When the chief executives of Microsoft Corp., Dell Technologies Inc. and VMware Inc. found themselves onstage together Monday in Las Vegas, it was not the first time their paths had crossed, despite many years of trading sharp elbows in the competitive tech world. Sometimes, the technology community really isn’t that large after all.

“I’ve known Satya for over 25 years,” Pat Gelsinger (pictured), VMware’s chief executive officer, said as he recalled his past history with Microsoft’s CEO. “When Michael Dell first came to Intel to meet Andy Grove to get microprocessors and start his business, I was there.”

Gelsinger spoke with John Furrier and Dave Vellante, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during Dell Technology World in Las Vegas. They discussed the difference between VMware’s deals with both Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft, the company’s approach toward acquisitions and future plans (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Reconciling after two decades

Monday’s announcement that VMware would bring its infrastructure management software to the Microsoft Azure cloud represented a new twist, given the competition that marked the two companies’ relationship for many years.

“I call it 20 years in the making,” said Gelsinger in his description of the newly formed agreement. “VMware and Microsoft had essentially been at odds with each other for two decades. We’re cooperating on cloud, we’re cooperating on client, and we’re cooperating on futures. That’s a pretty big statement.”

Complicating the move was VMware’s landmark hybrid cloud partnership with AWS, Microsoft’s primary rival in the public cloud market. However, there are differences in how VMware will deliver its hybrid services for customers of both public cloud providers, which Gelsinger took pains to clarify.

“VMware is offering a cloud service that I operate for customers that runs on Amazon,” Gelsinger explained. “Azure for VMware services are being delivered and supported by Microsoft.”

Despite being owned by Dell, VMware remained a public company in its own right after being acquired in 2015 as part of the merger with EMC. The company’s most recent earnings showed a 268% increase in earnings per share, and the firm has used some of its cash to make acquisitions, most notably VeloCloud Networks Inc. and Heptio Inc.

“The primary ways we use cash are stock buyback and mergers and acquisitions,” Gelsinger stated. “We’re good at this acquisition stuff.”

One of the benchmarks that VMware uses in determining whether to buy a company or not is culture.

“I meet with every CEO of our acquisitions,” Gelsinger said. “We’ve said no to a number of potential acquisitions over cultural issues.”

VMware’s CEO was reluctant to speak directly about future moves for his company, but he did offer one hint surrounding what might be coming down the line as the firm prepares for its own major conference in August. The company is taking a close look at developer involvement with containers.

“Some of the steps in the developer/container space are super important for us to really make some progress there,” Gelsinger said. “We’ll have some incremental cloud announcements as well.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Dell Tech World 2019. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell Technologies World. Neither the sponsors of select segments of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE