CIOs have many good reasons to support hybrid clouds, in which workloads are allocated across public clouds and data centers. Key reasons include cost optimization, performance considerations, data sovereignty regulations, and the mitigation of geopolitical, supply chain, and other risks. 

The question has always been how to run multicloud efficiently without having the complexities to override operational, cost, or risk benefits.

In my article on using genAI to tame multicloud chaos, I recommend standardizing multicloud configurations, establishing finops capabilities, and five other operational considerations. I also shared a 20-point checklist for excelling at multicloud,  which includes optimizing work placement, securing high-performance cloud-to-cloud networks, and other required operational disciplines.  

Simplifying, scaling, and segregating hybrid clouds

A big part of running a hybrid cloud efficiently starts with the infrastructure layer, using hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) to simplify the management of compute, storage, and networking components. Optimizing on HCI is one way to boost entry-level talent in IT Ops, as engineers learn to provide value across all infrastructure layers. It can also accelerate the convergence of ITOps and SecOps by consolidating and simplifying tools.

Nutanix is a leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure and a leader in the Q3 2025 Forrester Wave™ on Multicloud Container Platforms.

My friends in infrastructure and operations geek out over HCI, and for good reasons. Months to configure infrastructure for new applications were reduced to minutes. And that gave CIOs more options and flexibility in where to deploy workloads. One of Nutanix’s strategic benefits is its equal support for virtual machines (VMs) and containers.

But for me, I get more excited by what happens one or two layers upstack and the business outcomes it drives. At Nutanix .Next 2026, the company demonstrated what running hybrid clouds looks like in the AI era and the business benefits the full C-suite now expects from IT. Here’s what CIOs need to know.

1.     Simplifying with database services (DBaaS) on hybrid clouds

IT teams can leverage public cloud database services, such as AWS RDS, to streamline configuration, scaling, patch management, and other operations. Azure and GCP have equivalent products. Many enterprises use multiple public cloud database services and run other independently running database instances in private clouds.

In other words, most enterprises have multiple database technologies deployed across different clouds and data centers, managed with different tools, and offering varying levels of resiliency. Yuck. 

Nutanix NDB reduces this complexity by providing a database service that runs on-premises, in AWS, or in Azure. It supports the major RDBMS platforms (Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, EDB) and NoSQL (MariaDB and now MongoDB). Key capabilities include provisioning, thin cloning, storage scaling, patching, fast backup/recovery, and security.

Why this matters: Using database services once involved a trade-off between the simplicity of public cloud offerings versus the flexibility of private cloud infrastructure and cost management. Now, CIOs can use NDB as a centralized database service for public and private deployments, reducing the complexity of supporting multiple database services. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact^TM reports a 136% ROI for deploying NDB at a regional US bank with $20 billion in assets and 5,000 employees.

2.     Scaling virtual desktop deployments

Some IT departments have a hodgepodge of end-user computing (EUC) environments. They include laptops/desktops, virtual machines running in data centers, and virtual machines on public clouds. The challenge has always been mapping application needs and data access requirements to an appropriate configuration, forcing many enterprises to support multiple EUC options.

Last year, I asked whether it’s time for CIOs to fully embrace virtual desktops. I had just attended Nerdiocon 2025 and was wowed by the flexibility in deploying Azure Virtual Desktops with Nerdio’s administration capabilities.

Now, new capabilities are available as a result of an announced partnership between Nutanix and Nerdio. CIOs can now deploy Azure Virtual Desktop on the Nutanix Cloud Platform, enabling a hybrid VDI infrastructure.

Why this matters: CIOs can look to simplify both EUC and the underlying VDI infrastructure, making fewer compromises to employee experience and improving security.

3. Segregating AI factories

Nutanix announced two other sets of intriguing capabilities.

• Nutanix Agentic AI includes an AI gateway to help manage costs, improve accuracy, and support data access controls. The solution helps accelerate the adoption of NVIDIA-certified AI factories while optimizing VM performance on GPU servers.
• Service Provider Central enables the segregation of multiple tenants on shared infrastructure. This includes virtual networks, VMs, storage resources, identity/access, and usage monitoring. 

Why this matters: Very large, portfolio-based enterprises must support different business requirements around scale, security, and resiliency. Nutanix enables enterprises to create tenants for different business needs. Build a tenand for the AI needs of their larger, regulated businesses. These can be instituted without compromising the speed-to-market and lower costs required by smaller or emerging businesses.

Why review Nutanix?

I watch the pendulum swing back and forth on whether CIOs should invest more in public or private clouds. For the last several years, that pendulum has moved toward public clouds. They are perceived as the fastest and easiest place to test AI models and POC AI agents.

But as more CIOs look to bring AI Agents to production, they’ll need to consider where to run AI inference. What will be their most cost-effective, secure, and resilient environments? Hybrid cloud offers the greatest long-term flexibility for POCs and production environments. Nutanix is a leader, helping IT do more with its infrastructure by moving upstack into the data and AI realms.