Tech Titan Tarkan Maner to join the IGEL Board

Feb 01, 2023 at 11:48 a.m. EST

“What IGEL does is create a true cloud desktop as a fully-enabled cloud-based services company,” says Tarkan Manner, Chief Commercial Officer of Nutanix and former CEO of Wyse Technology. “It’s a hybrid multi-cloud approach for a hybrid workforce at the endpoint. This is a new era. I love what IGEL does.

Tarkan Maner, a technology visionary who helped pioneer the VDI market, joins IGEL’s Board of Directors.

A 30-year technology industry veteran who is currently the commercial director of multicloud software platform innovator Nutanix, Manner helped deploy client cloud computing and thin client systems as CEO of Wyse Technology from 2007 to 2012.

“This is no longer quite a thin client market,” Manner said, hailing IGEL as the foundation for a new era of cloud-based digital workspace systems. “IGEL is driving a hardware-agnostic end-user compute operating system platform with a software-only approach. It’s a different ball game. What IGEL does is create a true cloud desktop as a fully enabled, cloud-based services company. It’s a hybrid multicloud approach for a hybrid workforce when End point. This is a new era. I love what Eagle is doing.”

[Related: ‘Dream Come True’: IGEL Exits Hardware Business]

After selling Wyse to Dell, Maner, considered one of the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley, continued his disruptive tech indictment as the CEO of the open-source software company profiled storage superstar Nexenta.

At Nutanix, Maner is pushing the Hybrid multicloud software envelope. This includes a partnership with IGEL with the integration of Nutanix’s cloud wallet as a service platform with the secure IGEL OS.

Manner, who is also a board member at leading security firm AppSec Invicti and in the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said he was drawn to the IGEL board position in large part because of the opportunity to work with IGEL CEO Jed Ayres and his team.

Over the past seven years, Ayres has transformed a one-time German thin-client hardware maker into a Linux Edge OS software company with a finely tuned channel business model.

“Jed has done an amazing job transitioning IGEL from a small customer affiliate to a subscription software company,” Manner said. “He has made IGEL a global powerhouse with a strong commercial channel. Most CEOs don’t really understand the channel. Good gets the channel. He cares about the channel. He came from the channel. I’ve known Jed for 20 years or more. He used to be my channel partner. At the end Ultimately, it’s about three things: A true customer, partner and intimacy experience, true intellectual property differentiation and focused operational excellence backed by a great team. The IGEL team delivers all of these things with passion. Well checks every box. He’s one of the best CEOs in the business. I’m looking To work with him and his team.”

Under Ayres’ leadership, IGEL, a maker of well-designed thin-client hardware for over two decades, exited that business last year as part of an overall drive to make its popular secure Linux operating system the standard for cloud workspace computing across any device or cloud.

The IGEL and Nutanix Program Journey

IGEL’s journey from hardware maker to software provider reflects Nutanix’s transformation from a turnkey hyper-converged hardware provider to a hybrid multicloud subscription software provider.

“Going from a hardware company to a software company takes a lot of work,” Manner said. “It’s a heavy lifting. Nutanix has been through this over the past decade with great success. We were originally a hardware company. We are now a pure cloud platform software company. We now lead in many aspects of the hybrid multicloud software market, providing the ultimate in simplicity, flexibility and capability.” to bear costs for our customers and partners. These are exciting times for Nutanix and our ecosystem.”

Nutanix is ​​pushing IGEL’s secure operating system to the edge at the endpoint with its enterprise-class hybrid multicloud platform approach at the backend. “The channel likes this end-to-end approach to programming,” he said. “On the front end you have an IGEL operating system and on the back end you have Nutanix running on any platform whether it’s Dell or HPE or Lenovo or Cisco. We’re agnostic. Channel likes that. It gives customers and partners choices that are flexible and simple.”

Manner said the cloud desktop model opens doors to higher margins for partners with a greater focus on software, integration and recurring revenue. “This is a beautiful story for channel partners,” he said. “It’s a huge opportunity for customers, partners, suppliers, and the entire ecosystem. This is a perfect storm for vendors like IGEL, Nutanix, Citrix, Microsoft, and all channel partners around the world including service providers and system integrators. The recent pandemic has shown us that a hybrid workforce is here to stay and that our pioneering approach is The market for hybrid multicloud software is the answer to this new era.”

Manner said that thin clients and VDI were only the first stage of the market, which led to the new cloud-based desktop as a service market. “With edge computing, end-user computing will take a new path as it advances into the next decade,” he said. “This is a multi-billion dollar market. The next decade is going to be bigger than we can imagine. It’s not just about thin customers. It’s mobile phones, smart devices, iPads, wearables, every kind of device you can imagine. Even your connected car is an endpoint device. There’s going to be a lot of Opportunities for partners, customers and vendors. This is just the beginning.”

A pivotal moment for IGEL

Mike Strohl, CEO of E360, an IGEL partner and one of the first solution providers to bring VDI solutions to market, said Maner’s appointment marks a pivotal moment for IGEL.

“What Jed is doing is not just assembling a panel for IGEL, he is assembling a panel for industry,” he said. “Tarkan is a lifelong visionary of this market. Tarkan co-created this market. With all the changes going on in this market right now, this is ultimately going to bring the biggest return to consumers out of all end-user computing technology.”

Strohl credited Ayres with changing the VDI market forever by transforming IGEL from a hardware company to a Linux software provider to a cloud workspace provider. Strohl said this shift is bringing much-needed “coherence” in the fragmented cloud desktop market.

“What Jed has done is build a partner organization for Microsoft, AWS, VMware, Citrix and Workspot,” he said. “IGEL brings it all together. This provides a unique opportunity for all of us in this market.”

To the point, IGEL brings together top vendors in the cloud desktop market, including Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, AWS, HP and LG at the Disrupt Conference in Munich February 14-16 and in Nashville April 3-5 . Iris and distinguished end-user computing executives including Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop / Scott Manchester, VMware President Sumit Dhawan and Manner himself are expected to share their vision for driving a new era of cloud desktop sales growth at the Disrupt conferences.

On the impact Maner will have as IGEL ramps up shipments of cloud desktop software, Strohl said: “Adding someone like Tarkan to help tell the bigger story is where the real opportunity is. “Intellectual changes the dynamic. This is another genius move by Jed. IGEL acts as a catalyst that will cause all ships to soar in the cloud desktop market. Well deserves to stand out from that.”

Strohl said IGEL’s E360 software and services business grew double-digit in 2022 and expects another double-digit year of growth in 2023 as cloud workspaces momentum grows. “All of the industry leaders are moving to consumption, subscription and management in terms of how they deliver software licenses,” he said. “The industry is primed for IGEL to be a success.”

For his part, Manner said he couldn’t be more excited about the new cloud desktop as the service era that IGEL is powering through its Linux edge OS software. “It’s about making apps available to any user, anywhere, whether they’re at home, at work, or on the go,” he said. “The IGEL software story goes beyond thin clients. It’s a complete software approach to the cloud desktop vision. It’s all about simplicity, no-knowledge, and the lowest possible total cost of ownership. It’s a beautiful story. That’s why I’m on the board of directors of IGEL.”