Cloud infrastructure company, VMware Inc., said that that it had initiated legal proceedings against one of its former top executives, Rajiv Ramaswami, stating that he violated his contractual obligations while being courted to be the CEO of rival Nutanix Inc., adding another chapter to a bitter rivalry between the two California-based software makers.
VMware has accused its former chief operating officer of products and cloud services, Ramaswami, meeting with rival Nutanix executives and board members while being on board VMware’s strategic discussions. Dell Technologies Inc.’s majority-owned VMWare said the executive’s actions and knowledge of its plans have caused “irreparable injury.”
“For at least two months before resigning from the company, at the same time he was working with senior leadership to shape VMware’s key strategic vision and direction, Mr. Ramaswami also was secretly meeting with at least the CEO, CFO, and apparently the entire Board of Directors of Nutanix Inc to become Nutanix’s Chief Executive Officer,” VMware said in a statement, according to The Economic Times.
In response, Nutanix, which wasn’t named as a defendant, said VMware’s action was ‘misguided’ and in ‘response to losing a deeply valued and respected member.
VMware may seek to recoup its compensation to Ramaswami during the time period and wants to “meaningfully engage” with the executive and his new employer to make sure that they do not use any confidential VMware information to make competitive decisions, Brooks Beard, a VMware vice president, and deputy general counsel said in an interview.
Nutanix, in a blog post on Monday, said the company and its new CEO had made no questionable moves.
“Nutanix and Mr. Ramaswami assured VMware that Mr. Ramaswami agreed with his obligation not to take or misuse confidential information, and VMware does not contend otherwise,” Nutanix said Tuesday when it amended the post, according to Bloomberg. “However, VMware requested that Mr. Ramaswami agree to limit the ordinary performance of his job duties in a manner that would equate to an illegal non-compete covenant, and it requested that Nutanix agree not to hire candidates from VMware in a manner that Nutanix believes would be contrary to the federal antitrust laws.”
VMware and Nutanix’s rivalry erupted in a public fracas in 2019 after San Jose, California-based Nutanix launched a campaign called “Decide” that Palo Alto-based VMware found “vitriolic.” Former Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey, whose place is currently being held by Ramaswami, wrote a blog post titled, “Stop being a bully, VMware,” in which he compared his battle against the company to the struggle with India’s movement for independence from the British Empire, for civil rights in the U.S., and the American Revolution.
