VMware Appoints Former Gartner Analyst as Americas CTO

VMware (VMW) has appointed former Gartner (IT) research vice president Chris Wolf as its new chief technology officer for the Americas, just a few weeks after it named Ben Fathis as its CTO. 

Wolf made the announcement Jan. 27 in a blog post, offering his reason for making the career move. “I always thought that it would take the absolute perfect opportunity for me to leave Gartner,” he said, “and I strongly believe VMware has provided it.”

Wolf argued in his post that 15 years ago, “Most of the industry didn’t foresee that VMware would fundamentally reshape the enterprise data center like it has. If you look at the work that VMware has done with the software-defined data center (SDDC), it’s easy to see that industry skepticism is back.

“One could argue that the cloud era will also accelerate data center consolidation, and that’s true,” he said. “However, when you consider the vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS) and the massive vCloud service provider network, VMware is well-positioned to offer the most complete and customer-friendly hybrid cloud offering in the market.”

Additionally, VMware has understood the evolution of the modern workforce for years, he said, insisting its recent acquisition of AirWatch is an example of this understanding. “VMware has the essential ingredients to deliver a truly unified workspace environment.”

In his new role with Gartner, Wolf said he “will be continuing to do many of the things” he enjoyed doing at Gartner.

“I’ll be even more active in social media and community engagement, and I’ll be working closely with VMware customers across the Americas on their current and future cloud, mobile and virtualization strategies,” he said. “Unlike my role at Gartner, I’ll now have a direct conduit into VMware’s talented product teams to ensure that community needs are being met and often exceeded.

“You need a partner that wants to be there with you and share in your successes,” he continued. “I and my talented colleagues at VMware want to be that strategic partner.”

It’s an interesting move for Wolf, considering he criticized VMware last year for losing “its inner voice” on its journey to becoming a larger company.  

“If VMware wants to really get the SDDC to take off, it needs to rediscover its inner rebellious teenager – the one that got it to where it is in the first place,” he said.

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