In an exclusive VMblog interview, StorMagic's recently appointed Chief Growth Officer, Sue Odle, discusses how the company is positioning itself as a key alternative for organizations impacted by Broadcom's acquisition of VMware.

Having joined StorMagic in mid-2024, Odle outlines the company's strategic response to market disruption, including their entry into the full-stack hyperconverged market and the December release of SvHCI 2.0. As VMware's 500,000+ existing customers face changes in licensing structures and partner programs, StorMagic emerges as a notable solution provider, offering the ability to replace VMware on existing hardware with as few as two nodes for high availability. The timing of these developments coincides with StorMagic's recent recognition in Gartner's Market Guide for Edge Computing, highlighting their focus on delivering cost-effective, enterprise-grade solutions that could save customers up to 62% on software compared to VMware alternatives.

VMblog:  Congratulations on your recent appointment to Chief Growth Officer at StorMagic! What are your plans for your role in the coming year?

Sue Odle:  I joined StorMagic in mid-2024 and it has been an exciting time to join the team, marked by its entry into the full-stack hyperconverged market in June and the recent release of SvHCI 2.0 in December. I look forward to continuing to apply my experience in cross-functional tech company leadership roles to help capitalize on the opportunity now presented by Broadcom's acquisition of VMware. 

2025 is all about executing on our growth strategy in the mid to enterprise market segments, while building up the supporting go-to-market team. I am driven to create programs and processes that deliver real value to new customers while deepening relationships with existing customers.

VMblog:  Following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, what new opportunities do you see for companies in the tech sector? 

Odle:  As we all predicted, this acquisition has created significant disruption, resulting in changes to the structure and cost of licenses for their 500,000+ existing customers, and the closure of VMware's partner program. This has caused significant stress to many people in IT who were focused on innovation to drive growth in their businesses and have had to instead pivot to damage control.  

The market disruption caused by Broadcom has driven up the demand for alternative hypervisors exponentially. There are a plethora of VMware alternatives available for customers and partners unwilling to settle for what Broadcom has offered them. StorMagic holds unique value because we can replace VMware on existing hardware on as few as two nodes for high availability. This matters significantly from a TCO perspective, especially if you are in the middle of a hardware lease cycle.

StorMagic was recently recognized as one of nine vendors within Gartner's Market Guide for Edge Computing. Our solutions are proven deployed on VMware, SvSAN, and as alternatives to VMware, SvHCI. As a company we're dedicated to solving the world's edge data problems simply, reliably and cost-effectively, without sacrificing enterprise-grade features or 24x7 support. Our severity one incident rate, indicative of critical issues that have a high impact and must be addressed immediately, in the last two years is 0.03%. With the release of SvHCI, we're continuing to develop solutions customers trust StorMagic to deliver. The most cost-effective HCI solution for the edge, saving customers up to 62% on software alone compared to VMware alternatives.

VMblog:  How can StorMagic help SMBs that were impacted by the acquisition?

Odle:  Broadcom's bundling of VMware's product line, and their focus on larger customers, makes sense from a business standpoint. But that doesn't mean that it's not hurting the many SMBs and enterprise edge accounts that make up a good portion of their customer base. The problem with this lies in the fact that these customers don't want to be locked in to overprovisioning and many can't afford it. 

Many VMware customers are taking their time to evaluate alternatives to make strategic decisions that will serve them long-term. For SMBs, having to upgrade entire fleets to shift virtualization platforms is not a budgetary option. Simplicity, reliability and cost are factors that will continue to drive decision-making at the edge. StorMagic is focused on helping organizations during this time by future-proofing and meeting customers where they're at with a purpose-built solution at the edge.

VMblog:  It's exciting to see that StorMagic just released a big update - can you fill us in on what SvHCI 2.0 is all about?

Odle:  Founded on StorMagic's SvSAN product, SvHCI introduces new capabilities that make it even easier for customers to manage their HCI infrastructure and keep applications running, all at the lowest possible cost.

The key new features in SvHCI 2.0 include:

• VM Snapshots - The ability to take snapshots of all VMs, roll-back software updates and point-in-time records, enabling advanced data protection.
• Edge Control Monitoring and Management - This enterprise-scale fleet management capability now offers centralized, cloud-based access to all SvHCI systems, and allows users to control hundreds or thousands of remote edge sites.
• VM Import - Customers can quickly, reliably and affordably migrate VMware VMs to StorMagic SvHCI, while significantly reducing time to production.
• With the New Year on the horizon, what are your top predictions for the channel in 2025? 

Most notably, Broadcom's acquisition of VMware will continue to cause upheaval in 2025 for customers and channel partners alike. Customers may renew their VMware contracts for 1 year to evaluate strategic decisions in the long term, others may have 4-5 year hardware refresh cycles that impact decision-making. No matter the timeline, in 2025 and beyond, customers and channel partners will be analyzing options and committing to  a long-term strategy to address the market shifts from Broadcom. 

In addition, margins around x86 servers continue to tighten, and we foresee potential buyouts and mergers among manufacturers. The server vendor market will undergo significant consolidation in 2025, driven by shrinking margins and the financial struggles of companies like SuperMicro. This trend will reshape competitive dynamics and lead to fewer, more dominant players in the market.

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