisitions at VMware, and also played a key role in the company’s ongoing transition towards subscription and SaaS model.
He comes from a data networking background. Prior to VMware, he was an EVP and GM at Broadcom for six years. There was a 7.5 year stint at Cisco and the resume then goes back in time through Nortel, Tellabs and IBM.
