Hybrid cloud data management firm Nutanix has appointed Tarkan Maner as chief commercial officer, where he will lead Nutanix’s global business development and corporate development efforts, with a focus on strategic partnerships, alliances, system integrators and service providers.
The company now generates the majority of its sales from software and services, which is a far cry from when it gained quick traction for its hyperconverged infrastucture (HCI) appliances a few years ago.
Maner’s responsibilities will include leading hybrid cloud-focused strategy and product teams around Nutanix’s core virtualisation platform AHV, software-defined networking and hybrid cloud services Xi Frame, Era, Xi Leap and Xi Partner Network.
Nutanix recently announced new data centre sites in both Germany and Italy, to widen availability and reduce latency of the disaster recovery service it launched a year ago in the US, the UK and Japan.
The expansion of the Xi Leap disaster recovery as-a-service offering was a key announcement at the firm’s annual .NEXT customer and partner event in Copenhagen last month. Disaster recovery is seen by Nutanix as a potentially lucrative business as it increases its technology offerings in the hybrid cloud arena.
Xi Leap was the first service of the Nutanix Xi Cloud Services stack initially launched from data centres located in San Francisco and North Virginia. The company also has an agreement with Google to run services from the search giant’s data centres in Europe.
Maner brings more than 25 years of experience as an executive at disruptive technology companies in the IT infrastructure space. Most recently, he served as chairman and CEO at Nexenta Systems, leading the organisation from its open-source focus through to its acquisition by DataDirect Networks (DDN) in May 2019.
Prior to Nexenta, he was the president and CEO at Wyse Technology, one of the virtual desktop computing pioneers acquired by Dell in 2012. He has also held executive roles at Dell, CA Technologies, IBM and Sterling Software.
“Nutanix’s DNA is rooted in disruptive innovation on behalf of its customers. I am delighted to partner with the executive team to accelerate Nutanix’s position as a leader in enterprise cloud computing,” said Maner. “Nutanix has accomplished so much over the past ten years, but there’s so much potential to go even further. I am excited to charge ahead and play a critical role in helping realise Nutanix’s vision of making computing invisible, anywhere.”
“Tarkan brings an entrepreneurial mindset and an acute awareness of the computing landscape to lead Nutanix in its second decade,” said Dheeraj Pandey, chairman, founder and CEO at Nutanix. “His authentic leadership style, a clear bias for action and a broad industry network have helped him create high-energy companies.
“Given his deep sense of commitment to company-building, I look forward to this new partnership to build Nutanix into a hybrid cloud powerhouse.”
Nutanix recently appointed Dom Poloniecki as general manager for its Western Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa region. Poloniecki is overseeing all sales and customer delivery activities within his region, after joining the firm folllowing a 17-year career at IBM – latterly as vice president of cloud software.
