Should Citrix Buy Nutanix in Response to Dell Buying Quest?

Now that Dell acquired Quest and is already touting the idea of an end-to-end, single-throat-to-choke desktop virtualization solution, does it make sense for Citrix to respond by acquiring Nutanix? Citrix is already in the hardware business with NetScaler and Branch Repeater, so the concept is not foreign to the company at all, and the Nutanix appliance would fit perfectly in Citrix's line of business solutions such as VDI-in-a-Box and XenDesktop.

Desktop virtualization has seen slow adoption primarily because of costs -- that have admittedly come down -- and while I am seeing an incredible uptick in desktop virtualization projects in the enterprise, cost remains a deciding factor followed very closely by complexity. If Citrix were to buy Nutanix, it would instantly have a better,  more simplified solution than the Dell approach (i.e., "Let's bundle everything we have and sell it") which removes the complexity of ordering the solution while preserving and creating new and even more complex technical support challenges within the same organizations.

While that is one scenario, some analysts have taken it further and have cryptically hinted that the Dell acquisition could be a catalyst for HP buying Citrix, and for Cisco buying EMC and VMware -- which are anything but new ideas. I personally think it takes a stretch of the imagination to think that just because Dell bought Quest we'd see this seismic shift in the IT landscape. Citrix acquiring Nutanix is more than an adequate response that would be well-measured.

Now, of course, Citrix could simply ignore the whole thing and continue building good solutions. I firmly believe that a turnkey hardware appliance solution would be a great value-add and a significant differentiator for Citrix. I would have speculated that VMware might buy Nutanix but Citrix is more likely since it is in the hardware business already. I am certain, however, that if Citrix bought Nutanix then Cisco-VMware would build a VMware View hardware appliance to counter -- as a matter of fact, I would not be surprised at all to see that happening.

What are your thoughts? Would you be interested in buying a software/hardware version of Citrix or VMware in a box?

Posted by Elias Khnaser on 07/11/2012 at 12:49 PM