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VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger quashes departure rumours

Software-defined everything plan is leading to ever-deeper deals, says CEO

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger has quashed rumours he will depart the company once the EMC/Dell merger concludes.

The rumour was aired in a channel publication earlier this week, citing anonymous sources.

Now Gelsinger has quashed the rumours himself. Speaking at the Jefferies Technology Conference this week, an event recorded in this reg-walled audio, Gelsinger unloads at the 1:45 mark saying “I categorically deny it, EMC categorically denies it, and Dell categorically denies it, so there is absolutely no merit or substance to the rumour whatsoever.”

“My intention is to stay here and Michael's [Dell] intention is that I stay here yesterday.”

Gelsinger added that he was with Dell the man earlier this week at VMware's internal R&D conference when his PR team sent him a text about the report of his departure. Gelsinger said he showed his phone to Dell, asked him “Is there something I don't know and we got a laugh about it.”

Addressing concerns that Gelsinger also said that NSX daddy Martin Casado remains engaged with VMware on an indefinite consulting engagement, a factoid mentioned as rebuttal for the notion that Virtzilla's recent rash of executive departures has weakened the company. Gelsinger added that recent departures were a sign of execs reaching new stages in their lives, rather than tiring of VMware. Some have teenaged kids. Others have closed 100 quarters in a row at public companies and want new horizons. Gelsinger also said VMware's replacement executives are experienced and hungry: he doesn't feel his team is in any way diminished.

That optimism permeated Gelsinger's talk, during which he suggested VMware is in rude health as its software-defined data centre offerings are translating into deeper and broader engagements with customers. When punters buy in to VMware's vision, the resulting relationships are producing long-term support contracts that make VMware very, very hard to dislodge.

“I don't think they'll take us out for 30 years,” Gelsinger said. ®

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