Nutanix Inc. has gone and validated Cisco Systems Ltd.’s UCS C-Series servers to run its Enterprise Cloud Platform hyper-converged software. It means that Nutanix’s software can now run on three of the top four x86 server vendor’s platforms, with Dell Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd. being the other two.

“Deployment of Nutanix software on UCS C-Series hardware is fully supported by Nutanix’s global support and services teams throughout the entire IT lifecycle, including initial installation, infrastructure scaling and troubleshooting,” the company said in a blog post.

Unlike with Dell and Lenovo however, which have established original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements with Nutanix so it can run its software on their popular hyper-converged infrastructure hardware, the company has made no such deal with Cisco. Instead, Nutanix worked on its own to validate the Acropolis distributed file system and Prism interest for Cisco’s UCS systems.

Nutanix President Sudheesh Nair explained the reasoning behind Nutanix’s move in a blog post, saying that UCS has grown in popularity since its 2009 launch, and that his company was looking to tap into its “particularly loyal” customer base.

“These customers prefer to build upon their UCS server hardware with not just a software-defined infrastructure, but with a mature, highly proven Nutanix product that embodies the same type of innovation that UCS originally brought to the virtualized data center,” Nair explained. He added that because the company couldn’t nail down an OEM agreement with Cisco, it create “a new software-only approach specifically for UCS”.

As such, Nutanix has built a system that enables it to rapidly develop software changes in response to new UCS hardware updates, so its software never falls out of compatibility. The system is thought to be similar to what Cisco enables for third-parties via its Solution Partner Program.

Why did Nutanix go it alone?

Nutanix’s move is the latest blow in what is turning out to be a particularly fierce fight for dominance in the hyper-converged infrastructure (HPI) market, which analysts expect to grow rapidly in the coming years on the back of trends like cloud, data analysts, mobility and the Internet of Things. Hyper-converged infrastructure provides a way for companies to simplify their increasingly complex data centers and reduce costs, and the market, currently worth $2 billion a year, is set to grow to $5 billion a year by 2019, according to Gartner Inc.

For now, Nutanix and other upstart vendors like SimpliVity Corp. and Pivot3 are leading the way with their “pure-play” offerings, but legacy vendors like Cisco, EMC Corp., Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) and Dell Inc. are doing everything they can to catch up by growing out their own portfolios. That explains why Nutanix is so interested in signing up Cisco’s “particularly loyal” customers.

The problem for Nutanix is that the company has effectively found itself at war with Cisco following the collapse of acquisition talks between the two in summer 2015. The two firms were reportedly engaged in talks for several months, only for discussions to break down over price disagreements. Further negotiations on a reported partnership also broke down, and since then the two companies have been increasingly at odds with one another, with Cisco has pursuing its own HPI ambitions – which means encroaching on Nutanix territory – by creating its own HyperFlex solution, which comprises UCS and software-defined storage tech borrowed from SpringPath, a company Cisco has a large stake in.

As such it’s no surprise that Cisco distanced itself from Nutanix’s latest move, with one source reportedly telling CRN.com that Cisco is “in no way publicly supporting nor advertising the Nutanix capabilities.”

Given the friction between the two firms, there was probably no way Nutanix could’ve convinced Cisco to play nice, which meant the only option was to validate UCS off of its own back. Nutanix’s cheeky move seems to have caught Cisco by surprise, and the company now finds itself in a somewhat awkward position with one of its biggest rivals possessing a serious HyperFlex competitor that could also prove to be a real boon for one of its own core products.

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