Dive Brief:
- VMware’s executive vice president, Bill Fathers, is leaving the company, according to a Fortune report.
- The head of the company's cloud effots, Fathers led VMware’s vCloud Air project for three years.
- Fathers will be replaced by two "co-general managers" for cloud, Allwyn Sequeira and Laura Ortman, Fortune sources said.
Dive Insight:
Considering VMware's cloud forecast has been extra gloomy recently, Fathers' departure from the company is not a huge shock. Originally called vCloud Hybrid Services, vCloudAir launched three years ago and has failed to make much of a market impact.
Last December, VMware said wouldn’t proceed with a joint venture wherein it would take over EMC Corp.’s cloud service Virtustream. The joint venture would have combined VMware and Virtustream’s cloud services. When the cloud plan was announced in October, it caused VMware’s shares to drop sharply.
Dell and EMC, VMware’s parent company, plan to merge later this year. That merger will create "significant overlap" in the three companies’ cloud strategies, according to Fortune. More changes at VMware are likely as Dell and EMC get closer to closing their $67 billion merger.
