​Nvidia: We can reach 80 percent of enterprises now

Nvidia has made great strides in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers with its graphic processor units (GPUs) and executives see no reason for momentum to slow due to a partnership with VMware.

The graphics processor company has two primary bets for growth---automotive and the enterprise. Yes, Nvidia is a gaming stalwart, has mobile efforts and makes graphic chips for PCs. But on Nvidia's fourth quarter earnings conference call virtualization and VMware were mentioned a lot. Analysts are hoping that Nvidia will get more visibility into enterprise deployments as its processors become data center staples.

Special Feature

Virtualizing the Enterprise

Virtualization has swept through the data center in recent years, enabling IT transformation and serving as the secret sauce behind cloud computing. Now it’s time to examine what’s next for virtualization as the data center options mature and virtualization spreads to desktops, networks, and beyond.

Read now

Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said the company's Tesla processor and GRID platform is allowing enterprises to virtualize graphics-heavy applications. VMware, which announced Nvidia integration earlier this month, will also be a boon to Nvidia. Huang added:

With VMware integration, we are now able to engage probably some 80% of the worlds enterprises. Just about anybody who has virtualized their enterprise has done so with VMware. If you look at our trials, we went from about 400 last year at this time to well over 1000 this year. Our revenue doubled. My sense is that there is no reason for that pace to slow. If anything it ought to accelerate.

Indeed, what VMware gives Nvidia is market reach. Nvidia will be supported by VMware's Horizon 6 and vSphere 6. That integration will give Nvidia an entry point into more enterprises. Also: VMware's hybrid cloud roadmap takes direction with vSphere 6, Nvidia collaboration

The company reported fourth quarter earnings of 35 cents a share on revenue of $1.25 billion, up 9 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the fourth quarter were 43 cents a share.

For fiscal 2015, Nvidia reported earnings of $1.12 a share on revenue of $4.68 billion, up 13 percent from a year ago.

As for the first quarter, Nvidia said its revenue will be about $1.16 billion give or take two percent. The fourth quarter results and outlook topped expectations.

More:

• Nvidia eyes connected cars, not phones, with Tegra X1 mobile superchip
• Nvidia eyes machine learning, advanced analytics with souped up Tesla GPU
• IBM, Nvidia tapped to build world's fastest supercomputers