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Nutanix is the leading vendor for converged infrastructure ahead of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Cisco, while the latter two and Dell are jostling for prime position in the server space, according to a report from 451 Research.

The figures, which appear in the analyst firm’s most recent Voice of the Enterprise study, argues that server spending remains ‘steady’ despite enterprises continuing to move workloads to the cloud; almost half (49.4%) of those polled say they are undergoing IT transformation initiatives of some kind. Yet respondents also note that server vendors ‘could work to better understand customers’ business’.

Customers were asked to rate vendors prior to purchase – which 451 calls the ‘promise’ stage – and following implementation, or the ‘fulfilment’ stage. For x86 servers, Cisco outranked its competition in various attributes, including reputation, long-term viability, product performance, and technical innovation, yet was behind Dell and HPE in what might be the mitigating factor – cost.

For converged infrastructure (above), Nutanix was top of the tree by virtue of all bar one of its ‘fulfilment’ ratings exceeding its respective ‘promise’ rating. Other above average performers for ‘fulfilment’ were HPE, Cisco, Microsoft, and NetApp.

“There is a clear opportunity for server vendors to guide customers into next-generation technologies while preserving their current distribution of standard infrastructure,” said Christian Perry, 451 research manager. “As compute infrastructure choices expand beyond traditional servers, customers are more critical than ever about their x86 servers because they must provide a better ROI than competing x86 servers, cloud services and converged infrastructure.

“To seize this opportunity, vendors must work more closely with customers and prospects to understand current and future business requirements,” Perry added.

You can find out more about the report here (registration required).