The installation of new servers and ancillary hardware usually follows a five-year cycle in many enterprise data centers, although there is growing evidence that rapid change in information technology structures are causing cycle times to accelerate. VMware Inc. believes that 60 percent of its customers will be going through a server refresh by the end of 2019, and this is now driving a key part of its strategy, especially as it relates to the role of the virtual storage area network, or vSAN, in hyperconverged infrastructures.

“As they go through a server refresh, they adopt a hyperconverged infrastructure more and more,” said Chandra Dani (pictured, left), senior director of product marketing, storage and availability at VMware. “We want to ensure that our channel is well-equipped for this wave that is coming.”

Dani spoke about VMware’s strategic approach and other industry topics during a visit to theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio. She talked with host Lisa Martin (@LisaDaliMartin) and guest host John Troyer (@jtroyer) during the VMworld conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was joined by Mark Vaughn (pictured, right), director of the Strategic Technology Group at Presidio Inc., an information technology solutions provider. They discussed the market potential for vSAN, trends that channel partners are seeing and how hyperconvergence impacts the staffing model. (* Disclosure below.)

Market opportunity for vSAN

Data provided by VMware indicates that vSAN has approximately 10,000 customers and vSphere has 350,000. The company believes that this highlights an important market opportunity for the virtual storage area network.

“It’s a great time for vSAN right now,” Dani said. “We are not even four percent penetrated in our own install base.”

Channel partners, such as Presidio, are seeing a shift in the storage market toward a preference for cloud attributes, even when they are still maintaining an on-premises data center. The wide choice of customizable consumption models offered by vSAN, including build-it-yourself, Ready Nodes and appliance-based solutions are part of the reason for growing interest in vSAN and software-defined options.

“We’re beginning to really see the emphasis move from hardware to software,” Vaughn said. “What attracted [customers] to the cloud, they still want — even when they’re in an on-prem data center now.”

Interest in hyperconvergence is also being driven by the need to gain a competitive business edge, and chief information officers are having to adapt their own staffing to keep pace.

“It’s not just causing convergence of technologies; it’s causing convergence of people and skillsets and teams as well,” Dani said. “Hyperconvergence allows the entire organization to move fast.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of VMworld 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for VMworld 2017. Neither VMware Inc. nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE