For the past three decades, corporate data centers have been built from appliance-based products—sometimes referred to as “software wrapped in tin”. These appliances are highly optimized for a particular function—routing, storage, security, etc. The companies that make these boxes typically have 65% gross margins, allowing for a relatively high-touch, but costly distribution channel, which is usually a combination of direct sales people, distributors and Value Added Resellers (VARs). It’s a mind-bogglingly big business: Every year, enterprises around the world spend more than $100B on data center gear with this revenue flowing through the ecosystem of VARs and vendors. However, all of this stands to change radically with the onset of the public cloud.