While significant changes are anticipated for VMware, Inc. with the adjustments resulting from the Dell-EMC merger, the EMC subsidiary is doing its part to retain focus on its products and service offerings, with emphasis on new cross-cloud capabilities serving as the driving point.

With the first day of this year’s VMworld U.S. conference underway, John Furrier (@furrier) and Stu Miniman (@stu), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, sat down after the opening General Session at VMworld 2016 to discuss what they saw as some of the key points addressed in the initial presentations, as well as the important aspects left unmentioned.

Changes and constants

With the shifts in VMware’s market position, both Furrier and Miniman were looking to the increasing share of cloud-based workloads as a major means for VMware to continue distinguishing itself.

“When I talk to customers and when I talk to channel providers … how [they are] going to live in this multi-cloud world [is a main focus],” Miniman said. “For me, it’s that transition of the channel providers to [those] that get it.”

This understanding of the possibilities offered by cross-cloud operability will aid those companies looking to get the most out of VMware’s potential on that front, but both Furrier and Miniman were also careful to note VMware’s relatively precarious position in the market.

“I think [VMware] sees a clear line of sight on what their plan is,” Furrier said. “VMware’s going after that operational insight.”

Partners in new fields

For Miniman, VMware might be rushing into new avenues that  have traditionally been handled by its partners, and he saw this as a possible turn-off to those partners, something that might prompt them to look elsewhere.

“VMware wants to own a lot of pieces and control it,” he stated, noting that the questions of “Who’s going to be making money? Who are the key partners going to be?” are something that VMware should consider quite seriously.

“There’s that transition between ‘who brought us money; who brought us to market’ to ‘the new ways,’” Miniman said, feeling that VMware’s offerings have to be “much more than just that hypervisor layer.”

Growth and future

To Furrier, another big question surrounds “what the future of the software-defined data-center looks like,” with the role of IoT and its ecosystems serving as still another considerable influence on VMware’s future.

In Miniman’s analysis, speed of adoption will be the key point on which VMware needs to focus, regardless of how strong its product capabilities are.

“If VMware can’t get their product set up-market fast enough, their [offerings] could become irrelevant,” he said, while acknowledging that while the IBM partnership with VMware is a strong start, it needs to grow relations with other major companies quickly enough to keep a foothold in the market.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the VMworld 2016 US.

Photo by SiliconANGLE