Navigating the future of modern applications isn’t easy, but Nutanix Inc. is no stranger to adapting in a shifting enterprise landscape.

The cloud software platform made its mark on the enterprise world with hyperconverged infrastructure products but is now focusing on turning its cloud management tools into a unified platform.

Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami discusses Nutanix’s expanding partnership network.

“We’ve been through a lot of transitions,” Rajiv Ramaswami (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Nutanix. “A lot of it has been investing in the platform, investing in where tech is going, where customers are going. They’re going to be building modern applications; they’re going to be looking at AI. Being able to anticipate and build appropriately, I think that’s key to the survival of any tech company. We went from HCI for VDI to full platform and now to the future.”

Ramaswami spoke with theCUBE’s John Furrier and Bob Laliberte at Nutanix .NEXT in Washington, D.C., during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They explored Nutanix’s long-term growth strategy, including its evolving platform vision and the expanding network of strategic partnerships designed to support modern applications and AI workloads. (* Disclosure below.)

Meeting the needs of modern applications

Nutanix has kept up with the hottest trends in enterprise, namely artificial intelligence, by partnering with a wide range of companies. Ramaswami estimated that the number of ecosystem partners attending Nutanix’s annual event has increased from 25 to 86, and he emphasized that collaboration will enable Nutanix to adapt to changing times.

“We want to be the platform for companies to run applications and manage their data,” he said. “The specific set of applications are going to evolve. It used to be VM applications, now it’s cloud-native applications. Tomorrow, it’s going to be AI and AI influencing applications. We have to continue to evolve the platform as we go. The platform cannot be static. It evolves; the ecosystem around it evolves.”

Ramaswami sees opportunity in the uncertainty created by Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. Nutanix’s high-profile partnerships with AI powerhouses, such as Nvidia Corp., is certainly promising, but he looks forward to further progress.

“I like [poet] Robert Frost, and he’s got that poem about walking in the woods and he says, ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have miles to go before I sleep,’ and that’s exactly where we are,” Ramaswami said. “We have a lot more in front of us, and I think a lot to do and a lot that we can help our customers with. I’m looking forward to the next five years.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Nutanix .NEXT:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Nutanix .NEXT. Neither Nutanix Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE