Virtual infrastructure is changing the way IT and data centers operate. Why buy and configure boxes when you can do it all in software? This has sparked an industry in virtualized deployments, leading to new solutions for software-defined infrastructure. One of the companies in that space is Nutanix Inc., which has recently expanded and delivered a successful IPO. (To learn more about Nutanix and IPOs, check out “Finally, Silicon Valley’s dog days are over: Here come the IPOs.”)

To get details on the evolution of Nutanix, Stu Miniman (@stu), co-host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, spoke with Jason Langone, director of OEM Sales at Nutanix, during the Nutanix 2016 .NEXT Europe conference in Vienna, Austria.

From grit to OEM

The discussion started with Langone recounting how Nutanix started. The thing that hits him most is the grit, the determination of a young, scrappy company and how most of that grit still remains. He mentioned that for Nutanix to be successful, it has to keep that sense of scrappiness.

It helps that its OEM work is starting young. He spoke about how they were still trying to figure out the OEM business. The company had early wins in healthcare, but with its OEM partners, now Nutanix can get into some new places.

VDI and the Internet of Things

Nutanix got its foot in the door with VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure, and expanded from there. Langone described how he was grateful for the company’s early successes with VDI, but the company also realized it needed to mature enough to handle all the other enterprise workloads.

Langone said that people at Nutanix have built their own brand, and it’s acted as a rallying point for partners. When speaking about the Internet of Things, Langone was firmly on the side of matching context to data.

“What’s creating the context? The context is created because almost everything in our life is connected,” he said.

*Disclosure: Nutanix Inc. and other companies sponsor some Nutanix 2016 .NEXT Europe segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Nutanix nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

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

Photo by SiliconANGLE