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Senior Advisor PH Facility, IT Consultant at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
Reseller
Oct 24, 2023
Simplifies orchestration, reduces cost, and offers excellent visualization
Pros and Cons
  • "The simplicity when it comes to building your own automation has been excellent."
  • "Nutanix can be a bit complex to understand."

What is our primary use case?

We implemented the solution as a reseller for non-critical DBS. Initially, we used it with an Oracle database. For the big customers, we moved forward into automation netting a transformation from the whole stack. We had full automation also for service management operations.

How has it helped my organization?

We managed a critical DB where different agents have to interoperate to make it easy for the technicians who are not skilled in IT. With Nutanix, we are able to arrange a fully automatic state that provides only a simple web interface for the technicians. Then we build the system, that integrates all the information automatically without the need for data entry. It helps us make a low code integration without developing much more software which is easier than what we had to do in the past.

What is most valuable?

We've had a really amazing experience since my organization was able to really, really simplify all orchestration. I'm talking about automation and a precision hybrid cloud. The visualization is excellent. We do not just see the small tip of the iceberg above the water - we see the whole iceberg. 

The simplicity when it comes to building your own automation has been excellent. They provided us with professional services and we were able to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to make automation ourselves. We started from a few workloads and from there we were able to automate a lot in order to reduce total cost.

NCI provides us with a single platform to manage your databases. It is quite difficult to start as you have to know the new logic. You have to understand the environment, to take a deep dive into the different functionality. However, once you have acquired the knowledge, it becomes really easy to move fast and go forward with automation. There’s also very helpful service management.

We started with non-critical DBs and then we transformed our full stack Oracle IDs and IDs based on MongoDB and SQL and other DBs moving across different applications.

NCI's features helped us to reduce downtime. The native solution that we are managing, was in a full redundancy. It was a resilient solution that was provided by Nutanix. 

Nutanix is a software appliance. We have to work with Nutanix to arrange up to the hardware and test for network and security, and then for server storage.

NCI helped our organization consolidate its applications. They make the operation easy for people. People don’t have to be specialized. This is a good advantage.

We built a DB as a Service for a particular telecommunication application to share mobile and WiFi into the server environment. Then, we applied the integrated storage provided by Nutanix to visualize all of the information for the private cellular device. We’ve automatically improved security by moving into an environment where we are able to apply logical security insights to the platform to make decisions and check product information. We use Nutanix to make a container where we can put a cloud and a single person can check to make sure the data is compliant with the data policy of the enterprise. They are brilliant in sales operations and resilience. 

What needs improvement?

The cost is a pain point.

Nutanix can be a bit complex to understand. There need to be more technicians that can be more specialized and work more closely with the final customer. There needs to be people with more technical skills with Nutanix in the market from countries that aren't just the US and UK.

Sometimes there are language barriers that are hard to overcome.

Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)
February 2026
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
883,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. In two years, we've had no issues - only drive and hardware issues, not software issues. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We store the data across four regions for Google Cloud, two regions for our telco cloud, and three regions for our private cloud. We're dealing with eight terabytes of data. 

It's easy to upgrade Nutanix. However, it doesn't start out as easy. If you have complexity, you must be cautious.

It's easy to add storage on demand. 

The solution is extremely scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support does a good job of supporting Nutanix's cloud infrastructure.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also used VMware. It was useful in a consolidation environment. However, Nutanix gives us a boost when it comes to IPaaS convergence.

How was the initial setup?

We've used multiple deployment models. We start with a private cloud and then move to a public cloud. We can make a hybrid solution for final customers. 

I've been involved in implementations as a consultant and also at approval levels.

The initial setup is really complex. However, we expected the complexity. It was clear at the outset that it would be so. However, we started with the right team and took the right steps. While it was complex, there were no surprises. 

We started with non-critical DBs and moved to more critical DBs from there. Critical data stayed with Oracle. The rest was moved and we've moved 60% of the workload so far. We expect to end at the end of 2024.

The solution does require maintenance. We have four people from Nutanix and 12 integrators, then 20 internal people all handling maintenance. 

What was our ROI?

We have witnessed an ROI when using Nutanix. We've seen a total reduced cost of 30%. If you really apply the rules and build your own architecture using their guidelines, you will achieve even more. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing is flexible and agile. If you are looking for a small workload, the solution is expensive. However, if you are in a transformation program, they can get you a good deal. They have professional services at the same price level as Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, et cetera. 

What other advice do I have?

I have been a customer and a reseller. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I would advise others to apply Nutanix to your program for transformation. Nitanix makes transformation easy.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Manager IT at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Oct 15, 2023
Cloud-based, easy for beginners, and has responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "It allows us to have a cloud-based ecosystem."
  • "The reporting feature isn't very good."

What is our primary use case?

We are primarily using it for software development. 

We use the Nutanix Kubernetes cluster.

What is most valuable?

We like that it is cloud-based. It allows us to have a cloud-based ecosystem.

It's helped us reduce downtime by 50% approximately. It helps us consolidate our applications. It reduces processing time and administration. We can move faster. We don't have to wait for hours to process. We can do it in a few clicks. 

We were able to eliminate some of our legacy structures. We were using VMware. We are working to move away from it. We also are in the process of migrating other applications over. 

The provisioning is very easy. The live upgrades are useful. There is no need for downtime. It's very easy to manage things. We can reduce a lot of time with infrastructure upgrades.

It's easier to use for beginners.

What needs improvement?

I only started using the solution a few months ago. So far, I've found error reporting needs work. The reporting feature isn't very good. Sometimes it takes time for data to be reflected in the dashboard.

We'd like to have more Kubernetes information in the dashboard. That kind of dashboard would help.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for a month.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's not difficult to add compute or storage on demand. 

We have around 500 people using the solution.

The solution scales well.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is responsive.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used VMware. We didn't use a previous cloud solution.

How was the initial setup?

We use all of the major cloud providers. Everyone is moving more towards cloud-based solutions and away from VMware and legacy infrastructure. 

I deployed the solution. It only takes a few minutes to implement. Setting up a cluster may take half a day. 

The solution does not require much maintenance. There might be hardware maintenance.

It's easy to upgrade. We can easily enable updates or do a manual upload via a single click.

What about the implementation team?

We didn't need any assistance in terms of handling the setup. They will support you if you need help.

What was our ROI?

We have not witnessed an ROI as of yet. There has been a lot of time savings, however. It's faster and less time-consuming from an administration point of view. We can do things in minutes instead of hours or days.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Nutanix is less expensive than VMware, for example. It's economical for a mid-range organization. It's very customer-friendly in terms of support as well. They offer pretty good loyalty to their existing customers. 

The solution is set up as a subscription model. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated VMware solutions. It was very expensive compared to Nutanix. Nutanix features are better. We're paying less for more features and functionality.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution. 

Compared to a standard SAN solution, its performance is better and it is more feature-rich. Their hypervisor and cloud system is better. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Google
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Shubham Chauhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Shubham ChauhanWorks at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
User

We’ve been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for software development with Kubernetes for about a month. The cloud-based ecosystem helps reduce downtime by 50%, streamlining application consolidation and processing. Provisioning and live upgrades are easy, and it’s beginner-friendly. However, error reporting and dashboard data reflection need improvement, and we’d like more Kubernetes info in the dashboard. While it’s more cost-effective than VMware, we haven't yet seen ROI, but there are significant time savings. The solution scales well and is easy to manage with minimal maintenance. Overall, I’d rate it 8/10 due to its good features, but improvements in reporting are needed.

Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)
February 2026
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
883,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sisir Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at a recreational facilities/services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jul 28, 2023
Scales easily, helps with consolidation, and enables us to clone a VM
Pros and Cons
  • "A lot of features are there, but for us, on the server administration side, creating a clone of the VM is valuable because many times, we have to deploy security patches. For deploying these patches, it helps to have a clone so that if something goes wrong, we can discard that VM and put back the clone VM. That is a very cool feature."
  • "Usually, there are separate administration teams that take care of servers, but in our organization, servers are usually looked after by the application owner. However, the application owners cannot reinstall the software, OS, and other things. That only aligns with the role of the HCI administrator. If these rights can be provided, it will be very easy."

What is our primary use case?

We have a lot of servers. Previously, they used to be physical servers. Managing all those physical servers was difficult. Many times hardware used to fail and there was a disruption of services. After we moved to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, life got a lot easier. We have deployed more than 80 VMs in a cluster.

We have many homegrown applications that we run on Nutanix. We have a customized web portal and applications. They are customized for our business.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix NCI’s features help our organization reduce downtime. We use RA3 stuff in our clusters. If there is any issue with the hardware, node, or something else, my cluster is up and running. Over these three years, we have probably upgraded the Nutanix software twice or thrice. We had to restart nodes multiple times during this upgrade, and none of our users felt that something was going on. They did not have any issues related to slow response or no response from the applications while we had to shut down one of the nodes, put it into maintenance, apply the patches, bring the node up, and then make it join the cluster. It was smooth.

It has helped with consolidation. Previously, we had more than 40 servers, and now we have only 6 nodes. It is a lot easier to manage these 6 nodes. With the hardware, if something goes wrong, such as the hard disk showing amber, I have to create a ticket, share the logs, and then the engineer will come and check. After that, the part will come. It can come at 2 AM or 4 AM. We have to be physically present. They will shut down the server, take out that hard disk, and replace the hard disk, and then we will have to bring up the service. We have to spend a lot of time.

They have a product for database management called Nutanix Era, but we do not use that. We have not deployed it over here. We primarily use this HCI for making VMs and running web applications and their databases. We have migrated database services but not through the Nutanix Era. We have our own system, so we used that. The purpose of migration was to have a single pane of glass for management. The downtime is less, and the service becomes a smooth service. The users who are using the service are happy.

What is most valuable?

A lot of features are there, but for us, on the server administration side, creating a clone of the VM is valuable because many times, we have to deploy security patches. For deploying these patches, it helps to have a clone so that if something goes wrong, we can discard that VM and put back the clone VM. That is a very cool feature.

What needs improvement?

Usually, there are separate administration teams that take care of servers, but in our organization, servers are usually looked after by the application owner. However, the application owners cannot reinstall the software, OS, and other things. That only aligns with the role of the HCI administrator. If these rights can be provided, it will be very easy. Previously, it was there, but after certain updates, we found that they have withdrawn those services. For example, you requested a VM, and based on the business use case, I approved it and gave you a bare-metal server. Now you are the owner of that particular VM, so whatever you need, you should be able to do over there, but currently, you have to request me for the installation of the OS that you need, and I have to do it. It is an overhead for the HCI administrator. If that can be offloaded to the VM owners, that will be much easier for us. I have already shared this feedback with Nutanix.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. Its reliability is very good. In the last three to four years, we have not faced any outages. It is smooth on the hardware side and the software side.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We first thought of deploying about 40 VMs, and now, we are running more than 80 VMs, so a lot of scalability options are there. If you have a smooth augmentation, all the capabilities are there. 

We have plans to use our present data center for DR. We will build a new DC, and we will be deploying another set of Nutanix clusters over there. 

How are customer service and support?

Their support is very good. Whenever we found any issue, we raised a ticket, and there was always an expert who had discussions with us and helped us. If required, they do a remote session and help us out. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not worked with any similar solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

In terms of the deployment model, we have an on-prem cloud. In terms of the initial setup, the Nutanix team took care of building the clusters. For such a solution, we create a service request, and they set up the entire cluster. After the cluster is ready, they hand it over to us for creating VMs and migrating applications to those VMs.

Its maintenance is easy. You can do it with a few clicks. There are interfaces, and you need to do checks for those interfaces. You need to look for the long-term support version and follow the procedure. Overall, it is smooth.

What about the implementation team?

For the deployment and initial setup, there is usually one person from Nutanix. From the hardware vendor team, there are usually one or two people, and then there are two people from our side. One is from the software side, and one is from the network side for IP allocations and other related things.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated VMware, but at that time, VMware was not mature, and it was not within our requirements. That was the reason why we chose this solution. Another reason was that our technical evaluation team found Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to be more suitable for our architecture.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Sudheer Narayanan - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Technology at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Jun 27, 2023
Ability to seamlessly transition with click of a button means we have no downtime
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives us a single dashboard to control multiple sites and multiple zones. It helps to do things on a single platform and data sharing is quite easy. The network and the security are easy to manage."
  • "I would like to see more Kubernetes and container-related workflows and multiple cloud-partner management. I would also like to see how they will synergize all these AI/ML functionalities that are available on other platforms."

How has it helped my organization?

Any single server or one-plus-one server is very difficult to manage if there is hardware failure. But with this solution, the transition is seamless because a 10-plus-one redundancy is built into the system.

With the click of a button, we can migrate the services to other servers. We have never had any downtime and we are a 24/7 operation. Production has continued,

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure also helps us to optimize power utilization and the rack space used in the data center, resulting in overall energy savings.

These were immediate advantages because, eight to 10 years back, this was a new technology. We tried it with our less critical operations, and we slowly introduced more production-critical workloads.

Also, we were using Active Directory and other SQL databases on individual servers. We were able to consolidate them into a single database. That helps with ease of operations and enables taking backups from a single place. We migrated all our standard database structures and we don't need a cluster mechanism because the cluster or failover mechanism is built into the Nutanix architecture.

What is most valuable?

It gives us a single dashboard to control multiple sites and multiple zones. It helps to do things on a single platform and data sharing is quite easy. The network and the security are easy to manage.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see more Kubernetes and container-related workflows and multiple cloud-partner management. I would also like to see how they will synergize all these AI/ML functionalities that are available on other platforms. We need to see those intelligent functionalities included.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) for almost eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's quite stable. We have never had any downtime.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For any on-prem or hybrid solution, it is highly scalable and easy to manage. We expect to increase our usage of NCI.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used VMware which was helpful for a lot of things, but in terms of the scalability, the main thing was the central storage architecture. That became a bottleneck. Scaling up the storage was a little difficult. When it came to usability and ease of management, we decided to go with Nutanix.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment was straightforward. It took less than a week, including doing the application migration. It was quite easy to create an image of the existing bare-metal infrastructure and migrate that image to the new solution. We always did it on a weekend or during a window of downtime at night.

We have it deployed in a single data center and we have under 100 users.

There is minimal maintenance. Upgrading is quite easy. Adding compute or storage on demand is also quite easy because we get a compute-only node or a storage-only node and add the nodes to meet requests for the CPU or storage requirements. These tasks are managed by the IT infrastructure team.

What about the implementation team?

We used a reseller, and we had four or five people involved from IT and database administration.

What was our ROI?

The primary objective was to reduce downtime. That means we can't assess ROI  in terms of monetary value. It is more an issue of reliability.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is slightly more expensive compared to a standard, on-prem, bare-metal configuration. There is about a 30 percent overhead there. That is the pricing in the Indian scenario.

The single dashboard is an additional cost option.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

VMware is the only competition I can think of.

A standard SAN solution is quite fast in terms of storage, if you size it well, but the main challenge with a SAN solution will be scaling up. If it's not sized and planned well, it will be a big challenge and we would need to invest huge money in the SAN architecture.

What other advice do I have?

It is quite comprehensive, all the toolsets are available, so there aren't many limitations. If you are looking for hybrid or on-prem virtualization, Nutanix is the preferred choice. The things that stand out are the scalability and ease of use. For a CIO, what is relevant is how scalable and reliable the solution is.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2237616 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jul 26, 2023
Can help reduce downtime, and offers a valuable administration console and automation
Pros and Cons
  • "The administration console, automation, and the first cluster are all valuable features."
  • "Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure lacks compatibility with certain older processors."

What is our primary use case?

Our customer is utilizing Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for a significant project involving VDI and servers.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure runs on an SQL server. Customers utilize it as a private server. However, it cannot be considered a true cloud service since it operates on virtual infrastructure without provisioning orchestration.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure provides a unified platform for managing databases. We used this platform to install numerous virtual machines, including SEBD, and never encountered any issues.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has helped reduce downtime.

We have migrated various services into Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for our clients.

What is most valuable?

The administration console, automation, and the first cluster are all valuable features.

What needs improvement?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure lacks compatibility with certain older processors. When a customer purchases five or six nodes and two or three of them intend to buy two additional nodes, there can be compatibility issues with the hardware configuration.

The price is high and has room for improvement.

The maintenance can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is stable.

How are customer service and support?

Based on my customers' feedback, the technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, and the deployment is quick, taking only a few days to complete.

What was our ROI?

All of our clients are satisfied with the returns from Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I give Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure an eight out of ten.

Upgrading is easy but modifications can be difficult. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Prasath Ravindrarajah - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Consultant
Jun 20, 2023
Offers a user-friendly unified platform for managing our databases, but the functionality has room for improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability, performance, and licensing model are the most valuable features."
  • "The licensing cost could be lower."

What is our primary use case?

We utilize Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for customers who intend to replace their VMware environment infrastructure.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers a user-friendly unified platform for managing our databases. Prism Central enables us to oversee multiple systems through a single interface, making it convenient for administrators to learn.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's clustering features aid in minimizing downtime by incorporating redundancy factors, such as the capacity to accommodate a certain number of node failures.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has helped improve our customers' organizations by reducing the cost of ownership in cases where a customer does not want to depend on a VMware environment due to having non-VMware environments that are not supported.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has helped our clients consolidate their applications by migrating from VMware to their platform, which is beneficial. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of nodes. The consolidation is important for our clients because it is a part of their expansion roadmap.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure offers a variety of cloud operating models across on-premises environments, which are important for our customers because they reduce their CapEx costs.

What is most valuable?

The scalability, performance, and licensing model are the most valuable features.

What needs improvement?

Although Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is adding features that can enhance the solution, there is still room for improvement in terms of functionality. 

The licensing cost could be lower.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is easy. To scale, we just need to add the node and expand our cluster.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Our customers previously used VMware but switched to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure because they desired to consolidate their environment.

What was our ROI?

Our customers experience a return on investment by consolidating their server storage networks and benefiting from increased performance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The overall cost depends on the contract of each customer and the discounts they have, but the price for the three-tier architecture can be slightly lower.

The license cost increases based on the log capacity.

What other advice do I have?

I give Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure a seven out of ten.

The reason our customers choose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is that the total cost of ownership is lower compared to implementing a traditional three-tier architecture.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is deployed in one primary location and is easy to maintain.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is a viable alternative to VMware. If the price is suitable for an organization, they can consider implementing this solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer2183754 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Systems Administrator II at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
May 28, 2023
Provides the flexibility to move VMs easily, but the LTS version needs to be more reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's most valuable feature is the flexibility to move the VMs easily, keeping everything together."
  • "Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's LTS version needs to be more reliable."

What is our primary use case?

We use Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for SQL Server, VDI, general workload, and remote sites.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure allowed us to run our BDI a lot more efficiently, and the SQL servers worked up pretty well.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is running all of my business-critical workloads. In my area of the world, we'd have our test dev running on there as well, but we have our core applications that are critical to our operations 24/7 that are running on the solution

What is most valuable?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's most valuable feature is the flexibility to move the VMs easily, keeping everything together. They really help with the administration side of things. Rather than having a bunch of admins, only a few admins really need to work on it.

What needs improvement?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's LTS version needs to be more reliable. I've run into too many issues where I've found the bug, and it caused a lot of grief. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure should do more testing on its LTS version and get that straightened out.

Performance-wise, there is an upper limit on the number of nodes that Prism Element and Prism Central can handle. My two Prism Centrals are scaled for huge workloads, but I struggled with them for a better part of five or six months, where they were timing out on my admins and throwing random errors. The same thing was happening with Prism Element in our larger clusters.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) for about ten years.

How are customer service and support?

In the beginning, Nutanix support was top-of-the-line. When I had a problem, I would call them and get a knowledgeable engineer. As of late, it's been a bit of a challenge. I understand that Nutanix is going through some onboarding issues, and it takes a long time to get support people onboard and then get them trained in different situations they will encounter. I think Nutanix does not have enough support staff to care for all its customers.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We still have some VMware floating around, but it's considerably smaller. I used VMware when it was just VMware hosts, and I could throw that on top of Windows and have VMs.

We switched from VMware to NCI because we wanted to get rid of the three-tier solution. On top of that, our hardware was aging, and we didn't want to increase it. So we just started shrinking it down, and now the old hardware is going to end. We only have around 16 to 17 nodes of VMware left, but everything else is Nutanix.

What about the implementation team?

I was not initially involved in the initial setup or deployment of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. It was handled by some admins overseas. However, after those initial VDI clusters, I got more involved with Nutanix and I did the conversions from VMware to Nutanix.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure's core licensing needs to have an upper limit since processors are coming out with incredible numbers of cores on them.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I wasn't involved with the original comparison for VDI, but I do recall that solutions like VMware and vSAN were reviewed.

What other advice do I have?

We struggle with software licensing. Everybody's charging by the core. The larger nodes I put in, the more dense I can go, but my licensing costs are still going out.

I really like the whole LCM process in Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. The whole one-click isn't true. If I go into LCM, do an inventory, and then say patch everything, it will ultimately fail. However, it still works out all right, and we can patch the firmware, drivers, AOS, and all the nodes and do a rolling patch.

When considering NCI, the big thing is considering your entire infrastructure because you go from different vendors and different hardware to handling storage and computing. I think what Nutanix and NCI offer is far better than VMware and Red Hat.

We haven't used much on the security side with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. NCI being pre-hardened helps me a lot because that keeps the security team off my back. We do the encryption but don't use the micro-segmentation because that falls to our security team and their firewalls

I have run into problems with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, where I have an overabundance of one aspect of the infrastructure and then come up slightly short on another aspect. For example, somebody throws out a server and needs 20 terabytes of space. I buy nodes to fulfill that, but now I'm sitting there with a whole bunch of extra computing. I've tried using just the storage blocks, and I'll never do it again because it's just a waste of licensing.

Overall, I rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) a six out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
IT Operations at a engineering company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jan 25, 2023
Integration with multiple cloud providers gives us flexibility and complete geographical redundancy and saves costs
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the RBAC, role-based access control, and the reporting. NCI also provides a single platform, a single pane with a dashboard, to manage the entire infrastructure. We have complete information about overall utilization, performance, and a forecast for our platform in that single pane."
  • "It already has the capability to integrate with the major cloud providers but, in an upcoming release, if there is a possibility to have it integrate with other cloud providers like IBM, Alibaba, and other moderate-level cloud providers, that would be good."

What is our primary use case?

We have multiple clusters in different, on-premises as well as cloud-based data centers where we are running multiple applications, including database and SAP. They are managed with the Nutanix Prism centralized platform. 

Our other use case is that we have Office 365 applications hosted and those clusters are being utilized for database and Outlook replication, in which the information from those clusters is replicated for backup to storage devices that are dispersed across different data centers.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has helped to improve our organization by reducing cost and complexity, and giving us more visibility. It has helped with the continuous integration and continuous development approach, and through its compatibility with the major cloud service providers.

Because NCI has hybrid cloud capabilities, we can integrate it with multiple cloud providers and that means we have complete geographical redundancy. There has not been any downtime and, with the help of containers running our platforms, we haven't faced any critical challenges. Since the deployment, we have not faced any type of SLA agreement-related issue or any type of situation where we lost revenues.

When it comes to reducing downtime, the most impactful features are the automated self-healing and recovery of the hosted applications. If a particular host is having some type of critical issue, a physical problem, a high-level process issue, or any type of high CPU utilization, there is an automatic internal alert and the self-healing and recovery automatically place the application on a new host. The user does not face any challenges, latency, or downtime.

The solution also has very robust security features, like integration with third-party authentication platforms and role-based access controls with different access levels. These are key features that help reduce operational challenges. We have complete visibility into which users we go with for administrative abilities and which users have certain types of role-based access privileges. These are very robust capabilities.

It has also helped us with application consolidation and that is very important in terms of reducing the cost, by having those applications on a single platform. Once we deployed NCI, moved key portions to it, and were completely satisfied that everything was working per our requirements, we decommissioned most of our legacy systems.

We eliminated our on-premises host and clusters because they cost a lot in the consumption of space and overall maintenance of the infrastructure. Compared to the cloud, hosting and managing applications requires more team members for operations, implementation, and field engineers. By working with those platforms in Cloud Infrastructure, we have seen a lot of cost optimization.

In addition, with the ability to accomplish most of the important day-to-day operational tasks automatically, we have gotten rid of manual tasks and require less human effort. On a daily basis, without NCI, the team was utilizing three to four hours on those day-to-day operations, handling the applications and platforms that were hosted on-premises. With those things hosted in Cloud Infrastructure, they need just 60 minutes. So we have saved about 75 percent of that time.

Overall, the primary benefits are that it simplifies operations and we have less human error with more automation. And there are robust security features, integrated with third-party security and monitoring tools. With the help of a complete and robust platform, we are going to achieve the best product.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the RBAC, role-based access control, and the reporting.

NCI also provides a single platform, a single pane with a dashboard, to manage the entire infrastructure. We have complete information about overall utilization, performance, and a forecast for our platform in that single pane.

NCI has also definitely improved our efficiency with better visibility into our operations, better reporting facilities, and a single-pane dashboard where we can place different types of widgets to help us look at the key aspects, per our operational requirements. It has extensive capabilities to integrate the alert-based system with third-party monitoring tools. As a result, we haven't seen challenges due to the teams not being able to see particular alerts and those alerts being missed. If that were to happen it would cause a loss in productivity or some type of financial loss. We haven't faced those types of challenges at all.

And because NCI has the capability to host any type of application and any vendor's solution or platform, and it integrates with most of the major providers, that makes this platform quite flexible and easy to use.

Another very important feature is that it offers a variety of cloud operating models across on-premises, edge, as well as multiple hosted, managed, and public clouds. As an organization, our intention, most of the time, is to go with the different cloud providers to reduce costs. When we are in the evolution phase or when we are into the renewal phase and looking for those vendors that are providing more benefits in terms of cost optimization and more add-on features, if Nutanix expands its portfolio into multiple clouds, that is beneficial to our organization and to other organizations.

What needs improvement?

It already has the capability to integrate with the major cloud providers but, in an upcoming release, if there is a possibility to have it integrate with other cloud providers like IBM, Alibaba, and other moderate-level cloud providers, that would be good.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) for the last two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have never faced any downtime or operational issues that we have had to escalate to the vendor, whether it be about challenges that we are facing and we need an upgrade, or there is a vulnerability or bug that needs to be fixed. Everything is currently running, everything is optimized.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling it is a very easy and straightforward process. We need to place some requests and go into the licensing portal to increase license costs. Everything is on the portal, making it quite easy. Most things are done on a graphical user interface. There are no challenges at all.

We plan to increase our usage of NCI in the future because we do have remaining data centers and some applications that are still in the on-premises model. Going forward, once the budget gets approved and allocated, we are going to go with a similar type of deployment in those locations as well.

How are customer service and support?

Nutanix technical support is available 24/7/365, and we have never faced any challenges with it. Whatever problems we face, we immediately get a resolution. So far, there haven't been critical events or issues. We have only had moderate or high-level incidents that were fixed by the Nutanix technical support team very quickly and effectively.

Their technical support is excellent.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before NCI, we were directly using one of the standard cloud-vendor solutions. But the cost was quite high. Once we went with Cloud Infrastructure and started using it, we saved 20 to 25 percent on annual costs.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment was very straightforward because everything was set up and clearly set out in a non-production environment. We tested every parameter before starting the implementation in the actual production environment.

From the time of deployment to when we put on the full load and mixed the full utilization of the infrastructure, it took approximately three months. Overall, the deployment took five to six months.

Including design, implementation, operations, and licensing, we had a total of 20 resources involved.

NCI requires regular maintenance. We need to check for upcoming versions and patches. It's very easy to upgrade, once we get complete information. Adding compute, storage on demand, and scaling are very easy, step-by-step processes. There is documentation and there are case studies and a lot of templates. We have 10 people involved in its maintenance. They have different types of technical capabilities and are well-trained with complete knowledge and certification to implement, operate, optimize, troubleshoot, and monitor the complete Nutanix platform.

What about the implementation team?

We work directly with the vendor.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI is very robust. Whatever we are putting in, in terms of CapEx, we are getting back twice in terms of OpEx.

It has reduced our total cost of operations by helping us move more towards automation, as well as through the single-pane dashboard and giving us an integrated solution where we can host multiple types of applications and platforms on a single platform, thereby reducing the complexity, cost, and overall administration. Our savings would be $700,000 to $800,000 yearly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is very competitive when compared with other vendors. As long as Nutanix goes forward with the same price and same type of offering, it will definitely have a large number of customers adopting the same solution very soon.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

During the selection phase, we went with a couple of important, key vendors that have a similar type of solution and we did a test PoC demonstration. After looking into all the parameters and our requirements, and having done the PoCs and demonstration, and looking at the platforms in a lab for a couple of weeks, we finally selected Nutanix.

The primary difference was the cost. The cost of NCI was quite competitive. Another issue was scalability. We can scale it in a fraction of the time. The third point was the integration with third-party solutions. And the fourth important point was the automation. Nowadays, everyone is looking to automate tasks as a key factor in reducing human efforts and technical staff.

What other advice do I have?

The single platform is moderately easy to use; not easy and not that difficult. It requires a little bit of understanding because it is not the type of platform where a non-technical person can just start working with it. Some preliminary training or hands-on work would be required to understand the overall workflow.

The advice I would give to enterprise organizations that are looking to deploy a cloud-based infrastructure model is to go ahead and select Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure because it is a single-vendor solution. It has the capability to host a wide range of applications and platforms without any issues. Scaling it is quite easy and there are a lot of features that simplify operations and administration and reduce our overall costs.

The biggest lesson I have learned by using NCI is that it is a platform that helps us reduce costs and simplify operations.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.