 From the SiliconANGLE Media Office in Boston, Massachusetts, it's theCUBE. Now, here's your host, Dave Vellante. The imperative to protect data has never been more pressing. As companies transform themselves from businesses into digital businesses, the intrinsic value of their data rises exponentially. The problem for infrastructure pros is that everything in IT is additive. It seems like nothing ever dies, which means more things to manage. Now, think about that. When you're protecting data, you have bare metal, VMs, now containers, you've got cloud, you got to worry about the edge. All this data needs to be protected. Not only does this increase complexity, it expands the attack surface for adversaries wanting to steal or ransom your data. Now, at the heart of all this is a build out of a massively global distributed cloud. We saw wave one of the cloud, which was public. Wave two was really hybrid, and that's evolving. Now, in parallel, you're seeing the emergence of multi-cloud. And as I said, these earlier trends are additive, they're not replacements. And with me to discuss these important issues and how Dell's EMC specifically is pivoting toward cloud data protection is Beth Phelan, who's the president of Dell EMC's Data Protection Division. Beth, great to see you. Welcome. Good to be here again. So we know the world is hybrid. It's a fundamental, the on-prem stuff is part of the fundamental digital transformations of these companies. And now you've got data protection for the cloud. So what do you see happening in that world? Yeah, let's start with what we're seeing in the market. We recently re-ran our global data protection index. We've been doing it for many years and we've been really using that to help us understand the landscape and what our customers need. And first, not surprisingly, it shows that continued trend of movement and reliance towards cloud environments for business applications, continuing to increase. On top of that, the customers despite that are continuing to struggle with ensuring they have the right data protection for their cloud environments. Right, so they're struggling. You see that, we see that as well. What's going on there? What does the data tell you? Yeah, first of all, more than half of the customers don't have a comprehensive data protection solution for their SaaS, cloud-native, and multi-cloud environments. More than two-thirds of the customers who may be relying on their cloud service providers for data protection say that they do not have a solution that covers all of their workloads. So whether they're working with a cloud service provider or some other vendor, they're being really clear that they do not have a comprehensive approach to cloud data protection. Yeah, so I mean, you see the cloud adoption is going like crazy, but it seems like the data protection component is lagging. How is that affecting the traction in your business? Yeah, it's the double-edged sword, right? On one level, customers see the advantages of moving to a cloud. But on the other hand, they're really looking for vendors that they can partner with to still have the same confidence that the data is protected, that they have on-prem. And what we're seeing now is that customers are turning to us to help solve that problem. We have over a thousand customers using Dell EMC for their cloud data protection. And we're narrowing in on three exabytes of data that we're currently protecting in the cloud. So it's happening. Yeah, that's a pretty good traction. So I want to talk about VMware. Obviously, VMware is the linchpin of many customers' hybrid strategy, and it's clearly an important component of Dell technologies. Talk a little bit about the relationship between Dell EMC data protection specifically and VMware. I'm interested in, you know, they've announced Project Tanzu and there's Kubernetes. How are you guys working together to really deliver value for customers? So we are super excited about the opportunity to work so closely with VMware, because as they're cutting edge in their domain, we're working directly with them. And that's an advantage that comes with being part of the Dell technologies family. And so we were the first company to bring data protection for Kubernetes environments out to market. It's available now. So you'll see us bring that into the Tanzu and Mr. Critical as we move forward, partnering closely with VMware. And of course, we're already fully certified for VMware cloud. It's really an ongoing regular conversation about how we can work together to bring the best to our customers. So Beth, I got to ask you, so part of your role as the leader of the division is obviously you got a lot of miles to feed, big division, you got to make your plan, you got to deliver for customers, but strategy is another key component of this. How do all these cloud trends shape your strategy? So core to our strategy is to be the essential provider of data protection for multi-cloud environments. So no matter where customers are choosing to deploy their applications, they can have the same confidence that they always did that that data is protected and that they can get it back. So that's core. And if you want three words to remember for our strategy, think VMware cloud and cyber, cloud is central to it and you're going to be hearing a lot more about it in the weeks and months ahead. Okay, so I got to ask you, break out your binoculars, maybe even the telescope. What are the futures look like when you think about the division and the market? So we've been talking about cloud for a long time, but we are still in the middle of this journey. Customers are going to rely on the cloud even more for additional use cases and especially in the data protection space. Right now we're seeing backup to the cloud, DR to the cloud, but the future will include cyber resiliency that's leveraging cloud deployments. You're also going to see more and more of an emphasis on people leveraging SaaS for their software consumption. And for us, that means not only protecting SaaS applications, but it also means giving customers the option to consume data protection in a SaaS model. We already do that today with things like Cloud Snapshot Manager, with things like the PowerProtect Management and Orchestration, but you're going to see us do even more of that because they're just such incredible benefits of people leveraging SaaS to consume their software. Data, constantly evolving landscape, data protection has to evolve with it. Beth, thanks so much for coming to theCUBE. It's great to be here. And thank you, keep it right there. We'll be right back right after this short break. From world famous cloud studios, Dell Technologies presents the world's number one show on data protection solutions for today's organizations. It's proven in Modern Magazine with Jake and Emmy. Hello everyone and welcome to the premiere of PM Magazine. Where we cover the proven Dell Technology solutions that you've come to rely on. And the latest modern innovation driving powerful data protection for the future. I recently spent some quality time with one of our customers. And I learned a thing or two about Dell proven data protection solutions. Let's watch the clip. We've always relied on Dell Performance, sufficiency and scale to help us keep pace with our data protection needs, but there's so much more. For example, we've been crushing it with Dell cloud data protection for backup to the cloud. In cloud backup, cloud tiering, cloud DR. Uh-huh. Well, you get the picture. It's a huge business advantage. How so? Our costs are down. We spend less time on management. We're meeting our service levels and we have peace of mind that all of our data is protected. Right. Awesome. Did you talk about how Dell's agile development approach is accelerating the speed at which we deliver customer value? Yes. And how cloud capabilities will continue to grow? Yes. And about VMware protection? Yes. And cyber recovery? Yes. Emmy, we covered all of that, as well as the mega trends that require data protection with a modern approach. Well, modern is exactly what our guests today are here to discuss, Jake. He is Ken Patel, a noted data protection expert. And joining us from the field on her vacation in the Bahamas is Barbara Penner of the Data Management Institute. Thank you both for being here. So Ken, what should our viewers think about when they hear the phrase modern data protection? They should think new requirements for modern applications. Cloud native workloads, Kubernetes, multi-cloud and data services to name a few. Barbara, would you add anything to that list? I would add business service recovery on premises or in the cloud, autonomous protection to auto detect and protect workloads across edge, core and cloud infrastructure. And lastly, all of this must operate at global scale. Thank you both. This is exactly where we're heading with Dell PowerProtect Solutions. Well, it's time for a break, but when we come back, we've got something special in store for you. Don't we, Jake? I was hoping you forgot. Oh, no. Someone learned how to make cream puffs and it did not turn out well for him. My apologies in advance to my mother who tried to show me around the kitchen, but as you can see. We'll be right back. We're back with Rob Emsley, who's the director of product marketing for Dell EMC's data protection division. Rob, good to see you. Hi, Dave, good to be back. So we just heard from Beth about some of the momentum that you guys have from your perspective, from a product angle. What is really driving this? Yeah, well, one of the things that we've definitely seen is that as we talk to our customers, both existing and new customers, cloud journeys is top of mind for all of the CIOs. It's being driven by either the desire to drive efficiency, take out costs, and data protection is one of the most common use cases. And one of the things that we find is that there's four use cases for data protection that we see, long-term retention of data, cloud disaster recovery, backup to the cloud, and the emerging desire to stand up new applications in the cloud that need to be protected. So backup in the cloud really completes the four major use cases. Well, one of the things I think is really important in this market is that you deliver optionality to your customers. So how are customers enabling these use cases? Yeah, so the first two use cases of long-term retention and cloud disaster recovery is really driven by our software and our appliances. Both of those are really predicated based upon the assumption that customers are going to deploy data protection on-premises to protect their on-premises workloads, and then tier to the cloud or, which is becoming more common, use the cloud as a disaster recovery target. You know, it's delivered by our data protection software and that's either in a software form factor or that software delivered in integrated appliance form factor. So let's talk about purpose-built backup appliances. I think our friends at IDC, I think, you know, coined that, they tracked that market for a while. You guys have been a leader there. The acquisition of data domain obviously put you in a really strong position. Give us the update there. Is it still a vibrant market? Is it growing? What's the size? What's it look like? Yeah, so as we look at 2020, IDC forecasts the market size to be a little under $5 billion. So it's still a very large market. The overall market is growing at a little over 4%. But the interesting thing is that if you think about how the market is made up, it's made up of two different types of appliances. One is a target appliance, such as DataMain and the new PowerProtect DD. And the other is integrated appliances where you integrate the target appliance architecture with data protection software. And it's the integrated appliance part of the market that is really growing faster than the other part of the PVBA market. It's actually growing at 8%. In fact, IDC's projection is that by 2022, half of the purpose built back appliance market will be made up of integrated appliance solutions. So it's growing at twice the overall market rate. But you guys have two integrated appliances. Why two? How should people think about those? Yeah, so a little under three years ago, we introduced a new integrated appliance called the Integrated Data Protection Appliance. It was really the combination of our backup software with our DataMain appliance architecture. And the Integrated Data Protection Appliance has been our workhorse for the last three years, really allowing us to support that fastest growing segment of the market. In fact, last year, the Integrated Data Protection Appliance grew by over 100%. So triple-digit growth was great. It's something that allows us to address all market segments all the way down to SMB, all the way to the enterprise. But last year, one of the things you may remember at Dell Technologies World is we introduced our PowerProtect portfolio. And that constituted PowerProtect Data Manager, our new software-defined platform, as well as the delivery of PowerProtect Data Manager in an integrated appliance form factor with PowerProtect X400. So that's really our new scale out data protection appliance. We've never had a scale out appliance in the architecture before, in the portfolio before, and that gives us the ability to offer customers choice. Scale up or scale out, integrated and target. And with the X400, it's available as a hybrid configuration or it's also our first or flash architecture. So really, we're providing customers with the existing software solutions that we've had in the market for a long time, an integrated form factor with the Integrated Data Protection Appliance, as well as the brand-new software platform that will really be our innovation engine. That will be where we'll be looking at supporting new workloads and certainly leaning into how we support cloud data protection and the hybrid cloud reality of the next decade. Okay, so one of the other things I want to explore is we've heard a lot about your new agile development organization. Beth has talked about that a lot. And the benefit, obviously, is you're able to get products out more quickly, respond to market changes, but ultimately the proof is in translating that development into product. What can you tell us about how that's progressing? Yeah, so certainly with PowerPotect Data Manager and the X400, that really is the epicenter of our agile product development activities. You know, we've moved to a three-month cadence for software releases, so working to deliver small batch releases into the market much more rapidly than we've ever done before. In fact, since we introduced PowerPotect Data Manager, where we shipped first release in July, we're now at the third iteration of PowerPotect Data Manager and therefore the third iteration of the X400 appliance. So there's three things that I'd like to highlight within the X400 appliance specifically. First is really the exciting news that we've introduced support for Kubernetes. So we're really the first, you know, large enterprise data protection vendor to lean into providing Kubernetes data protection. So that becomes vitally important, especially with the developments over our partner in VMware with vSphere 7, with the introduction of Tanzu and the reality is that customers will have both vSphere virtual machines and Kubernetes containers working side by side and both of those environments need to be protected. So PowerPotect Data Manager and the X400 appliance has that support available now for customers to take advantage of. Second, we talk about long-term retention of data in the cloud. The X400 appliance has just received the capabilities to also take part in long-term retention to AWS. So those are two very important cloud capabilities that are brand new with the X400 appliance. And then finally, we introduced the X400 appliance with a maximum configuration of four capacity cubes. Rough and tough, that was 400 terabytes of usable capacity. We've just introduced support of 12 capacity cubes. So that gives the customers the ability to scale out the X400 appliance from 64 terabytes all the way to over a petabyte of storage. So now if you look at our two integrated appliances, we now cover the landscape from small numbers of terabytes all the way through to a petabyte of capacity, whether or not you pick a scale up architecture or a scale out architecture. Yeah, so that really comes back to the point I was making about optionality and Kubernetes is key. It's going to be a linchpin, obviously a portability for multi-cloud sets that up. As we've said, it's not the be all end all, but it's a really necessary condition to enable multi-cloud, which is fundamental to your strategy. Absolutely. All right, Rob, thanks very much for coming on theCUBE. It's great to have you. Thanks, Dave. And thank you for watching, everybody. This is Dave Vellante for theCUBE. We'll see you next time.