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Meet NPX 001 – Josh Odgers

July 1, 2015

  • Name: Josh Odgers
  • NPX Number: 001
  • Employer: Nutanix
  • Blog URL: http://www.joshodgers.com
  • Twitter: @josh_odgers
  • Virtualisation background: Working with VMware as a focus since ~2006
  • Storage Background: Shared storage experience with a wide range of technologies from EMC, Netapp, IBM, HP since early 2000s with a more NAS focus since 2010.
  • Hyper Converged Infrastructure background: Started working with Nutanix mid 2013 prior to which I investigated specifically Nutanix HCI and quickly formed the opinion that HCI would quickly become a significant part of the virtualization/storage market and Nutanix would be a great place to take the next step up and continue to challenge myself.
  • Future of HCI and other emerging technologies: Without a doubt, HCI should and will be a major percentage of the storage market in the coming years. The trend is already clear with major players such as EMC,Netapp and VMware following Nutanix lead with HCI offerings as well as numerous small start-ups entering the market.
  • Value of NPX: NPX is proof of “X” level skills across multiple platform types (e.g.: SAN/NAS/HCI), Hypervisors (ESXi,KVM,Hyper-V) and the associated management tool sets. Even if I didn’t work for or partner with Nutanix, the NPX is an excellent challenge for any senior / consulting architect. While NPX does require knowledge of Nutanix platform, its everything around the platform (e.g.: Applications/Network/Datacenter etc) which still need expert level guidance to ensure a consistent and high quality outcome for the customer – this is what NPX is all about.
  • What made you go for NPX: The main driver for me starting on a journey to achieve an “X” level certification such as VCDX and now NPX is to obtain more knowledge/experience. Being a Double-VCDX was great preparation for NPX where I added not only improved my VMware/Nutanix skills but also added another equally as important skill-set being KVM/Acropolis. I am of the opinion regardless of if anyone like’s it or not, the days of vSphere dominating the market are coming to a close and skills outside of VMware products is becoming increasingly more critical for customers.
  • Advise to people looking into the NPX track: Anyone who is currently VCDX or aspires to be VCDX is a great candidate, even if your day to day focus is not Nutanix, the skills and experience you will learn will help ensure your skill-set is well rounded covering traditional 3-tier and multiple hypervisors/management solutions.
  • Other: The last thing I wanted to say is there has been questions by a small minority about why a certification like NPX is relevant when Nutanix dramatically simplified the datacenter. The answer is simple, NPX is about the total solution, not just one component (i.e.: vSphere or NDFS). Nutanix does not create Operating Systems like Windows/Linux, Nutanix creates invisible infrastructure which supports things like Hypervisors,VMs,applications and containers. Without skill sets in dependencies such as Network as well as Hypervisors, VMs, Applications and management tools, the Nutanix platforms value will not be maximized. NPX is about ensuring candidates have the skills/abilities to minimize risk and maximize value for customers, regardless of the application, hypervisor etc.

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