Executive Summary

Key Takeaways

Private and hybrid cloud platforms have evolved from server virtualization into governed services with automated provisioning and coordinated operations across environments. Enterprises need licensed software that supports the workload mix within a sustainable operating model. Containers, AI workloads and lifecycle automation shape requirements for infrastructure compatibility, integration and resource management.

Software Provider Summary
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Private and Hybrid Cloud Platforms evaluates seven software providers offering products that support infrastructure pooling, on-demand provisioning and private and hybrid cloud governance. The research ranked the top three overall as Red Hat, Nutanix and SAP. Providers were classified using weighted performance in Product Experience and Customer Experience for ISG quadrant placement. Nutanix, Red Hat and SAP were rated Exemplary, with OpenNebula rated Innovative. Broadcom was rated a provider of Assurance, and Apache CloudStack and SUSE were rated as providers of Merit.

Product Experience Insights
Product Experience, representing 80% of the evaluation, focuses on Capability (50%) and Platform (30%), including adaptability, manageability, reliability and usability. Red Hat, Nutanix and SAP were designated Product Experience Leaders in an evaluation emphasizing infrastructure compatibility, lifecycle management, unified management and workload portability. The platform evaluation examined enterprise-grade platform capabilities that support varied business and IT roles and operating contexts.

Customer Experience Value
Customer Experience, representing 20% of the evaluation, focuses on validation and TCO/ROI. Red Hat, Nutanix and SAP were the Leaders in this category, best communicating commitment and dedication to customer needs. Lower-performing providers did not share sufficient information to demonstrate customer success or articulate their commitment to customer experience.

Strategic Recommendations
Enterprises should evaluate infrastructure compatibility, hybrid integration and lifecycle automation against representative workloads, including AI resource requirements. Buyers should pilot provisioning, upgrades and recovery, then test migration effort and workload portability. Assessments should verify license entitlements and support accountability, and fund the staffing and maintenance responsibilities required to operate the platform.

The Findings

The software providers and products evaluated in this research offer product and customer experiences, but not every feature is equally valuable to every enterprise or is needed to support the relevant business processes and use cases. Moreover, having too many product capabilities may be a negative factor for an enterprise if it introduces unnecessary complexity. Nonetheless, you may decide that a more comprehensive set of capabilities is important and meets your enterprise’s requirements.

An effective customer relationship with a software provider is vital to the success of any investment. The overall customer experience and the full lifecycle of engagement play a key role in ensuring satisfaction and long-term success. Providers with dedicated customer leadership, such as chief customer officers, tend to invest more deeply in these relationships and prioritize customer outcomes in line with TCO and ROI expectations. It is equally important that this commitment to customer success is evident throughout the provider’s website, the buying process and the customer journey.ISG_BG_Private_and_Hybrid_Cloud_Platforms_Overall_2026

Overall Scoring of Software Providers Across Categories

The research finds Red Hat atop the list, followed by Nutanix and SAP. Providers that place in the top three of a category earn the designation of Leader. Nutanix and Red Hat have done so in five categories, SAP in four and OpenNebula in one category.

About the authors

Jeff Orr

Jeff Orr

Jeff leads the firm’s overall research and advisory for CIO and technology leader practice focused on digital modernization and transformation for IT to be successful across an organization. Jeff’s coverage spans cloud computing, digital security, generative AI and technologies for intelligent automation. Jeff previously led Ventana Research’s products organization and market research that enables comprehensive educational insights for our community of over 100k professionals. Prior to joining Ventana Research, he served as editor in chief and thought leader for Cyber Security Hub. Jeff spent a decade as a Research Director at ABI Research, and two decades as a technology, product and marketing leader. Jeff attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. He is also an Oregon State University Certified Master Gardener.
David Menninger

David Menninger

David is responsible for the overall research direction of data, information and analytics technologies at Ventana Research covering major areas including Analytics, Big Data, Business Intelligence and Information Management along with the additional specific research categories including Information Applications, IT Performance Management, Location Intelligence, Operational Intelligence and IoT, and Data Science. David is also responsible for examining the role of cloud computing, collaboration and mobile technologies as they affect these areas. David brings to Ventana Research over twenty-five years of experience, through which he has marketed and brought to market some of the leading edge technologies for helping organizations analyze data to support a range of action-taking and decision-making processes. Prior to joining Ventana Research, David was the Head of Business Development & Strategy at Pivotal a division of EMC, VP of Marketing and Product Management at Vertica Systems, VP of Marketing and Product Management at Oracle, Applix, InforSense and IRI Software. David earned his MS in Business from Bentley University and a BS in Economics from University of Pennsylvania.