VMware Sets Sights on Virtualization Infrastructure Space

Earlier in the series, we saw how VMware’s (VMW) new offering—Cross-Cloud architecture, a bundle of its existing offerings—is expected to ease the cloud migration process. As you can see in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant below, VMware and Microsoft (MSFT) were named leaders in the x86 server virtualization infrastructure space.

This year marks the seventh consecutive year that VMware was recognized as a leader in this space. Oracle (ORCL) and Citrix Systems (CTXS) were recognized as niche players, while Red Hat (RHT) made it as a visionary.

According to Gartner, “Virtualization (in the form of VMs and containers) is a fundamental enabler to IaaS, and it will be used to establish private cloud services, public cloud services and interoperable hybrid cloud services. Effectively, all IaaS offerings will rely on VMs or container technology.”

Earlier in the series, we looked at the double-digit growth expected in the public cloud space. A significant chunk of this growth is projected to come from IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) or cloud infrastructure services. According to Gartner, IaaS is expected to increase 38.4% in 2016.

According to Statista, spending on public cloud IaaS hardware and software is expected to increase at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of ~16.4%, from $38 billion in 2016 to $173 billion in 2026. This anticipated growth is attracting leading technology players such as Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) and thwarting smaller players’ presence in the space.

For more on this, please read How Did Rackspace’s Growth in the Public Cloud Space Contribute to Its Sale?

Since VMware is a leader in the virtualization software space, it’s expected to benefit from rapid growth in the cloud IaaS space.