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The Queen of Virtualization Steps Down

1:40 PM -- For years, we watched as Diane Greene developed and delivered a new paradigm in server virtualization. The industry watched as she built a darling of a startup and wrapped her personality around the technology and the company culture. VMware employees have been loyal and we believe attrition rates have been low over the past 10 years.

The investment in VMware by EMC a few years ago brought little change to the culture of VMware, and it enabled the vendor to continue delivering its market-making technology. One other thing the EMC investment did was move the company from startup darling to new heights as a corporation. VMwares startup days were quickly behind it.

After the IPO in 2007, Diane Greene and the VMware board of directors agreed to extend Diane’s employment contract by one year (one point is clear now, Diane was under employment contract subsequent to the EMC investment leading to IPO). Is it a surprise that Diane’s contract was not renewed? Not when one looks with hindsight and with some degree of foresight to what VMware can expect within the market it created.

Now that the freshly minted IPO shine is off the VMware apple, we see competitors working hard and taking small bites of market share while building mindshare with value added resellers (VARs) and end users.

I believe that EMC’s decision not to renew Diane Greene’s contract was an action taken with competitive foresight in mind.

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