Paul Esch, President of TSANet, attended the Nutanix .NEXT event in Washington, DC. This event provided an opportunity to learn about the latest industry trends. As an Elite TSANet Member, Nutanix is actively involved on the Board of Directors and has a vast partner ecosystem, making this an excellent venue to discover how to best support our Members.

The main message at the conference was Run Anything Anywhere.  This statement would not be possible without the massive Technology Ecosystem that Nutanix has built.  Below is a list of key messages from the event, along with their implications for TSANet.

1000+ Partners

The focus was on the 1000+ Partners that provide the capability for Nutanix to support their customer requirements.   Nutanix has one of the largest Partner Programs at TSANet, and Partners were included in every session.

New Features – with Partners

Many of the announcements regarding new product features were made with partners, including Cisco, Dell, Pure Storage, Google, Omnissa, and many others.   Many of these announcements elevated a Partner from a Certified integration to a Product Solution.

Ecosystem = Run Anything

At the Partner Expo, partners were organized by technology segment. This arrangement offered an opportunity to understand how each Technology segment interacted with Nutanix. It also provided insight into the level of support needed to build and maintain the solution in a customer environment.

Solution Expo – Visit with TSANet Members

Nearly 70 technology vendors participated in the Solution Expo, categorized into different technology areas. Since Nutanix includes TSANet as part of its Elevate program, all the vendors were TSANet members. This provided an opportunity to discuss the TSANet Technology Partner Framework with Partner Alliance Managers and receive feedback on the framework.

Paul at the Dynatrace booth

TSANet Input

Attending this event provided validation of the new TSANet Strategy and what areas require additional focus.

Technology Framework – The TSANet Technology Framework accurately reflects how Partner Alliance Managers perceive their ecosystems. One area of growth is in Solutions, as this leads to increased sales and encompasses key product features.

TSANet Connect – The enhancements to TSANet Connect were seen as essential for improving the collaboration among Vendors. This has become critical for Solution Support, as customer expectations require Vendors to have efficient methods for working together on issues.

Technology Segmentation – It was clear that each Technology segment had unique requirements and challenges with multi-vendor Technology Support.   For example:

• Storage and Networking Vendors require enhanced post-sales support processes to resolve issues in the customer environment.
• End-user computing vendors require enhanced support, including automated testing and API integration, to ensure that changes made to the edge do not introduce problems.

I am looking forward to attending more of these events in the future.