Robin Matlock, VMware | VMworld 2019
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 26/08/2019

Robin Matlock, CMO of VMware, sits down with John Furrier & Dave Vellante at VMworld 2019 in San Francisco, CA.

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 https://siliconangle.com/2019/09/03/from-compute-to-kubernetes-vmware-brings-virtualization-into-the-multicloud-future-vmworld-womenintech/

From compute to Kubernetes, VMware brings virtualization into the multicloud future

While naysayers predict the rise of container technologies will bring doom and gloom for virtualization companies, VMware Inc. appears to be embracing the dragon. Strong earnings, a slew of recent acquisitions and a committed partner ecosystem show how VMware is aiming to build a bridge between the data center and the cloud.

“Our vision is delivering any application on any cloud consumed by any device, all with security intrinsically built in the fabric,” said Robin Matlock (pictured), chief marketing officer of VMware Inc.

Matlock spoke with Dave Vellante and John Furrier, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the VMworld event in San Francisco. They discussed how Matlock is steering VMware’s marketing strategy as the company brings new acquisitions and new technologies into the fold (see the full interview with transcript here).

This week, theCUBE spotlights Robin Matlock in its Women in Tech feature.

Marketing focus leads to VMware exec role
After receiving a degree in economics from Rice University in Houston, Texas, Matlock entered the corporate world and worked her way up the marketing ladder. Over a decade of experience in marketing management for technology security firms, including Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc., culminated in her appointment as vice president of corporate marketing at VMware.

Matlock was promoted to VMware’s chief marketing office in 2013, and she is instrumental in aligning the company’s marketing strategy to the game plan provided by Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger.

“Pat’s leadership [sets] that foundation for the company,” Matlock said. “My job as a marketer is to help find the way to articulate that in a way that’s consumable and people understand.”

New acquisitions bring brand challenges
Two decades ago, VMware led the commercial virtualization of x86 architecture with the release of Workstation 1.0. The Workstation Pro is still on the company’s product list, but it is eclipsed by new products aimed at the multicloud market, such as the Tanzu portfolio that cements Kubernetes as the core of the company’s platform.

Fueling the fire of innovation at VMware are a host of new acquisitions and mergers (14 in the past 20 months), with application management, containerization, and multicloud specialists such as Heptio Inc, Bitnami Inc. and Pivotal Software Inc. dominating the list.

Acquiring a new company is one challenge, but merging its marketing messages into the VMware strategy is another. As CMO, it falls to Matlock to blend each new arrival seamlessly into the VMware fold. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, according to Matlock.

“Any time you’re doing a lot of mergers and acquisitions, you definitely have to think very strategically about integration,” she stated. “Sometimes you want to integrate fully right away, and sometimes you want to let an acquired company be standalone for a little while.”

The key is maintaining a consistent message: “I think it’s very important that the market sees one VMware, one vision and strategy,” Matlock said.

While the company’s products and solutions have evolved, its core commitment to simplify information technology has stayed the same, according to Matlock.

“All of these moves, year after year, are just validating and supporting the delivery of that vision to our customers” Matlock said. “I think the big moves this year are no different, whether it’s Tanzu for Kubernetes, whether it’s the Carbon Black [Inc.] acquisition idea, whether it’s Pivotal; these are just steps along a journey that’s going to deliver on our vision.”

As important as the company’s technological vision for its customers is VMware’s reputation as a responsible global citizen. There are no trade-offs between shareholder profit and environmental impact at VMware. Nor does profit come above fair treatment of employees, according to Matlock.

“It is about shareholder value, but it’s about tech as a force for good. We’re passionate about that, and ultimately we put customers at the center of our thinking, of our decisions, of our behaviors. And I think that ultimately keeps rewarding us,” Matlock said.

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