On cloud nine

Source: www.devcentral.f5.com

Meet Paul Maritz, CEO of VMware and one of the most talked about business leaders on Wall Street. If anyone can (and realistically do) compete with Microsoft, it is this man.

Source: www.images.businessweek.com

In the article VMware lays down corporate IT marker in Tuesdays’ FT, Richard Waters discusses the future of corporate IT software. Currently, a few international giants including Microsoft, Oracle and SAP dominate the highly profitable software industry. There have been countless attempts by other, smaller companies trying to compete in the big league without success, until now.

VMware has emerged on the market as the hottest start-up and is known for being the leader in “cloud computing” - the future of corporate IT. By centralising computing tasks in larger datacentres it creates a “cloud” where the massed power of multiple servers can be merged into what companies might think of as a giant supercomputer – thus facilitating greater efficiencies.

VMware has also established a “beachhead” in corporate IT systems, otherwise known as virtualisation. It involves layering of software between a computer’s hardware and its operating system, enabling multiple computing tasks to be active simultaneously on one computer thus reducing the number of computers needed. Unsurprisingly, this is becoming increasingly common IT practice with a number of firms. Maritz believes “beachhead” to be a recipe to success in taking the lead over (ironically) former employer Microsoft.

Source: www.topnews.net.nz

X-Microsoft executive, Maritz is one of the brains behind iconic products such as Windows 95 operating system in the 1990’s. Since Maritz joined as CEO in 2008, VMware’s shares have more than doubled and its $34bn market value is now only topped (among software companies) by the three corporate giants mentioned in the beginning.

Knowing your competition is key and like Maritz says, history shows us that it is often the company you don’t know about that emerges and wins. Having been trained by and now competing against some of the best in the industry, ambition isn’t an option- it’s a given.

Having read about “cloud computing” as well as worked for companies using the technology I certainly see the attraction. If VMware can withhold its market position, it needs to tackle the issue of scale (which is always going to be an issue when competing with the likes of Microsoft). Maritz is cleverly approaching this through allies with large telecoms groups, thus creating a “public cloud”.

As this market is rather consolidated VMware is a breeze of fresh air. Driven by strong management with an ambitious strategy, developing new innovative technology driving the world of corporate IT forward and making healthy profits – I can’t see any reason not to BUY VMW, and unless current conditions change, HOLD with a long-term view.

Source: www.inhabitat.com

My next post will be on multi-story artificial farming (imagine skyscrapers growing vegetables instead of housing boardrooms and bankers) which I will be commenting on in Blue skies for the tomato skyscraper? Trust me, if you haven’t heard of this before; stay tuned for what could be a real life version of a cross between The Matrix and Jack and the beanstalk…