Cloud News
Aviatrix CEO On Potential Post-Broadcom VMware Layoffs And Why On-Prem Market Is ‘The Titanic Going Down’
Mark Haranas
Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney talks to CRN about potential VMware layoffs ahead, why the on-premises market is sinking and Aviatrix’s rapid cloud growth.
Steve Mullaney On VMware-Broadcom, On-Premises Vs Cloud And Aviatrix Growth
Former VMware executive and now Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney believes massive employee layoffs are in store for VMware once Broadcom acquires the virtualization superstar for $61 billion.
“They’re going to fire 20,000 VMware people,” predicts Mullaney. “How else are they going to get that profitability Broadcom wants? … There’s only two ways to do it: grow revenue or cut costs. I know what they’re going do. They’re going to slash people.”
Mullaney was the CEO of software-defined networking pioneer Nicira, which was acquired by VMware in 2012 for $1.3 billion. He was senior vice president and general manager for VMware’s networking and security business until he retired in 2014.
[Related: VMware CEO: Sanjay Poonen To Take Cohesity ‘To New Heights’]
Mullaney came out of retirement in 2019 after he witnessed the explosion of cloud demand from enterprise to become president and CEO of Aviatrix.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Aviatrix is a cloud networking provider delivering advanced cloud networking, network security, and operational visibility required by enterprises. The technology directly programs native cloud constructs to maintain the simplicity and automation unique to each cloud provider, including for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud and Alibaba Cloud.
Mullaney’s career spans three decades in the IT industry, including roles such as Nicira’s CEO, interim CEO of Palo Alto Networks, as well as vice president of marketing for both Blue Coat Systems and Force10 Networks.
Over the past several years at Aviatrix, he has doubled sales each year, won over 65 net new Fortune 500 customers, and expanded the company’s employee base to over 500 people.
In an interview with CRN, Mullaney talks about Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Aviatrix’s cloud market differentiation and the current state of the on-premises IT market for vendors and channel partners.
“The on-premises market is the Titanic going down,” said Mullaney. “It’s going down and supply chain issues are only accelerating people going into the cloud. The recession is only accelerating people going into cloud. COVID is only accelerating people going into cloud.”
“When the Titanic went down, it sucked you down with it. The problem for these channel partners is: you’re going get caught,” he said.
Click through the slideshow to see more of what Mullaney had to say.
