VergeIO, which makes a single-codebase infrastructure operating system for virtualization, storage, networking, and AI, and positions itself as a VMware replacement, has partnered with Cirrus Data Solutions and its software-only data mobility technology. The goal is to help enterprises eliminate infrastructure sprawl, which is that costly mix of multiple hypervisors, duplicate tools, and isolated stacks, that has crept into data centres.
So where does this sprawl come from? It has accelerated as organizations juggle VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, OpenStack, and public cloud IaaS. The result is higher licensing spend, fragmented operations, and slow recovery. VergeIO and Cirrus Data address both sides of the problem – a universal migration path that keeps production online and a unifying destination that consolidates platforms into one operating model.
“The integration with us is the big news,” said George Crump, Chief Marketing Officer at Verge.io. “We have done a lot of work to get seamless integration of the same products, to the point where we can move the entire infrastructure, not just VergeOS. What we have is a joint offering. Once we poke our heads up, we found that our software is robust enough it can handle either small edge deployments, or scale up to a large enterprise with hundreds of nodes.”
Cirrus Data delivers zero downtime migrations for clustered applications. Its software-only solution can migrate from nearly any hypervisor, including VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM), Proxmox, OpenStack, and others, in addition to the public cloud IaaS. Organizations can now automate the move of heterogeneous estates on schedule and without disruption.
VergeOS, on the other hand, replaces stacked products with a single operating system covering virtualization, storage, networking, and AI. Per-server licensing, hardware portability, and deep abstraction extend hardware life and simplify operations across core, edge, ROBO (remote office/branch office), and Venues.
“VergeIO, and the product, which is VergeOS, is in the VMware replacement business,” Crump stated, noting that in a recent demonstration, they migrated over 100 VMware VMs to VergeOS in less than five seconds. “We have a very good VMware Migration business. And as people migrate off VMware, they look at the rest of their estate, companies like Nutanix and Scale, and the broader issue of repatriating workloads out of the cloud.”
Crump said that VergeIO did something very differently, but which was very important.
“We have one code base – a single piece of code that does all the functions,” he stated. “It is a slower path to market, but we have already done that. In particular, we focused hard on the CSP market for enterprise, where our customers go up against the big three integrators. That’s where Cirrus comes in, although it’s not as seamless a market transition as we would like.”
“Consolidation isn’t a one-off,” said Wayne Lam, CEO of Cirrus Data. “Our data mobility solutions give organizations an easy, automated way to securely migrate every acquisition or new business unit to VergeOS quickly, regardless of the starting platform. With Cirrus Data and VergeIO, organizations can prevent sprawl from returning and keep operations streamlined.”
According to analysis highlighted in VergeIO’s new white paper and solution brief, enterprises that consolidate into VergeOS with Cirrus Data can reduce three-year total cost of ownership by 50%+, achieve 12–18 month payback, and gain a platform ready for private AI without standing up separate clusters.
“VergeOS replaces stacked products with a single operating system covering virtualization, storage, networking and AI,” Crump noted. “To my knowledge, I think we are the only ones with this single code base. This single piece of software makes it very simple, and all from a single piece of code. It’s very seamless.”
The partnership came from Cirrus talking to VergeIO.
“They reached out to us,” Crump said. “We had a customer using them for something else, a customer that was transitioning to us. We did some investigative work. That’s how we got connected.”
Crump also indicated that their immediate opportunity, since they are 100% channel, is converting customers as fast as they can.
“VMware makes people upset,” he said. “That’s the first phase, the largest and the most significant. The key takeaway for the channel is VMware existing is the simplest sales pitch ever. The second phase is infrastructure being more holistic – which leads to a complete consolidation on other hypervisiors. The third is a complete private and AI pipeline, where they can deploy a file server as a service, and allow an AI service to be consumed by end users. There is a heavy concentration right now in that first phase.
VMware remains the biggest competitor in the space for Verge.IO.
“The next biggest is likely Nutanix and then there are tons in the infrastructure software space, like Scale Computing and StorMagic,” Crump said. “Customers are asking for this, especially in the midsize where partners play and they will run into situation with more solutions available. This gives them another point of differentiation with the opportunity to improve infrastructure, and positions them better as a trusted advisor. It’s just a hypervisor swap.
“The margins are also really good,” he concluded.