{"id":640343,"date":"2013-01-28T18:46:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T23:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=605152"},"modified":"2013-01-28T18:46:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T23:46:49","slug":"vmware-sharpens-its-focus-and-its-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/640343","title":{"rendered":"VMware sharpens its focus \u2014 and its knife"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>VMware&#8217;s future is all about hybrid cloud, software-defined data center and end-user computing, and not so much about other things in its portfolio which will be &#8220;de-emphasized&#8221; this coming year, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger told analysts on the company&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/vmware-reports-record-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2012-results-2013-01-28\">fourth quarter earnings call<\/a>\u00a0Monday night.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2010\/10\/12\/oct-12-what-were-reading-about-infrastructure\/vmware-logo\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-168753\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"vmware-logo\" src=\"http:\/\/gigaomcloud.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/10\/vmware-logo.jpg?w=300&#038;h=114\" width=\"300\" height=\"114\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-168753\" \/><\/a>&#8220;I&#8217;ve learned the importance of prioritization and execution,&#8221; \u00a0said Gelsinger, an Intel and EMC veteran executive who came aboard as VMware CEO five months ago.\u00a0&#8221;We will focus first on a portfolio rationalization around the products our customers care most about. Our decision to \u00a0commit our cloud application efforts to Pivotal is an example. And we will realign resources as we scale back in some areas,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/12\/04\/and-whomp-here-it-is-the-pivotal-initiative-brought-to-you-by-vmware-and-emc\/\">Pivotal Initiative<\/a>, a spin off of VMware and EMC that will provide cloud and big data applications will draw on VMware&#8217;s Cloud Foundry platform as a service, vFabric Java framework, and <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/04\/24\/vmware-buys-big-data-startup-cetas\/\">Cetas<\/a>\u00a0big data resources as well as Greenplum analytics and Pivotal Labs agile development expertise from EMC.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"key-to-vmware-focus-focus-focu\">Key to VMware: Focus, focus, focus<\/h2>\n<p>Gelsinger did not name areas that will be subject to cutbacks, but CFO Jonathan Chadwick said\u00a0Sliderocket\u00a0will be sidelined. VMware bought \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2011\/04\/26\/vmware-buys-sliderocket-in-a-race-to-provide-collaboration-2\/\">SlideRocket<\/a>\u00a0and its\u00a0slide presentation software in 2011. It was seen as a complement to the <a href=\"http:\/\/paidcontent.org\/2010\/05\/11\/419-yahoos-net-proceeds-from-sale-of-zimbra-100-million\/?like=1\">Zimbra productivity software<\/a>\u00a0purchased earlier from Yahoo. Depending on how VMware defines end user computing &#8212; my guess is it means desktop virtualization rather than desktop apps &#8212; I&#8217;d expect more cuts in this area.<\/p>\n<p>The company will also cut 900 jobs. &#8220;VMware added 6,700 people over three years and we&#8217;ll continue to grow, invest and hire in support of our focus areas,&#8221; Gelsinger said. &#8220;We expect to close fiscal 2013 up 1,000 people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There was no information given about the Pivotal Initiative spin out but Gelsinger promised more discussion of that will come at a March 13 at VMware EMC Strategy Summit in New York.<\/p>\n<p>As for earnings, for its fourth quarter, VMware logged a\u00a0profit of $206 million, or 47 cents per share, up from $200 million, or 46 cents per share, for the year-ago period. \u00a0Revenue grew 22 percent year-over-year to $1.29 billion with adjusted net income at 81 cents a share, beating estimates of 78 cents \u00a0per share on revenue of $1.28 billion.<\/p>\n<p>More to the point though was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2013-01-28\/vmware-sales-forecast-misses-estimates-as-demand-slumps.html\">low guidance for the upcoming quarter.<\/a> VMware expects first quarter revenue to come in between\u00a0$1.17 billion to $1.19 billion, short of \u00a0consensus estimates of $1.25 billion and that spooked investors who drove the price down in extended hours trading.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"moving-on-from-server-virtuali\">Moving on from server virtualization<\/h2>\n<p>VMware is at a crossroads. It continues to lead the market in server virtualization but faces increasing competition there from Microsoft Hyper-V, and open-source Xen and KVM alternatives there. So it&#8217;s changing the conversation to network virtualization which is a key underpinning of the aforementioned software-defined data center. VMware is counting on its <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/07\/23\/vmware-to-buy-nicira-for-1-26b-in-a-strategic-leap-of-faith\/\">$1.26 billion buyout of Nicira <\/a>to give it a leg up in that network virtualization quest.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&#038;blog=14960843&#038;%23038;post=605152&#038;%23038;subd=gigaom2&#038;%23038;ref=&#038;%23038;feed=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=738500\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=738500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img width='1' height='1' src='http:\/\/gigaom.feedsportal.com\/c\/34996\/f\/646446\/s\/27fe13b2\/mf.gif' border='0'\/><\/p>\n<div class='mf-viral'>\n<table border='0'>\n<tr>\n<td valign='middle'><a href=\"http:\/\/share.feedsportal.com\/viral\/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&#038;title=VMware+sharpens+its+focus+%E2%80%94+and+its+knife&#038;link=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2013%2F01%2F28%2Fvmware-sharpens-its-focus-and-its-knife%2F\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/res3.feedsportal.com\/images\/emailthis2.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td valign='middle'><a href=\"http:\/\/res.feedsportal.com\/viral\/bookmark.cfm?title=VMware+sharpens+its+focus+%E2%80%94+and+its+knife&#038;link=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2013%2F01%2F28%2Fvmware-sharpens-its-focus-and-its-knife%2F\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/res3.feedsportal.com\/images\/bookmark.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/da.feedsportal.com\/r\/151884954616\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/27fe13b2\/a2.htm\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/da.feedsportal.com\/r\/151884954616\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/27fe13b2\/a2.img\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/pi.feedsportal.com\/r\/151884954616\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/27fe13b2\/a2t.img\" border=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/OmMalik?a=PmO7CPLbwbU:rvmSNvTht5I:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/OmMalik?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/OmMalik\/~4\/PmO7CPLbwbU\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VMware&#8217;s future is all about hybrid cloud, software-defined data center and end-user computing, and not so much about other things in its portfolio which will be &#8220;de-emphasized&#8221; this coming year, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger told analysts on the company&#8217;s fourth quarter earnings call\u00a0Monday night. &#8220;I&#8217;ve learned the importance of prioritization and execution,&#8221; \u00a0said Gelsinger, an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}