SearchStorage.com published a short blog article saying that Paul Maritz, the CEO that replaced Diane Greene on July 8, called the NetApp CEO, Dan Warmenhoven, on the phone the same day he was appointed.
During the call Maritz reaffirmed the relationship with NetApp and took some steps to further strengthen it.
Maybe this is a typical procedure for the new CEO of a key company like VMware, but this call was specially important: while VMware continues to operate as a totally independent company from its parent EMC, it’s clear that the storage competitors see the VMware-EMC relationship as a growing menace.
Because she founded and managed the company much before the EMC acquisition (and because her relationship with Joe Tucci was not exactly idyllic), the former CEO Diane Greene was a sort of guarantee that VMware would not facilitate its parent company.
Without Greene the risk that EMC competitors are penalized seems more concrete.
Maritz wanted to clarify as soon as possible that this is not the case and certainly he called also all the other vendors around VMware.