 from London, England, extracting the signal from the noise. It's the CUBE Cover Discover 2015, brought to you by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, now your host, John Furrier and Dave Vellante. Okay, we are here live at HPE Discover here in London. This is theCUBE, our flagship program. We go out to the events and extract the signal and noise. I'm John Furrier, my co-host Dave Vellante, and next guest is Jason Newton here with HP Marketing. The brains behind all the branding and the messaging, congratulations. Great to see you again. Hey, thanks for being here. I haven't been here, the digital thunderdome is what I call this place. I was like, I'm going in it again. Calvin Zito said, you know, you're historic today, and I'm like, why is that? He goes, well you're the first person on the CUBE out of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. And he's like, you know, you guys had said, you promised him that you'd have that spot, but. He was the last on HPE Discover, right? Pass the baton, you'll be the Cal Ripken of theCUBE. Keep on going. Well, Calvin, you're the first, you're the last, so. Keep on going until theCUBE when we, 2025, we'll be like, member, back then. But great job, congratulations. First of all, the split is official on November 1st. This is the first event. The branding is phenomenal. I want to give you guys props. So saying on the intro that. Prop star branding team, I mean, you know. Yeah, tell us a little about that, because it's important. I mean, the logo, first of all, that's clever, but now that's really elegant. The signage here is phenomenal. Great use of pictures. Great website with the multiple theaters of theCUBE. Yeah, we really don't even think of it as a logo. I mean, it's actually an element that we try to incorporate into our storytelling and visually, you know, describe the role that HPE plays in the job of each of our customers, the way that, you know, whether it be, and you'll see it expressed throughout the advertising. It's really quite brilliant. A lot of people are going to owe an apology to the branding people that made fun of the little, you know, rectangle when it first came out, because the way that they've actually integrated that in the visual storytelling is amazing, and we're going to get a lot of leverage out of that. And it really makes sort of who we are as a new company. I think come to life and express us in a very different way. Simplicity is very elegant. It felt good coming into the event here. Great job in logistics. Okay, the event. Let's talk about the storytelling. The four transformation areas, feedback we were getting on Twitter earlier is, hey, what's new at HPE? It's the same transformation areas, which is good. That means that Mark is still growing. Give us the update, because now that it's all official, HPE's got a new feeling. The vibe's great. What's different in the transformation areas that are going on? What's the hottest? Where's the action? You just give us an update. Well, I mean, the vibe's been tremendous. We were just talking about, this event has blown away records for Discover. We've got over 13,000. They're still signing up and showing up and coming in today. So this is by far a record. I think 10,000, mid-10,000 has been our record in the past. So just tremendous energy and excitement. Everybody wanting to come in and hear the story and to understand more about the new company and where we're going. We don't think of it as so much as four transformation areas as much as every company that's out there is undergoing some form of digital transformation. And really these four areas that we focus on is sort of our strategy to enable people, our customers to go through that digital transformation process. And it's everything from, I mean, everything is ultimately grounded in the way that applications and data and the experiences ultimately are changing and being transformed in this digital era. And so we talk about, okay, in light of that, what do I need to do in order to build infrastructure to support that application development work or that data mining work or to deliver that mobile experience we were talking earlier about, you know, stadiums and the things that are being enabled by Rubik's Technologies is amazing. So it's really part of one large digital transformation that's happening. And we think we're at the very beginning of that really. So the fact that things haven't changed in six months in our story is a really good thing because it's resonating, you know, with customers, with the analyst community. It really, they recognize, hey, this is, you're finally talking our language about things that we really care about and you're helping us solve some of our biggest problems. And it's, how do I compete in this idea economy that Meg talks about? Yeah, I mean, it's very esoteric, but again, feels good themes and digital transformation obviously is changing everything. I mean, theCUBE as an alternative to the cable has helped our business grown. And customers now is facing the same thing where these new alternatives, the Uber of X, the Uber of this, I'm going to be the Airbnb of this, I mean, literally the biggest disruptors don't even own the assets. Largest taxi company doesn't even own any car. So this kind of, you know, daily press gets customers saying, wait, where am I being disrupted? So take us down a notch on the story challenge. What is the signal out of HP? Now that the noise is over, the whole merger thing, of the split, I mean, splits over, all that noise is gone. What's the hottest story coming out of HP? Wow, the hottest story coming out of HP. I mean, what's the most, I mean, something's rising, some things go faster, some are nice to slow, a little slower, and they're kind of, you know, turtle with the hair. What's really growing the fastest? Well, I think across the spectrum, I mean, it depends sort of what industry you're looking at, but I'd say that all the different aspects of transformation are hot in various different ways. But, I mean, probably the biggest one is the thing that's the hardest thing to go do, which is the hybrid infrastructure piece of it, right? You know, applications and data are the fuel of the idea economy. It's what, you know, apps and data are becoming the face of the company and the way that you interact with your customers. And if that wasn't changing or the speed and velocity of those things weren't changing, there wouldn't be a need to think about infrastructure differently, but the fact is that they are, and that's why we're, you know, talking about hybrid infrastructure so much, but it's really hard work, right? We hear from customers all the time that, look, I know that I need to go do all these contextual, you know, applications that are out there, the systems of engagement and stuff, but I've got all this system of record stuff that's in here, it's consuming all of my time, all of my resources. How do I get out from underneath of that? How do I build a roadmap for those applications of what, not only for what I have today, but where I need to go tomorrow and the new apps that I need to go create? So finding that right mix is a big, huge topic here today. So architectural reconfiguration, re-architecture and then ultimately app development seems to be the hottest themes I see, right? Because they also got to build the software on top of the infrastructure. Right, I mean in terms of hybrid, the whole point is again, what we're really talking about here is getting the application landscape correct, getting the right mix as we say is our message today and for the rest of the week, defining that right mix, how do I power that right mix of applications and infrastructure, then ultimately how do I optimize and broker that right mix of applications across the different infrastructures that we have today? So I mean that's just the reality that they're dealing with, but it's again, getting to that plan and then actually executing and implementing that, it's not a trivial task. No, it's not, it's not subtle either. These four pillars, if you will, these solution areas, you know, it's great, you can, and that customer-driven clearly, you're having conversations with your customers around those four areas, whereas previously they might have said, hey, I want to transform into the digital economy, say, okay, here's a product that can help you do that. Right, see, that's a non-subtle shift that you've made and so it's customer-driven, you've had some smart people say, okay, these are the four areas we're going to focus on. How, Jason, is that trickling down through the organization and very importantly, out to the channel? Well, I think one of the couple of big things that you're seeing is, to your point about products is that we realize we're not going to help drive transformation in this digital era with a product. We're not just going to, you know, here's a server and all of a sudden you're, you know, hybrid infrastructure. Hybrid infrastructure is the traditional assets, the private clouds, the public cloud, all brought together and managed as one. So we're seeing a lot more solution work that's happening and across this entire show floor. That's one thing that's new from June is bringing together the solutions, the software and the hardware into various solutions that we can go in and put in front of a customer as a proof of concept to say, you know, hey, if you want an intelligent workplace, let's talk about all the different elements that go into that, right? Or if you want to transform to hybrid infrastructure, let's talk about the solution first around what we're going to do with your current application landscape, right? And how we're going to go from point A to point B to point C. So that's one of the big changes is just bringing those elements together into solutions that we can actually go consume and sell. And then we're also doing that at the right level for our various channels partners as well. They can go in and they can do some of that service work and that advisory work. But ultimately, you know, to solve this problem, you're going to need all of those different pieces. And that's what really makes, you know, Hewlett Packard unique in this space is having that real depth in applications and infrastructure and then optimizing and managing that. Well, and the channel's key, right? Because, I mean, 75% of the channel is still selling 10. Sure. And you're helping your, I presume, you're helping your channel transform into these areas. Absolutely. So how do you see? Well, they want to. I mean, they're hearing the same thing that we're hearing. Yeah, they have to, or else they're going to. We didn't make up the, I mean, you know, and in some ways, we didn't make up the transformation areas, it's just what we were hearing from customers. They were saying, these are some of our biggest challenges and our problems. These are the things that we're seeing underlining the disruption that's happening in our industry. Can you help us with that problem? Don't tell me about your product, help me solve this problem. So the channel partners are hearing the exact same thing that we're hearing from our customers. And so, you know, they're upping their game and that's why they're really embracing Hewlett Packard Enterprise is because we're coming to them not just with a list of products to go sell, right? But in front of that, we're putting, you know, a whole new sales methodology that they can go out and engage those customers, get arming them with the solutions that they can go deliver. So, you know, we're all undergoing this, you know, transformation, if you will. So of the four, you know, there are three that are pretty clear and then the one we get a lot of questions on. I wonder if we can help sort of clear that up. So, you know, the hybrid piece is, I think, pretty clear. The secure piece, the enabling, you know, data, big data, et cetera. The workplace collaboration piece, help us understand that better. Where the Aruba acquisition fits into that and give us some examples. Yeah, I mean, you know, the story they were telling there with the workplaces, like the workplace is really everywhere and the workplace is not the traditional idea of just an employee comes in and, you know, sits down at a desk and they look in front of a screen. The workplace may not involve an employee at all. It may be a mobile app or a kiosk in an airport, right? That's engaging that customer directly and instead of an employee being there, there's an application or there's an application experience. So, that whole, really, that part of transformation, what we're fundamentally talking about with our customers is the experience. That's the future of work. I mean, that's the hashtag that we follow and people are using a lot. Future of work, that's the bucket of this digital transformation. It's kind of a globalized theme, but that's productivity, that's the software. Most of the ERP guys, I mean, CRM guys talk about it as more of a, that's a different software cell, but to the general CIO, it's like digital's disrupting the user experience. That's the thing. Talk about the experience battleground is what we're undergoing and ultimately it's, there's sort of two experiences that you have to really have to excel at enabling. One is the employee experience and the GenMobile and all that kind of stuff, but where the disruption's happening is the experience is being delivered to the end user at the end of the day and there's a lot of different elements that have to come together. It's the application, it's the data, it's the ability to test and learn, it's the speed and velocity of making that experience better than your competitors and that's what that area is all about and so it takes us having to bring all those different elements together, infrastructure, software, services. It's hard for you guys because you guys have such a compelling broad portfolio of products. For instance, I've been following your ITSM group, IT Service Management, real compelling part of the product portfolio, but it's kind of down on the weed, it's not a point solution, it's a market, but that's a critical linchpin in this productivity area. So is that an end user product or is that, so as a matter of marketing, how do you wrap, how do you get all that together? Take us through that, it's challenging. Well a lot of the new messaging that they'll be talking about today, specifically that portfolio, is I think raising that up a level to understand, look it's all about this whole, whether it's delivering a great experience or delivering that new application or whatever, there's a speed and velocity that needs to be enabled, the flow of work from idea to development, through testing, all the way through to final delivery and then continuous improvement, and so they're really up-leveling their story here today, and to me it's super clear, right, it's about automating tasks, the basic stuff that has to happen in developers or operations, it's about orchestrating processes, the end-to-end things, the testing management, those pieces, and then ultimately transforming the app and service delivery. And so it's getting way out of the weeds and up into, again, that's exactly- It's a solution. Right, that's what we're hearing from CIO, that's what they want to go do. We're moving from a speeds and feeds computer industry to solutions, bottom-line me, right? I got a problem to solve, I don't really want to get in the weeds on, because there's elements of all the solutions in there. So the workplace productivity, look, these are all, like I said, it's not four different areas, it's one large digital transformation that's happening in every single industry across every one of our customers. All of these elements really do need to be addressed for them to be competitive in the idea economy, and so there's not, I'm hesitant to say there's one that's more important than the other because if you did a great job with your hybrid infrastructure and you fall down in the experience, then you lose, right? I mean Uber is not, there's nothing magical about Uber other than someone understands the experience of an individual and what they want in order to get from A to B, right? I mean, the Taxicab companies hired the best application developers in the world and they built mobile apps, right? And they built database, they built all this kind of stuff, but it's that end experience that ultimately is failing them, right? And that's what's disruptive for Uber. So, and that's really the story that we're telling 100 yards over that way. Well, we talked about this in June, it's not, they're not mutually exclusive, these four areas, they feed each other. I want to go back to something you said earlier, Jason, which I think is right on. You were talking about systems of engagement, kind of giving way to systems of record, giving way to systems of engagement and everybody was sort of frenzy there, but there's been a pullback and people have said, well, wait a minute, we're not going to just throw away our systems of record, we want to extend them. And systems of engagement maybe provide some data for that, but we want to build a new set of apps that leverage transactions and analytics. And so you're seeing that, obviously. I want to talk about that a little bit more. We talk about it as like core and context and the core is that those sort of systems are record type of pieces and it's not going away. I mean, a lot of that stuff sitting on traditional IT and that's where majority of the spend is happening and that's oftentimes sort of core and strategic to that company. So that still needs to continue. We need to modernize some of those processes around it and we need to open up the connections and the hooks into these systems of engagement. And the new work, right? That is happening on the system of engagement side. That's where all that's going on. Bringing those two things together, the speed and velocity on the one side that folks want with the illities, the enterprise illities of reliability, security, all that kind of stuff that they want from core IT. And that's really the magic of what we're doing across this hybrid infrastructure. And as you said, it's not just for the sake of building systems of engagement. It's, a lot of that is to generate that data so that we can learn and test new ideas and bring those in. And again, ultimately, what can I learn about what I'm delivering that I can continuously improve that experience? Well, if you think about real time, everybody's going crazy about real time for good reason. If you can affect the outcome of whatever it is, a sale or a weather incident or lives, that is high impact and you can't do that without systems of record. Right. No, you can't. And you've got systems of engagement. All this stuff's great. So first of all, I want to just summarize just by saying congratulations. On the new company and the great branding. Welcome to the world. Welcome world of the Hewlett-Backard Enterprise. I'm excited. At the same time riveted by the new, the new fresh official. And even though you've been operating it for like eight months or whatever. We tested it with the last guy. It seemed to be doing right now. It really, it's really resonating with customers. And you know, it's just, it's been great to be part of it. You know, absolutely. Share with the folks out there watching a little bit about what's behind the curtain at HP. Some of the things they want to kind of get a feel for kind of a periscope, if you will, moment. Share with us, what's going on? What's the data? What's it like inside the new HP? I mean, it's a new energy. You know, there's more collaboration. There's more sense of sort of common mission. I think everybody's on the same page in terms of where we want to go as a company. We've got some new hires. We're bringing in new people. Yeah, great new. I mean, we're always, well, we're always hiring new people at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. I mean, the best of the best are coming in and they want to work with us. And, you know, across these different areas, we're finding the people that are the experts that understand this stuff. You know, we talked about this a little bit in June, but like a huge booth for Docker over here, like a year and a half ago. Docker was the hottest thing, probably still is one of the hottest things going on in the industry. But, you know, no one would ever compute, you know, connect the dots between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and, you know, I don't know, a Docker or a chef or a puppet or whatever. And it turns out we're doing tremendous deep work with, you know, folks like that. So all the, you know, all the hottest trends that are going on in the industry, we're in the middle of that conversation. You're in all the relevant areas. What's the guiding principles on your marketing team, the marketing groups, and the folks that you work with at Daily Base as you make decisions like the branding thing you talked about before you came on to, you know, messaging, all this stuff. What's the guiding principle internally? What's the marching orders internally around all the employees? I mean, does it resonate with customers? I mean, it's customer first and all of that. It's people, it's not rocket science. It's, you know, it's listening to what your customers are saying and what they're asking for and getting out of your own way. I think that was, you know, that's one of the nice things about the company. I think being tighter and more focused is that, you know, we don't have that. You know, we're not putting barriers, artificial barriers between ourselves and our customers. And events like this are, you know, a great example of let's get down, let's get down to business. Let's get down to brass tacks. If you, you know, you got questions, let's pull the machine apart. Let's pull the code apart. Let's talk about how it works and resolve it. And let's move forward. Put the cards on the table, lay it all out. Right. Try to get to some solutions. Go across the hall, we'll make a deal and, I mean, yeah. So solutions is the focus. Seems to be the big focus. Well, yeah, I mean, you have to, again, there's not a product that's going to drive, enable digital transformation or a magic wand. I wish there was, right? But you're going to need that depth and then deep understanding, you know, in both the application and the data and the experience side. And then, you know, the big differentiator for us is the innovation. I mean, we actually make our own. I hope you're talking to somebody about HPE Synergy later, right? Composable infrastructure. I mean, tremendous innovation that, quite honestly, IBM, they don't even do that anymore, right? And they're out of that business. So, and you're not going to go white box to Synergy, right? Anywhere. What's the bumper sticker for the show this year? What's your, what's your, God, you asked me this last time and I had a pretty good answer last time. You know, see the time zone. It's kind of early to put a bumper sticker, but early indicators, since you were involved, what's the theme? What's the arc of the show? What's the main theme? Well, I mean, the arc of the show is, you know, this notion of digital transformation where everyone's moving to what's next, right? They're next. They're next in terms of whatever industry that they're in. They're next to vision. And I think everything that we're putting together here is to help accelerate next and, you know, accelerate next for them and in their industry and for their vision. How about, you know, accelerate next, right? Accelerate, yeah. Accelerating the London, accelerating the Cube, accelerating next. Thanks for spending the time again on the Cube. Jason Newton here. Inside the Senior Director of Marketing Enterprise Group here at HPE, HPE Enterprise in London, HPE Discover. Go to the hashtag HPE Discover, go to crowdchat.net slash HPE Discover. Join the conversation and check out the live streams on the web to search HPE Discover Enterprise. We'll be right back with more after this short break.