This is a great opportunity for Microsoft to work with  manufacturers and enable end-users

In a chat with VARINDIA, Sam Gillman, Contractor to Microsoft Ltd, OEM Lenovo Server Lead, AP & EMEA, discusses about the hyperconverged solutions of Microsoft,investment in it, R&D spend, etc

Kindly, brief us about the hyperconverged solutions from Microsoft?

In the software-defined space, Microsoft and many others have begun to simplify the solutions. So Microsoft solutions based on the Windows server 2019 licensing has the functionality within the licence. So there are no additional costs here. The functionality, volume replication, data deduplication are all within the licence. So we are working as an ecosystem with partners to provide a system like Lenovo-certified system, and we use WSST, Windows Server Software-defined certification to ensure that the hardware manufacturers are certified to provide that level of service and end-users have a solution which works for them.

Hyperconverged is a game-changer for most people. It will take time for the market to fully understand and appreciate the benefits. When we are talking about a solution on industry standard service with internal discs, networking and a Windows server licence, we are looking at 20% typically of the cost of most of the solutions and multiple times of the performance. So I think it is a real game-changer for end-users in terms of making sure that they manage their budget and businesses. But for Microsoft it is a great way of driving the hybrid cloud story.

This is a great opportunity for Microsoft to work with manufacturers and to enable end-users to have a solution that helps them to move forward. 

How Microsoft is looking towards investing in hyperconverged environment?

Over the last few years, we have seen Microsoft to be focused and have helped to grow the business significantly. This is a great success and we will see even more success moving forward on the cloud business. There are similarities within the hyperconverged business. Microsoft over the last few years with Windows 2016 licensing added a number of pieces of features and functionality into the licence and that is being developed in 2019 licensing. We will see huge development and growth as Microsoft looks to support that hybrid cloud infrastructure. 

What kind of investment you have done in R&D for this particular segment?

A huge amount has been spent on R&D over the last few years. Billions of dollars are spent to ensure that Windows server licensing has enabled this hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) capabilities. What we are now doing is working with alliance partners like Lenovo and some of the other hardware manufacturers to ensure that we can bring that WSST platform. So we are working in partnership with our ecosystem to ensure we can bring solutions to the market that are validated and users have confidence that these solutions will work, support and drive their business profitability.
 

Who are the other players in this segment? What percentage is Microsoft aiming for the next year?

There are a number of different players like Nutanix, VMware, etc. In a number of countries worldwide, both have taken a reasonable market share and there has been a strong focus from them. However, most people do not know that Microsoft with its HCI solutions hasalready got many thousands of clusters worldwide that are working. It has always beena marketing-based approach around HCI. In the coming months, you will see much more proactive messaging towards end-users both from Microsoft and also from partners such as Lenovo. So you are seeing the Microsoft and HCI proposition with Windows Server 2019 begin to drive into the market. We will look to work with our ecosystem partners and will look to drive that message and support it so that the resellers and end-users can understand the message and leverage it.