(electronic music)
>> Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE
covering Dell Technologies World 2019,
brought to you by Dell Technologies
and it's ecosystem partners.
>> Welcome back to Las Vegas!
Lisa Martin with Stu Miniman.
You're watching theCUBE live
from Dell Technology World's 2019.
We're here with about 15,000 other people,
about 4,000 Dell Technologies partners, wow,
and now, for the first time, we're pleased to welcome,
for the first time, the CEO of Virtustream, Rory Read.
Rory, it's great to have you joining Stu and me
on theCUBE today!
>> It is, Lisa, it's a pleasure and real honor
to be on the show today.
>> So, this morning's keynote,
we were talking before we went live,
starts with lots of energy;
news, announcements, partnerships, collaboration.
You're an industry veteran which we'll dig into, I'm sure,
during the segment. >> Sure, 35 years!
>> 35 years?!
>> That's amazing.
>> 35 years is how old Dell's going to be in the next week.
>> 35 years.
>> That's a magic number,
Congratulations. >> It is, thank you.
>> Virtustream, talk to us about the integration,
you've led those efforts, massive acquisition,
what's goin' on on now, what's exciting you?
>> Well, I think it's kind of amazing what happened
in the integration.
This is the largest tech integration in the world;
67 billion dollars.
Shortly after Dell goes private,
they're going to acquire Dell EMC and VMware.
The huge undertaking, thousands of people work on it.
Less than 10 months, from the time it was announced,
October of '15, it goes live on September 7th, '16.
That's amazing and our customers reacted
and our partners in just an amazing way.
It's almost like it didn't happen.
You know, I'm biased, I think it went really well
but look at the numbers.
Look at the reaction in the marketplace,
the growth, the synergy, the revenue, the kinds of impact
and then you see today at Dell Technology World,
Michael does a keynote, he talks about the impact,
Karen comes up and talks about giving back
and the work that we're doing around prosthetic
and printing in 3-D and artificial intelligent based limbs.
If you're not fired up about that, you can't get energized.
And then you top that off with just an amazing discussion
about the partnership between VMware and Dell Technologies
on the Dell cloud and then the work that we're doin'
with Microsoft and Satya comes on stage
with Michael and Pat.
I mean, this is a power-packed moment.
And we put this company, just three years ago, together
and look at the kind of impact it has in the industry.
Amazing, just amazing!
>> So, Rory, I think Jeff Clarke said it well this morning,
he said, if you're into technology and can't get excited
by what's going on, it's kind of my words,
maybe you're not in the right space.
You've got a few of the interesting pieces
of the Dell Technologies family.
Talk about the massive acquisition of EMC with VMware,
Virtustream, not such a small acquisition itself,
over a billion dollars,
>> 1.2 billion dollars, yep.
>> 1.2 billion dollars and I remember back,
Boomi wasn't that long ago either for, you know,
it was less than a billion dollars but it was.
>> Oh, Boomi is an amazing set of technology.
I know you're going to have Chris McNabb on later today.
Chris and I've worked
on what he'd call the Boomi acceleration plan
the last two years.
We, with that team, have put in a strategy around
taking advantage of just an amazing set of technology.
Boomi's cloud integration software, I believe,
is the absolute best on the planet.
And the work we've done, we've doubled that business
in the last 18 months.
We've added probably a billion dollars of market valuation.
They add thousands of customers every quarter
to that portfolio.
The reach and touch and how that's going to drive the way data
and applications talk in the cloud era,
it's just at the beginning of the impact there.
And then you look at a company like Virtustream,
it's the leader in mission-critical application workloads
on the cloud.
This is a company born on the cloud,
it's based on the cloud, nine years ago.
It's the one hand to shake.
Customers choose us with their most important applications
and data because they need to know that that's going to work
and that we have the experience to plan it,
to migrate it, optimize it and bring it to the cloud,
to cloudify it.
And that we're the single hand to shake.
What's different about us is we have an IaaS,
the infrastructure as a service.
We have the software stack with xStream software,
take time, I get fired up about Boomi's technology,
Virtustream xStream software, amazing.
And then on top of that, you layer on a white-glove set
of application and professional services, very cool.
But what was the coolest
were some of the announcements today
and how we're playing with, it's all VMware based
on Virtustream and when they announced the partnership
with Azure and the idea of VMware workloads on Azure,
that's actually running, will be running and running on
and we've been working with Microsoft and VMware,
on Virtustream and it's in the announcement.
>> When you say it's running on Virtustream
is it your data centers, is it part of the software stack?
>> Oh, no, the data centers are all Azure.
>> Yeah. >> It's usin' our software
and our technology team have built that set
of technology that, we've been in partnership for months
with Microsoft and VMware to create this offering
as one of the cloud service partners.
>> Yeah, so. >> Pretty cool.
>> So, Virtus' foundational?
>> It's pretty foundational and you know,
but at the end of the day, think about Dell Technology,
is one in the ingredient branch?
Sure, that's foundational.
This is a company built for the next 10 years.
Dell Technologies and the impact it's going to have
in the industry, it's just beginning.
Where is it going to go?
You saw it this morning at the keynote.
Michael has some big, big ideas.
>> So, Rory, a lot of times, we look at things
in the industry and people, it's like, oh, it's binary,
it's public cloud or private cloud.
I've worked with a lot of service providers
and when you look at the world, multicloud,
it's really more of an and in putting the pieces together.
>> It is.
>> Many of the service providers that were EMC
and are Dell partners before, you know,
three or four years ago, oh my gosh, AWS and Microsoft,
well, okay, a partner a little with Microsoft
but Amazon's the enemy.
And today, it's, well, I have our stuff and I'm partnering
and I probably have connections between them.
Help us paint as to where Virtustream fits
into this spectrum today.
>> Stu, you're on the right point about multicloud.
We just did a press release today at Virtustream
where we partnered with Forrester
and we do a whole industry study on the cloud
and the future of the cloud.
Multicloud, 97% of the customers we spoke to,
that Forrester spoke to, have a multicloud strategy
for their mission-critical applications.
And 89% of 'em plan to increase their spend
on multicloud mission-critical activities.
How we play in that space is that we're the trusted player,
we've done over 1,800 SAP migrations,
we're an Epic Healthcare leader.
Go talk to Novan.
Ask them how it's gone on Virtustream's cloud.
Amazing set of mission-critical capability.
But what we're taking is,
there's this infrastructure as a service
and this software stack and the services,
that software stack is xStream.
What we want to do it enable that software stack
to manage data and applications in a private environment,
a public environment, on-prem.
And it's all based on VMware.
So it ties directly into Jeff and Pat's announcement
this morning where they talked about VMware being a platform
and how they're going to create the Dell cloud
on that platform.
Virtustream is one of the destinations
for mission-critical workload
but because it's based on VMware technology,
it seamlessly begins to integrate across that and allows us
to manage data and applications,
linking our xStream software with the VMware capabilities
that allow that data and the APIs to exchange data
and flow freely in a multicloud world.
97% of the customers
in the Forrester research we just released
are going to go multicloud for mission-critical,
not just basics,
this is for their most critical applications and data.
That's the future. >> So,
your energy is outstanding
in your enthusiasm for this.
What are some of the early reactions that customers
are having to some of this exciting groundbreaking news
that's coming out today, what are your expectations?
>> Well, I spend time with customers every week
and we talk about it,
well, I've actually talked to customers today about it.
They found the energy, the passion, the technology
that was introduced this morning was sort of game-changing
because, to Stu's point,
they are going in a multicloud era
and they know it's going to be multicloud.
And there's going to be on-prem, public, private,
it's going to link all together.
They need the technology, trusted advisors
that can work with them, not with a single answer
that only fits one way.
At Dell Technologies, you want to run it on-prem?
We have those capabilities.
You want to run on a public cloud?
We have those technologies.
You want to run in a hybrid kind of solution
or a private cloud?
We're going to create the ability,
with these announcements today,
to link it together and to create the ability
to do it seamlessly, efficiently,
productively, cost-effectively, that allows our customers
to dramatically transform their businesses,
to take them on that digital transformation,
to disrupt their industries and win.
'Cause when our customers win, we win.
>> Absolutely. >> And that's what we do
at Dell Technologies, we enable our customers to win
and it's all about the customer, every single day.
You talked about the integration,
you know what Michael said every day
when we were doing the integration?
He said, on every decision,
when we were building the company,
we basically built a new company, level by level,
he said, the guiding principle
to every decision is customer-in.
How does this matter to the customer?
How does it make it different for the customer?
And I think we live that every day.
There's 15,000 of our closest friends here in Las Vegas,
they're pretty excited to be here
and why do they take that time?
Because we're one of their trusted partners
on their digital transformation journey.
That's not a bad place to be.
If you can't get excited about that,
>> Yeah, Rory,
>> you're in the wrong industry.
>> It was amazing to me how fast
that integration work happened.
We talked to Howard Elias a bunch along the journey.
I'm glad we finally get to get you on the record for it.
>> Howard's an amazing guy.
What a awesome partner.
>> And so, one of the things, glad it's 10 months,
is if this thing had taken 24 months,
so much of the industry would've changed by the time
from when you went in to when you went out.
So, I guess, how do you look at those massive waves
versus where you need to be with products today
in the market and where customers are?
Because the danger, you say,
I want to listen to the customers, well,
you get the old saying, if you ask customers,
they wanted a faster buggy,
>> Oh, right, right, right. >> not cars, so
>> Yeah, right, that's fair. >> how do you make sure
you're hitting that next wave and keeping up with it?
I look at all the pieces you have of the puzzle
that is the family and different places along the spectrum.
>> Well, I think, you know, there's value
in the diversity of thought, right?
And we talk about in workforce but it's in business.
The idea that Dell Technologies is this group of businesses
and all these experiences coming together
and the interactions with customers
from the smallest mom and pop shops, farms,
to all the way to the most gigantic
industry transformational companies,
we're exposed to a lot of things.
And with the kind of 140,000 professionals working together
and with Michael's vision and the ELT's vision,
there's an ability to see that future
and he is always looking at the future.
It's interesting, I've worked for a lot
of interesting people but Michael's ability
to understand data and a view,
he says it's about having big ears, right?
(Lisa laughing)
Your ears need to be twice the size of your mouth,
I mean, you got to listen.
And I seriously think he must have a tree of Keebler elves
creating data and information for him.
I've never seen someone with more data and information
and he listens, he values the input.
He's quick to make a decision but the team rallies
around that idea; how can we find that future?
And if we make a mistake, let's fix it fast.
Let's learn really quick.
Make that decision, learn quickly, adjust
and capture the opportunity.
And it's all about speed and what matters to the customer.
I've seen it firsthand, I've been here four years,
I spent 23 years at IBM, I spent five years at Lenovo
as their COO and president,
I was the CEO and president of Advanced Micro Devices,
it's an amazing environment where you create a place
where technological leaders come every day
to solve the most difficult solutions with the founder
of the company that's one of the industry icons
and it's just an amazing privilege and honor
to be part of it.
And I think you feel that from every person you talk
to that's part of Dell Technologies.
Being part of that integration was one
of the most proudest experiences of my life
and you know what we did?
We never ran it as an integration office.
We kept the decisions with the line, with the business
and we had a rapid pace to get through it
and decide it and we learned quickly
and we adjusted as we went.
It wasn't perfect but it was pretty close.
It was pretty close.
And I'm biased, I got it, I'm biased
>> Just a little bit, Rory. >> but it was good,
it was good, it was really a great thing
and Howard, amazing guy.
But it was because people believed in the vision
and they all worked together and when people work together,
you can do amazing and great things.
>> You're right, it's all about the people.
>> It is. >> Rory,
it's been such a pleasure having you on theCUBE
this afternoon with Stu and me.
I wish we had more time 'cause I know we could keep talking
to you but, you're just going to. >> Anytime.
>> You're going to have to come back.
>> Any time you'd like me, it was a pleasure
and thank you so much for taking time to speak to me.
When you talk to Boomi this afternoon,
make sure you get into that technology,
world best cloud integration platform.
>> You got it! >> Beautiful.
>> All right, thank you. >> All right, guys, thank you.
>> For Stu Miniman, I'm Lisa Martin,
you're watching theCUBE live from day one
of our double set coverage of Dell Technology World 2019.
Thanks for watching.
(electronic music)