Virtualization Storage Ledger 2026
Ledger
Virtualization Storage Ledger 2026
Nutanix AOS: Virtualization Storage Ledger 2026 Scorecard
AOS matches vSAN on data services and DR inside AHV, and since 2025 it also fronts external arrays, which is where most of its recent effort has gone.
Edition October 16, 20268 min read
Where Nutanix AOS put its effort, 2016 to 2026
Each square is one capability area in one year. The brighter it is, the more the area gained in the Virtualization Storage Ledger that year; 1, 2 and 3 mark that year's biggest pushes.
| ’16 | ’17 | ’18 | ’19 | ’20 | ’21 | ’22 | ’23 | ’24 | ’25 | ’26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data services core | 1 | ||||||||||
| Resilience and HA | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Performance and protocols | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Hypervisor integration | |||||||||||
| Scale and topology | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Data protection and DR | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| Security | 2 | ||||||||||
| Operations and automation | 2 | ||||||||||
| Hardware and deployment freedom | |||||||||||
| Kubernetes and containers | 1 | 1 | 1 |
no change+0.5+1+1.5 or moreScores out of 5 per area.
Biggest pushes overall: Kubernetes and containers (+3.5), Resilience and HA (+1), Performance and protocols (+1). Already strong in 2015: Data services core, Hypervisor integration, Operations and automation.
Top focus each year: 2017 Data services core; 2018 Resilience and HA; 2019 Kubernetes and containers; 2022 Kubernetes and containers; 2024 Kubernetes and containers; 2025 Resilience and HA; 2026 Performance and protocols. 4 of 11 years show no gain in any area.
Part of the Virtualization Storage Ledger (edition 2026-10-16). How the scores work: methodology.
Snapshot
- Type: product
- Owner: Nutanix, Inc. (public, Nasdaq NTNX, IPO 2016-09-30)
- Licence: Subscription per physical core inside Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (Starter, Pro, Ultimate; one to five year terms); Nutanix Unified Storage per usable TiB; synchronous replication and Metro need Ultimate or the Advanced Replication add-on; Community Edition at no cost for learning
- Latest release: NCI 7.5 (announced 2025-12-15, no GA date in the blog); NUS 5.3 and Data Lens 2.0 GA 2026-04-07; the VM Platform Ledger records AOS 7.6 on 2026-07-27
- Support lifecycle: Each AOS family is Maintained for 15 months from release and Troubleshooting-only for 9 more (AOS 7.0: Maintained to 2026-03-31, Troubleshooting to 2026-12-31); the per-version table is behind login
- Next milestone: NetApp ONTAP arrays with AHV "later this year", Dell PowerStore GA and PowerFlex Ultra5 support, Agentic AI full release H2 2026, NUS RDMA for S3 (all stated 2026-04-07 as when-and-if-available)
- Hypervisors: AHV natively; ESXi under licence rules (software options page); external arrays from Dell, Everpure and NetApp serve AHV through NCI with External Storage (Nutanix compute page)
- Tier: Storage inside a VM platform
- Archetype: Sharp opportunist
- Evidence grade: B. The NCI 7.5 blogs, the 2025 and 2026 press releases, the software options page and the support policy were read from Nutanix (grade A). Release notes and the end-of-life table sit behind the portal login, so AOS version numbers are thin and the 2015 to 2022 steps rest on background knowledge (grade C).
Scope of the scores: AOS is sold only inside an NCI subscription with AHV and Prism, which the hypervisor integration and lock-in rows reflect. NCI with External Storage (PowerFlex, FlashArray, planned ONTAP) is scored here as a topology and integration item; PowerFlex has its own entry.
Scorecard
| Dimension | Score | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Capability today | 83.5 / 100 | higher is better |
| Momentum since end of 2022 | +6.5 points (2015 to 2022: +11.3) | higher is better |
| Credibility | 17.0 / 25 | higher is better |
| Commercial risk | 11.5 / 25 | lower is better |
| Technical lock-in | 14.5 / 25 | lower is better |
| Integrator fit | 13.0 / 20 | higher is better |
| AI leverage | 7.5 / 20 | higher is better |
| Ledger Index | 64.3 / 100 | balanced weights; see the methodology |
Capability by domain, 2015 to today
Scores 0 to 5 against fixed anchors; total is weighted to 100.
| Domain (weight) | 2015 | 2019 | 2022 | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data services core (15) | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Resilience and HA (15) | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 |
| Performance and protocols (12) | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4 |
| Hypervisor integration (12) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Scale and topology (10) | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 |
| Data protection and DR (10) | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 |
| Security (8) | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Operations and automation (8) | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Hardware and deployment freedom (5) | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 |
| Kubernetes and containers (5) | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Total / 100 | 65.7 | 76.0 | 77.0 | 83.5 |
Year by year: 2015: 65.7 · 2016: 65.7 · 2017: 70.7 · 2018: 73.2 · 2019: 76.0 · 2020: 76.0 · 2021: 76.0 · 2022: 77.0 · 2023: 77.0 · 2024: 77.5 · 2025: 81.5 · 2026: 83.5
What moved the score
| Year | Domain | Change | Points | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Data protection and DR | 3.5 → 4 | +1.0 | AOS 5.5: NearSync replication (year grade C) |
| 2017 | Data services core | 4 → 4.5 | +1.5 | AOS 5.x: per-VM storage QoS limits; inline and post-process efficiency together; no QoS minimum (year grade C) |
| 2017 | Hardware and deployment freedom | 2 → 2.5 | +0.5 | Software-only on further OEM lists (Lenovo, HPE, Cisco; years grade C) |
| 2017 | Performance and protocols | 3 → 3.5 | +1.2 | Files (NFS and SMB) and Volumes (iSCSI) for external clients (years grade C) |
| 2017 | Security | 2.5 → 3 | +0.8 | AOS 5.5: software data-at-rest encryption with an external key manager (year grade C) |
| 2018 | Resilience and HA | 3.5 → 4 | +1.5 | AOS 5.9: rack awareness (year grade C) |
| 2018 | Scale and topology | 3.5 → 4 | +1.0 | AOS 5.6: one-node and two-node clusters for remote sites (year grade C) |
| 2019 | Kubernetes and containers | 0 → 2 | +2.0 | Karbon and the Nutanix CSI driver (year grade C) |
| 2019 | Operations and automation | 4 → 4.5 | +0.8 | Prism Central and Life Cycle Manager roll firmware and software together (year grade C) |
| 2022 | Kubernetes and containers | 2 → 3 | +1.0 | CSI with snapshots, expansion and RWX through Files (grade C) |
| 2024 | Kubernetes and containers | 3 → 3.5 | +0.5 | Nutanix Kubernetes Platform from the D2iQ acquisition (2023-12) with Data Services for Kubernetes; Cloud Native AOS still preview |
| 2025 | Data protection and DR | 4 → 4.5 | +1.0 | NCI 7.5: sync, NearSync and async in one policy, DR for up to 10,000 VMs per Prism Central, Volume Group Metro to 1,000 groups; immutable snapshots not verified |
| 2025 | Hardware and deployment freedom | 2.5 → 3 | +0.5 | NCI with External Storage: PowerFlex and FlashArray supply capacity; NC2 on AWS and Azure; still a qualified list, no Arm |
| 2025 | Resilience and HA | 4 → 4.5 | +1.5 | NCI 7.5: up to four fault domains in one policy; Metro across two Prism Central instances |
| 2025 | Scale and topology | 4 → 4.5 | +1.0 | NCI 7.5: 185 TB all-flash per node; external arrays (PowerFlex since 2025-02, FlashArray //X and //XL in 7.5) scale capacity apart from compute |
| 2026 | Performance and protocols | 3.5 → 4 | +1.2 | NUS NVIDIA-Certified (2026-05-31): pNFS and GPUDirect Storage over NFS with RDMA; NVMe/TCP only as a client to FlashArray |
| 2026 | Security | 3 → 3.5 | +0.8 | NCI 7.3 moved encryption and the native key manager into Pro; Data Lens 2.0 GA adds ransomware detection for NUS; in-flight storage encryption not verified |
Direction, 2023 to 2026
Each release item carries one theme and one driver (V vision, C customer need, M market window, U upstream, P portfolio).
| Date | Item | Theme | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-05 | Dedicated storage-only and compute-only nodes announced at .NEXT; shipping date not found | Scale | C |
| 2023-12 | D2iQ acquisition, later the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform | Kubernetes | V |
| 2024-05 | Dell and Nutanix announce joint solutions | Packaging | M |
| 2024-12 | AOS 7.0 (2024-12-11) under the 15 plus 9 month support model | Packaging | C |
| 2025-02 | Dell PowerFlex described as the first external storage fully integrated with Nutanix Cloud Platform | Hypervisor integration | M |
| 2025-05 | Pure Storage FlashArray over NVMe/TCP announced; early access by summer, GA by year end | Hypervisor integration | M |
| 2025-05 | Cloud Native AOS preview on AWS EKS | Kubernetes | V |
| 2025-12 | NCI 7.5: multi-strategy DR in one policy, up to four fault domains, 10,000 VMs per Prism Central | Data protection | C |
| 2025-12 | NCI 7.5: FlashArray //X and //XL over NVMe-oF/TCP; Volume Group Metro to 1,000 groups | Scale | M |
| 2025-12 | NCI 7.5: NVIDIA NIM microservices qualified | AI | V |
| 2026-01 | Cisco FlashStack with Nutanix design (Cisco, Pure and Nutanix) | Packaging | M |
| 2026-04 | NUS 5.3 and Data Lens 2.0 GA; Foundation Central appliance | Security | C |
| 2026-04 | Zero-copy migration of vVols to AHV vDisks GA | Hypervisor integration | M |
| 2026-04 | Synchronous DR for PowerFlex and Everpure //C support with sync DR | Data protection | M |
| 2026-04 | NetApp alliance: ONTAP AFF and FAS arrays with AHV "later this year"; Dell PowerStore early access | Hypervisor integration | M |
| 2026-04 | Agentic AI solution in early access, full release H2 2026; Service Provider Central early access | AI | V |
| 2026-04 | KubeVirt support at the edge and AHV on Arm placed on the roadmap | Kubernetes | V |
| 2026-05 | NUS NVIDIA-Certified: pNFS and GPUDirect Storage over NFS with RDMA reference architecture | AI | V |
- Centre of gravity: Hypervisor integration (4), Kubernetes (3), Packaging (3)
- Blind spots (no items): Data services, Resilience, Performance, Operations, Hardware, Licensing
- Driver mix: Vision 33%, Customer need 22%, Market window 44%, Upstream 0%, Portfolio 0%
- Idea-to-need index: 0.33 (0 = demand-pulled, 1 = thesis-pushed)
Credibility: 17.0 / 25
| Criterion | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | 4 | Written policy of an upgrade family every six to nine months and updates every four to six weeks; 7.0, 7.5 and 7.6 kept it |
| Roadmap transparency | 2.5 | Forward-looking items carry when-and-if-available wording; release notes and the lifecycle table are behind login |
| Say-do | 3.5 | FlashArray support arrived in NCI 7.5 within weeks of the promised year end; ONTAP, PowerStore and Agentic AI are pending; Cloud Native AOS has been a preview since May 2025 |
| Velocity | 4 | Four external storage integrations, multi-strategy DR and NVIDIA certification inside 18 months |
| Lifecycle stability | 3 | In-place upgrades, but 15 months of maintenance per family forces a steady upgrade pace |
Commercial risk: 11.5 / 25 (lower is better)
| Criterion | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Price and licence volatility | 2 | Last re-bundle in February 2022; encryption and the native key manager moved down into Pro with NCI 7.3; no repricing found since 2023 |
| Purchase constraints | 3 | Subscription only, every core in a cluster licensed, Starter capped at 12 nodes and RF2, sync replication gated to Ultimate or an add-on |
| Channel and access | 2 | Software-only and OEM channels through Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HPE and Lenovo; patches and release notes need a support login |
| Owner stability | 1.5 | Independent public company, profitable in fiscal 2025, no ownership change |
| Cost of staying supported | 3 | A new family about every 15 months to stay in the Maintained phase |
Technical lock-in: 14.5 / 25 (lower is better)
| Criterion | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Formats | 2.5 | VM disks live in the AOS fabric; AHV images export per VM |
| Export path | 3 | Nutanix Move is inbound only; no documented outbound tooling |
| Stack coupling | 3.5 | AOS, Prism and an NCI licence are always present; external arrays only from a named list |
| Hardware / cloud coupling | 2.5 | Qualified hardware from several OEMs; NC2 in the cloud is optional |
| Skills and tooling coupling | 3 | Prism, ncli and AHV skills; a smaller pool than VMware |
Integrator fit: 13.0 / 20
| Criterion | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Partner programme openness | 3.5 | Open programme with a service-provider track per the VM Platform Ledger; terms not re-read for this entry |
| Multi-tenancy and self-service | 2.5 | Prism projects and roles; Service Provider Central is in early access with GA stated for H2 2026 |
| API and infrastructure-as-code | 3.5 | Prism REST API with Terraform and Ansible providers (provider status not re-verified this edition) |
| Skills and certification | 3.5 | Nutanix certification programme (NCP and NCM tracks); pool smaller than VMware or Microsoft |
AI leverage: 7.5 / 20
How the product uses AI, scored per year like capability. Only GA counts.
| Criterion | 2019 | 2022 | Today | Latest step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI workload infrastructure | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2026: NUS NVIDIA-Certified at enterprise level (2026-05-31): GPUDirect Storage over NFS with RDMA and pNFS on a 10-node all-NVMe reference design |
| AI platform stack | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2025: NCI 7.5: NVIDIA NIM microservices qualified; Nutanix Enterprise AI exists but was not verified for this entry; the Agentic AI solution is early access |
| AI-assisted operations | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 2026: Data Lens 2.0 GA (2026-04-07): ransomware detection analytics for NUS; no operator assistant found |
| Agent openness | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2015: Documented Prism REST API; no MCP server or agent interface found |
Year by year: 2015: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2026: 7.5
AI say-do, 2023 to 2026: 5 AI items announced; 3 GA, 1 still preview, 1 pending, 0 dropped. NIM qualification, NVIDIA certification and Data Lens 2.0 shipped; the Agentic AI solution is early access and RDMA for S3 is due later in 2026.
Nutanix has made its file and object tier AI-ready with NVIDIA certification and GPUDirect over NFS, which is more than most storage layers in this Ledger have shipped. On the operations side there is only ransomware analytics, and no agent interface exists. Check whether the AI items you need run on AOS block storage or only on NUS, because the certification covers NUS.
Reading
AOS scores level with vSAN on data services, resilience and DR, and its one-policy DR in 7.5 is the deepest in the group. Since 2025 the engineering story is external storage: PowerFlex, FlashArray and soon ONTAP arrays serve AHV while Nutanix keeps the control plane, which widens topology choice without loosening the subscription. Commercial risk is moderate and the main cost is pace, with a new AOS family about every 15 months. A buyer should check the edition gates, because synchronous replication and Metro sit behind Ultimate or an add-on.
Open questions and items to re-score
- AOS version numbers and GA dates for 7.3, 7.5 and 7.6 could not be read; the release notes and end-of-life table are behind login.
- Whether ESXi and Hyper-V remain supported hypervisors for AOS under current NCI terms was not verified; hypervisor integration stays at 4.
- The 2015 to 2022 steps (EC-X, QoS, rack awareness, NearSync, two-node, LCM, Karbon) rest on background knowledge, grade C.
- Immutable snapshots and in-flight encryption of storage traffic were not verified; DR stays at 4.5 and security at 3.5.
- Terraform and Ansible provider status, partner programme terms and Community Edition limits were not read this edition.
- Nutanix pages in 2026 call Pure Storage "Everpure"; confirm the rename from a Pure press release.
- Cloud Native AOS (preview since 2025-05) and Service Provider Central (early access) are re-score items.
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