In this exclusive interview with CRN , Daryush Ashjari, CTO & VP – Solutions Engineering – APJ, Nutanix, shares insights into the evolving technology landscape across the APJ region. The discussion delves into how hybrid multicloud, AI, and edge computing are transforming IT operations and enabling enterprises to drive innovation with simplicity. Highlighting key trends such as the rise of generative AI, the criticality of data sovereignty, and the increasing adoption of automation, the CTO emphasises the importance of addressing complexity while delivering scalable, secure, and sustainable solutions. With a focus on meeting the diverse needs of SMBs and enterprises, the interview explores how partnerships with hyperscalers and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies are shaping the future of IT, ensuring businesses stay agile and competitive.
What are some of the major technology trends that you are seeing across the landscape?
The major technology trends revolve around building modern applications. In the past, applications were built using proprietary software and a three-tier architecture designed to last three to five years. Now, with the rise of open-source Kubernetes platforms, customers have innovative ways to create modern applications. This shift has led to a quiet but rapid revolution in modernising infrastructure to support these applications. Additionally, the growth of AI and generative AI has become a major trend, with these technologies driving diverse and impactful use cases at an accelerated pace.
As the APJ CTO of Nutanix, how do you see the hybrid multicloud model evolving in this region, and what role does Nutanix play in helping enterprises seamlessly integrate their on-premises and cloud environments?
The hybrid multicloud model is evolving toward providing a seamless and unified technical stack across environments like on-premises, the edge, private cloud, and public cloud. Nutanix plays a critical role by delivering one platform with a consistent control plane across these locations, ensuring uniformity in management interfaces and operational simplicity. With Nutanix’s solutions, organisations can deploy applications and manage data effortlessly across environments without requiring significant modifications or operational overhead. Partnerships, such as the one we have with AWS, further enhance application portability, making the transition to cloud environments smooth and efficient.
Given the rising emphasis on data sovereignty and compliance across APJ markets, how is Nutanix addressing these challenges to ensure secure and efficient data management for its customers?
Data sovereignty and compliance are key priorities for Nutanix across APJ. The company’s solutions ensure secure and efficient data management through enterprise-grade storage and compute capabilities. For instance, Nutanix leverages AI-powered ransomware protection, which detects unusual behaviour at both the network and storage layers. If a breach occurs, the system quickly rolls back to a secure snapshot, minimising disruptions. Additionally, Nutanix’s Data Lens technology offers advanced tools for data visibility, compliance tracking, and anomaly detection, giving customers a robust defense against security and regulatory risks.
Edge computing is becoming a critical area of focus for many organisations. How is Nutanix helping businesses leverage edge infrastructure while maintaining simplicity and scalability?
Nutanix makes edge computing scalable and manageable through its modular, building-block approach. Compact and efficient nodes integrate compute, network, and storage functionalities, allowing organisations to deploy infrastructure even in small or remote locations without specialised IT resources. With Nutanix, businesses can oversee and manage the edge, their datacenter, and cloud environments from a single console, simplifying operations and offering unmatched scalability. This approach helps organisations maintain agility while growing their edge capabilities.
AI and automation are transforming IT operations. What innovations or solutions from Nutanix are helping IT teams across the APJ region enhance operational efficiency and reduce complexity?
We leverage AI and automation to streamline IT operations and reduce complexity. Our automation tools handle repetitive tasks, such as resource allocation, ensuring optimal performance without downtime or overprovisioning. AI capabilities allow customers to deploy trained language models and applications across environments—on-premises, at the edge, or in the cloud. The Nutanix Enterprise AI platform is optimised for high-performance AI workloads, offering compatibility with major software providers and ensuring that enterprises can easily adopt AI-driven solutions.
With APJ being a diverse market in terms of maturity and adoption, how does Nutanix tailor its strategies to address the unique needs of SMBs and large enterprises in the region?
We tailor our solutions to meet the needs of both SMBs and large organisations. For SMBs, our modular architecture provides cost-effective and scalable solutions that grow with them. For larger oganisations and enterprises, Nutanix focuses on delivering robust hybrid and multicloud solutions that seamlessly integrate with complex IT infrastructures. This flexibility allows businesses of all sizes to leverage Nutanix’s offerings according to their specific requirements, ensuring high performance, scalability, and reliability across diverse markets.
What are Nutanix’s major focus areas over the next couple of years, especially in addressing customers’ current challenges?
We are committed to helping customers modernise their infrastructure and applications while maintaining flexibility. Over the next few years, we have focused on innovations in hybrid cloud, edge computing, and AI to address the evolving demands of enterprises. Strengthening partnerships with hyperscalers and software providers will remain a priority to ensure seamless integration. Additionally, Nutanix is investing in enhancing its operational simplicity, scalability, and customer-centric solutions to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
How do Nutanix’s partnerships with hyperscalers and software providers create value for its customers?
Our partnerships with hyperscalers like AWS and software providers ensure that customers have a seamless and interoperable experience across different environments. These collaborations allow Nutanix to deliver hybrid multicloud solutions that enable effortless application migration, consistent operational management, and better resource utilisation. By integrating its platform with hyperscalers, Nutanix empowers customers to transition workloads to the cloud with minimal modifications. This approach not only accelerates cloud adoption but also ensures that customers can leverage the best of both on-premises and cloud environments.
What role does Nutanix play in helping customers accelerate their AI and generative AI journeys?
We position ourselves as helping provide the infrastructure of choice for AI and generative AI initiatives. Our solutions provide high-performance environments for deploying and running AI workloads, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge. The Nutanix Enterprise AI platform simplifies AI adoption by offering compatibility with leading AI software vendors and ensuring that enterprises can seamlessly manage their AI workloads. By integrating AI capabilities with its core platform, Nutanix ensures that customers can unlock the full potential of AI while maintaining operational simplicity and efficiency.
