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Meet NPX Program Manager – Mark Brunstad

I’m very excited that the Nutanix Platform Expert (NPX) Program manager Mark Brunstad had some time to share his thoughts about the NPX program. The questions for Mark will obviously not be the exact same once as for the NPXs but i think you’ll find some really good, interesting and valuable information in this interview.

  • Name: Mark Brunstad
  • Employer: Nutanix
  • Blog URL: http://tinyurl.com/pryut4l
  • Twitter: @markbrunstad
  • Job background: I have been at Nutanix for just over a year now. Before joining Nutanix it was VMware for 10 years. I began as a Technical Instructor and Course Developer and finished as the VCDX Program Manager. Prior to VMware I spent 10 years at Hill Associates, a telecommunications consulting company, focusing on networking and telephone switching systems. Early in my career I worked for an advertising agency on Madison Avenue where I was a Graphic Designer and Art Director.
  • Job role: Manager nu.school at Nutanix. I’m the designer of the NPX Program and responsible for developing technical training and certification programs.
  • Future of HCI and other emerging technologies: Everything is going to end up running software-defined on HCI. The spread of virtualization has been a catalyst for so much change in the last decade. Now the economics of Public Cloud and SaaS are driving businesses to try and match public cloud scalability and operating costs in their own datacenters. They want the control of private infrastructure and the scalability and economics of the cloud. The only way this can happen is with the rapid adoption of HCI.
  • Reason for putting together the NPX certification: Very simply – we want the best Enterprise Architects in the world to help us drive the HCI revolution. The NPX Program builds and vets world-class solution design and delivery skills with multiple hypervisors. The program’s graduates are the best of the best and they can tackle any project for any enterprise on the planet using the solution that’s right for the customer.
  • Value of NPX: As a customer, when you hire an NPX, you know you’re getting a superbly qualified Consultant and Enterprise Architect with peer-vetted solution design and delivery skills. The bar is set very high and it always will be. For an employer, an NPX is someone you can build your virtualization practice or CoE around knowing that the results will be industry-leading. For the individual, becoming an NPX gives you the stamp of approval from a program that demands excellence. The NPX community of superb technologists will be there to support your efforts and help you continue to grow your skills.
  • Advise to people looking into the NPX track: Go for it! NPX is hard but you will grow so much as a consultant, architect and technologist. The NPX community is growing and welcoming to everybody who wants to take on the challenge.
  • Other: email me directly if you have any questions npx@nutanix.com