 From Orlando, Florida, it's theCUBE. Covering Accelerate 19, brought to you by Fortinet. Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of Fortinet Accelerate 2019 live from Orlando, Florida. I'm Lisa Martin with Peter Burris and we're welcoming to theCUBE for the first time, Jeff Foley, Senior Business Development Manager from Siemens. Jeff, thanks for joining Peter and me today. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it. So everybody knows Siemens in some form or fashion or capacity. Here we are at a cybersecurity event. Talk to us a little bit about what Siemens and Fortinet are doing together as partners and a little bit about your role in BizDev. Sure. So the organization, the part of Siemens that I'm part of is more of a digital industries. So what we do is a lot of in the operational technology environment area. So it's more of the harsh environments, oil and gas, waste water, rail transportation. So we do a lot of the communication and the cybersecurity around that. We were working with Fortinet in order to bring the best of the IT practices in cybersecurity into that OT environment. So we're doing a collaboration between the two because there's that communication that needs to happen. They still need that access point into that OT environment. Now explain why? Because IT guys have grown up presuming that everything was going to be connected and a lot of business leaders presumed that everything's going to be connected. The OT guys have had to work in a very, very different world where they've had to do real time work sometimes for 30 years. So take us a little bit through that dynamic and why is it that today we actually can start having conversations about how these two things come together, work together and generate value together? Sure. So typically from an operational technology environment when they put something together that's normally for a 20 or 30 year span they want to put something in the network or in the environment that's going to last, that's going to be out there. It's not, they don't change it, they don't upgrade it normally as they do in an IT environment which typically has like a five year life cycle. So in that OT environment what's happening no as times are changing and all these cyber attacks are happening they're being mandated to do this. A good example is in 2005 President Obama signed into a legislative order that we must in the US secure a critical infrastructure and part of that securing that is saying we're going to make sure that we're not going to be hacked because in the utility market if we take down four of the major interconnects between the power grid then it's stated that US would become a third world country in eight days. So what we're doing is- Let's not do that. No, we're trying to help prevent that. So by doing so we need to add security and historically from an OT environment it's always been about there's not been remote access there's not been that connectivity it's always been about electrical and mechanical devices but now as these devices are getting smarter they're getting more intelligent there's more information you're getting out of it you get more efficiency and more information out of it so you can do your job better. You can do remote access and like in Florida here we have a bunch of hurricanes. There's the ability to say after a hurricane I can get remote access or I can do that communication out to these devices where you wouldn't be able to do periodically in the past. So because of that connectivity we need to start securing our infrastructure to make sure that as we get access to that there's potential that the bad guys you get access to those devices too. So we're working with our product portfolio and partners like Fortinet in order to make sure that we're applying the best of the IT security in the OT world. So in this convergence you're talking probably with folks who are not used to change. Change is hard for everybody however as you said in back in 2005 this became a presidential mandate. But also it's- I think it was 2015 wasn't it? 2005 Obama signed into he wasn't president till 2000. I'm sorry yeah 15. Thank you for the math help. You should have been missing one. Yeah just a few years ago. And the math expert. So just a few years ago there was this mandate from President Obama which we clarified was only four years ago. So but historically folks that are not used to having to change systems so quickly yet here's this mandate. There's also this increasing abundance of cyber attacks. How do you have those I presume difficult conversations with the OT side about the opportunity for OT, IT, convergence and the benefits and why they have to get on board with this? So historically from the OT side they've been very reluctant to do something like this. They want to own their own environment. They want to do that. And it's always been the perception that if you bring that cybersecurity of the IT world into that OT environment it's going to hinder their operations. But that's not really the case. The convergence of IT and OT has been happening for decades now. I started my job with Siemens in 2000 in the telecom world. And when we were doing that convergence of IT and OT back in 2000 when we were doing voice over IP. Because that was happening back then. So this convergence of IT and OT is an ongoing thing. It's just in different markets or different industries. So now that we're doing that, we're bringing it in there. They're starting to have that conversation but then it becomes it's really who owns that the operation or who owns that security. OT still wants to drive their own. They want to own their own. Where IT is saying, look, we have the knowledge, we have the experience. Let's help you get there. So there's generally a demarcation point that they've come to an agreement on where IT will say, we're going to help you to this point. And then you can own all the critical assets out on the far end. So let's talk about that demarcation point. What constitutes, what characterizes that demarcation point? What are, where are we today? Because we're moving from hardwired, 30 year footprint to increasingly wireless, faster. We're moving towards that but we're, how far are we when you're talking to customers? What is, what are the attributes of that demarcation point? It's interesting because we still, that goes everything we saw of customers that are on dial-up communication, serial communication, Ethernet, fiber, wireless, LTE. So there's a broad range of that, what we call the pipe. So no, the pipe is the communication just between the IT side down to the OT side. So it really helps to find that demarcation is when you get down to what are the critical assets? What's really the operation or what's making money for that company? And those are the assets which really the operational organizations own. And then the IT side really provides that communication down to that point. Got it. So it's really business specific. But are we starting to see, are we starting to see, well, it's got a little bit more processing power or it's got a little bit more, there's these security attributes that are associated with it. Are OT guys picking up on IT related security, there's certain elements of it faster than others? They are. And it really, it's region and it's industry specific. And it's really what's driving it. So like in the US, like I mentioned, the utility sector. The utility sector has requirements called NARC SIP. And these NARC SIP requirements said you must do these things. And they get very specific to the point of, you must have something that will detect antivirus or malware, you must do this. If you look into Canada, Canada just recently passed OEB requirements for Ontario. And those are based upon framework, cybersecurity framework to do that. So it's really the industry that they're in and the region that they're in as to what's really driving that or how deep and far they're going to go. And it goes back to your original point that it's being driven by regulatory edict or past exposure and trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. They don't want to make the news and they don't want to be pushed by the government but those are really the two things in the operational technology or environment that's really driving for that cyber. So can you share one of your favorite success stories that really highlights the opportunities that OT and IT convergence have enabled for customers of 49 and Siemens? Oh yeah, there's a, and again, because I'm global experienced I've got around the world but actually one of the favorites is actually there's two of them that have happened just here in North America. One is in Texas and one is in Canada and both of these requirements came to say that they had a specific date that they needed to make requirements to meet the regulatory otherwise that they were going to get fined. And they came to us and both of them were pretty last minute. So what we were able to do is to say, look, we have this platform that's rated for harsh environments that's no into your networking that provides that communication. So then what we can do is we can work with our IT partners put that application on that OT environment and then install and get it certified for your application. So there was two of them, like I said, one in the US and one in Canada which we made the deadlines where they came back and said, thank you very much and they're very appreciative of that. And how quickly were you able to get this up in earnings that they didn't miss the deadline and were able to certain gleaning value from this? I just did a write up on one of them. We got a phone call on a Friday that they needed to provide a solution. So we worked over the weekend and on Monday, we proposed that solution. So once you do that, no, obviously they need to go through their value chain to get the sign off and we have to go through our process. But it was within 30 days, we were able to install it, make their deadline and make sure that they were compliant. That's a pretty good marketing message to deliver that. You guys could enable such a big convergence in a month's period. In a 30 day period, yeah. Pretty impressive. That was one thing that I think we all worked out there was a deadline, we all worked towards that. It was a trusted partner thing. The customer came to us, they were asking for some stuff, they trusted us to do that. So like I said, we worked over the weekend to help them do that. We felt we had the right solution to address their requirements. And at the end of the day we were able to meet that 30 day deadline. But the trust is not just with you. It's not just with Siemens. It's with an expanding array of companies that Siemens is working with. That's correct. What is it like working with a company like Fortinet to try to ensure that these new domains that are characterized by enormous uncertainty, technological, operational, organizational are not undermined by challenges of crafting that solution together in such ways it can be implemented quickly and with a high degree of facility. I think it's a great opportunity for Siemens and Fortinet to be working together only from the fact of Fortinet has got the history, they've got the technology, they've got the name in their market space and they've got the capability to deliver that. Siemens and if you look from our customer space in our environment, no, we are very well developed and well entrenched in our customers. So to be able to bring the technology and the experience and the know-how and bring those IT cybersecurity requirements which are now being pushed down into the OT environment in no amount of time. It's not, there's no development needed, there's no additional stuff. Fortinet already has that knowledge from the IT space. So to bring that into the OT environment is very beneficial I think to both of us in order to help drive their customer opportunities in our market. And they talked a lot this morning during the keynote about where they are from a competitive leadership perspective. That was peppered a lot throughout the first at least 90 minutes of the keynote. But presumably obviously everybody has choice, everybody likes choice, Siemens has choice there. I'm just curious to get your take on some of the announcements that came out today from Fortinet. Does that excite Siemens, were you involved in that in terms of being able to take the next set of customers who have the same challenge that you described with the Texas Space and Canada-based customers and show them we can help you together, Siemens and Fortinet, transform in 30 days? I think it's very exciting with Fortinet's doing in the new capabilities and functionality that they're coming out with. I think that's really going to be able to enhance our offering because it's really a differentiator for us. If you look at us from the operational technology side, there's not a lot of people out there that can actually do what Fortinet's able to bring to the table. So all these additional features and functionalities that is coming out by Fortinet to be able to put it onto our platform and our environment and to be able to offer that in the operational technology side, it's I think it's a big differentiator from our competitors for both Fortinet and for Siemens to be able to jointly provide this offering to our customers. Can I just one question about your competition? A lot of companies like Siemens, especially that are especially strong in the OT space, not just your customers, but suppliers like yourselves have also struggled a bit as they try to find, as they try to navigate that way forward to convergence of IT and OT and appropriate convergence of IT and OT. What is it about Siemens that has allowed you to not stub your toe or cut off your leg like some of the competitors? I believe that's because we've had a long history in both the IT and the OT space. If you look at the vertical or the digital industries that we're in right now, it's been very much OT centric for the last 25, 30 years. But we have Siemens is 379,000 people worldwide strong. We're very embracing the newer technology and the newer capabilities. Myself starting with Siemens 20 years ago with an IT background, being able to bring that knowledge to that ability and doing that convergence of the IT and OT within Siemens for so long. I think we understand our customers and we've been listening to them and then we're partnering up with companies like Fortinet helps us bring that technology and that capability to our customers. So that expertise, that partnership, what's your recommendation as we wrap things up here for customers who are at the precipice of being able to understand why IT and OT need to converge? What's your recommendation for them to tackle this challenge successfully? I think the best advice I could have is let's sit down and have that conversation. Let's see what the requirements are. Let's see what they're trying to accomplish because I believe with the solutions that Siemens has between the communication, the network and the security and then the technology and the capabilities that Fortinet's bring to that table, we can help design a customized solution for their environment in order to make sure that they can address their cybersecurity needs. And do so quickly. Well, Jeff, thank you so much for joining Peter and me on theCUBE this afternoon. We appreciate your time. Thank you for having me. For Peter Burris, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE.