Nutanix earns its keep with IT that aims to simplify hybrid multi-cloud environments with virtualization for customers. To achieve this, the company relies on its own software. CIO Rami Mazid thus plays an important role within the R department.
Nutanix is thriving. The company finds customers more willing than ever to listen to the story about the hybrid multi-cloud platform, which makes complex IT environments flexible and manageable. Moreover, since VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom, there’s a great appetite for an enterprise-level player with expertise in virtualization.
To capitalize on these opportunities, Nutanix continuously refines its own solutions, with the compass aimed at a transition to increasingly extensive cloud-native support. As CIO at Nutanix, Rami Mazid has a dual role. On one hand, he must keep the entire IT environment of the multinational running efficiently; on the other hand, he is himself an important Nutanix customer.
ITdaily: “What does the IT environment you’re responsible for look like?”
Rami Mazid: “I’ve been the CIO of Nutanix for two years. In that role, I’m responsible for everything, from the data centers, infrastructure, and cloud services to the endpoints of the users. We have self-managed data centers, tens of thousands of nodes. Furthermore, we have 50,000 to 100,000 nodes that we can flexibly scale up or shut down. This happens to support certain services, but also for tests.”
“The environment is quite large. It supports not only production but also R, tests, QA. I manage all of that.”
What are your main priorities at the moment?
Mazid: “My biggest priority is Nutanix on Nutanix. Our company runs on our own solution. As CIO, I not only have a strong connection with RD, the CIO organization even falls under the RD department. We always roll out products at Nutanix first, and have a feedback mechanism for evaluation.”
“Furthermore, we too must constantly modernize our infrastructure, in line with Nutanix’s vision. In doing so, the infrastructure must scale. We deliberately retain some legacy hardware for testing. Nutanix must run on all platforms everywhere, so we need to maintain a diverse IT environment.”
We deliberately retain some legacy hardware.
Rami Mazid, CIO Nutanix
“Finally, we also need to maintain the user experience, so that employees remain efficient.”
Does the Rest of Nutanix Sufficiently Understand these Priorities? Is Everyone on the Same Page?
Mazid: “That’s not a problem. I meet regularly with the board of directors. I often hear from other CIOs that there’s friction between IT and RD. Thanks to our organization, that’s not the case. I don’t experience friction with the business either.”
“Nutanix as a product is further developed because we need it. When there are new internal needs, it becomes part of the product.”
“I am a big fan of good governance structure. Whenever we do something new, we provide a regulatory framework. The lines of communication are also open. Everyone knows where to turn, and every function is represented.”
Does the IT department have access to sufficient people and resources to successfully meet the challenges?
Mazid: “Yes, because we work very efficiently. Our goal is to use our own technology as efficiently as possible. If we were working in a 3-tier environment, it would be a different story (laughs).”
“Due to the efficiency of the platform, we manage with a team of around 120 people. They are divided into four departments, instead of the typical seven. The hyperconverged infrastructure makes this optimization possible. The entire management layer, from on-premises to the cloud, is one team.”
“I have worked at other companies, and a 3-tier environment already requires three teams for maintenance. Compared to other large companies, we have a very compact team.”
Is the Future of Nutanix’s IT Environment in the Cloud, On-Premises, or a Combination of both?
Mazid: “We deliberately choose to be and remain everywhere. We have to, because our customers also have diverse environments. The Nutanix product must be able to run everywhere. That’s why we have on-premises data centers, and we run infrastructure in the cloud with AWS, Azure, and Google.”
We have on-premises data centers, and we run infrastructure in the cloud with AWS, Azure, and Google.
Rami Mazid, CIO Nutanix
“That’s not operationally necessary, but it allows us to constantly keep an eye on whether the product is capable.”
What impact do regulations like NIS2 and DORA have on IT policy?
Mazid: “The regulations in the EU are generally more rigid and demanding than in the rest of the world. This has actually been the case for more than five years. In that respect, new regulations are not a major challenge. We have a team for everything related to legislation, and that team knows what to do. Our cybersecurity is, of course, also completely in order.”
How Does Nutanix Deal with the AI Hype?
Mazid: “We have established an AI committee. It consists of people from all departments, including RD, Sales, Marketing, HR, Support, and of course Legal. We meet regularly and look for specific use cases.”
read also
A Beacon of Simplicity in a World Full of Hype and Complexity: Nutanix Innovates According to Plan
“We have used a framework for such scenarios, where we look at what we want to achieve and what the value of AI can be. Internally, we have already rolled out AI within customer support, as that’s the best place to start. Sales and marketing will follow.”
“In my opinion, AI will only be disruptive if it’s poorly managed. If you understand the specific use cases, you can work with it.”
Which important trends are you following with an eye on the next three years?
Mazid: “In our industry, data center modernization is a hot topic, both in the US and the EU. The demand for data centers is increasing, but the power is simply not available. We have made some calculations. If you think about the power requirements for one rack. That used to be 15 kW, today it’s 37 kW. IT now needs to think about how data centers can be modernized.”
“For our company, that’s very interesting. The whole agent-based AI story is also great for us. Storage needs to come together and be expanded across different solutions, with technology that runs on every platform. That’s good news for Nutanix.”