>> Announcer: theCUBE presents HPE Discover 2022,
brought to you by HPE.
>> Okay, we're back to wrap up HPE Discover 2022.
theCUBE's continuous coverage, it's day three,
John Furrier, Dave Vellante.
We had a business friend that we met during the pandemic,
a really interesting gentleman, Norm Follett,
he's the director of Global Technical Marketing
at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a real innovator.
Norm, great to see you.
Thanks for making time, for coming on theCUBE.
>> Gentleman, thank you. Thank you.
I appreciate that you're giving me
the opportunity to bring it home.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> If I'm only going to get one shot at it,
it might as well
be the last one. (John laughing)
>> We always like to bring the energy in the last segment
because, theCUBE, we grind it out
for three days. >> Yeah.
>> It's just such
a great content injection >> Yeah, yeah.
>> and so, we love to wrap it up,
especially with someone like yourself
who can really help us convey the themes
but, even more so, when we look around here
at this entire ecosystem,
you and your team built this
>> We- >> And so,
take us through that.
>> Well, we did, and it takes a village.
We have the core team, HPE Global Technical Marketing,
which is my team, and then of course,
we're partnered with other parts
of our marketing organizations,
on different pieces, different aspects.
And then, we have a tremendous team of vendors
that we work with on a regular basis,
companies such as F2B and Ivory
and others that really all pitch in.
And they're what I call my flex force.
We also have another group called, promote live.
And we bring all these people together
and in addition to all the vendors,
we have something like 380 employees
that come from all different parts of the organization
to land in Las Vegas,
to man these booths and staff these exhibits.
And so, for one week, we get to really work
as a team, as a family.
There's no organizational borders, so to speak.
We're a big company. (John chuckles)
Everybody has different objectives
and different things that they're focused on,
but we get a chance to all get together
and work as one team.
And so, the people aspect is what's so exciting.
I think, this week,
I think, I even saw some of your broadcasts earlier
so I think it came through as well,
just the joy of being together.
>> Sure. >> Human beings!
(Norm laughing)
>> And HPE's got a new spring in its step
which so much focus brought to the table
from Antonio >> Yeah.
>> and the teams aligning.
>> Norm: Yeah we do, and that's...
When we start talking about the design
and one of the things that...
We work on this months ahead of time.
>> Yeah. >> and so,
it's like a spinning top,
we keep spinning that thing, tightening it up,
and then this week, you put it on the table
and you just let it go. >> Yeah.
>> But it's that whole (John laughing)
multi-month process of twisting that top around
and getting it going.
And right at the middle, right at the centerpiece,
the core design principle and an ask from Antonio,
is that we make sure that we major
on HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform.
Obviously, you've been talking about it all week.
>> Yeah. >> We've been talking
about it all week.
It's a big focus of our company.
And so, right at the very center,
we have our HPE GreenLake
edge-to-cloud platform demonstration.
And then, everything in the showcase
then radiates from that centerpiece,
right at the Nexus of all the activities.
So, the experience starts there and propagates
its way out. >> Well, I want to get
into some of the themes
and the set pieces you have here.
You are in technical marketing
and this platform is a tech play,
so it's not so much just solutions that you're enabling.
The theme this year is very much technical marketing,
so there's edge, firstly,
cloud data and Edge is the big themes.
Security's baked in throughout
the whole set as well, >> Right.
>> and that messaging.
But as technical marketing right now,
this is a platform plane.
Hewlett Packard is a platform.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is a platform.
>> Norm: It is and
it's a software platform.
It really completes a cloud strategy
and when you really think about it,
again, I know some of these numbers
have been floating around,
but 70% of all data is still staying on-prem,
for good reasons.
And then, 30% of it can be out there in the public cloud.
So, what you have
is an incomplete cloud strategy, if you will.
And what's happened is that organizations
have gotten spoiled a little bit by the cloud experience.
>> John: Mm-hmm.
>> Your dev team says, hey, I want to work in Azure.
I want to work in AWS.
I love how I go through this process.
Why can't I do that with my on-prem stuff?
I want that kind of experience.
So, IT organizations are really being challenged
about how to create that kind of service,
and that experience to their customers
because expectations
are high. >> Yeah, cause data,
it has to be inclusive.
It can't be exclusive to just one part of the organization.
>> Yeah.
>> So, how did that impact...
Obviously, cause GreenLake was coming together,
you got the multiple months in advance
planning for this big event. >> Right.
>> John: A lot of work goes into it.
What was some of the impact to the execution of this event
that you can share in terms of the set pieces,
some of the displays, was there,
I won't say radical, cause it's not radical,
it turned out great,
but what are some of the popular things happening here?
What worked?
What resonated with customers?
And what was different
from that GreenLake enabled you to do differently?
>> Well, I mean the first thing is that
we had a high-touch experience at that center point,
that Nexus, the hub of the activity,
the GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform demonstration.
And it started with us just
having the strategy about,
first of all, if you guys show this,
and I think, maybe you have,
when you enter in, we've got this big aha moment.
And that aha moment is that platform right in the center,
surrounded with wonderful visuals,
above, below, >> Mm-hmm.
>> behind, all around it.
But we had to think about, okay,
now, I'm staring at this thing,
how am I going to experience it?
And when I say a high-touch experience,
we start with what I call a platform generalist
that would greet you upfront,
engage in the conversation,
realize that Dave is a Network Operations Director,
he's got some keen interests,
he has some sort of peripheral idea about what the HPE
GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform is about.
But what can it really do for him?
How can he use it?
So, we start at that level of conversation,
socialize the core services, the attributes,
the technology that is actually enabling it.
And then, as we've identified in our conversation
that you're a network geek,
and you want to understand,
you've heard about Aruba,
how's Aruba Central play into that?
How do the networking services play into that?
And so, for them, we take that big leap
and go up two steps up onto the platform,
and we go over to the network specialists,
what I'm calling a platform specialist,
who understands all the things about the platform,
but then has peaked in networking,
and we have that conversation.
And you see how the Aruba customer
can benefit by this evolution.
And how the different platform services combine
to give a holistic experience across a company.
And so, when I'm an IT ops director
and I'm trying to service my network guys,
my storage guys, my compute guys,
my external cloud services guys,
that this is an environment
that I can do that. >> So, you have an experience
where they come in, they can easily move to a point quickly,
in the display, on the platform-
>> And it's tailored.
for them. >> Exactly, exactly.
>> That's the- >> Exactly right.
And so, if I transition over to you,
and you're my specialist, you're not saying, hi, Dave,
what brings you here today? >> What to you do? (laughs)
>> Norm: We're pre-qualified. >> Yeah.
>> It's a pre-qualified conversation, we jump into it.
And then, that specialist is armed with knowledge
as to where, okay, this guy is really interested
in switching technology, >> Yeah, yeah.
>> and switches as well,
well, that's Demo 512, >> Mm-hmm.
>> let me have one of my colleagues take you over there.
So, then, you're escorted over to Demo 512
to go to the next level.
Or perhaps, and this has happened throughout the week,
that people want to take a test drive of the environment.
And so, we have the HPE GreenLake Living Lab,
and we have a test drive environment right there,
and so we bring you right to that test drive
where you can kick the tires yourself,
you fire up a live environment,
we have a series of exercises that you're taken through.
And I think, I just checked with one of my colleagues,
we're like
well over 1,100 experiences of people doing that here,
and that lab has 25 seats.
But also, externally, >> Yeah.
>> so right off of hpe.com,
that same test drive experience that we're doing here,
people can launch at home.
And so, we got in this morning,
there were like four guys logged in
from New Zealand, doing exercises, which is pretty neat.
So, when you asked me the question,
what are the design considerations
that HPE GreenLake, that we baked in and thought through,
it's again that, hey,
it's a big thing, >> Experience.
>> Yeah, it's an experience,
let's start with you just digesting the basic concepts.
Then, let's talk about your persona,
and how it directly maps to what you can do,
and then, if you want to get deeper,
we have the solutions
that we designed behind it, solution demos.
And if you want to drive it, buckle up, let's go.
>> John: Yeah, you get right to a spot,
multiple monitors, great experience, high-touch.
That's awesome.
I got to ask you another question 'cause
pre-pandemic, you've been doing a lot
of this technical marketing and events.
And then, virtual hit. >> Right.
>> Now, we're back face-to-face.
>> Right. >> It's clear.
Dave and I were just talking about that
on our opening day here, on day one,
people love to see each other.
Every event we've been to, face-to-face,
people are energized to a level we didn't even see.
What are you seeing here in terms of performance,
obviously you've got sales people here,
you got executives here, you got customers,
face-to-face, >> Right, right.
>> Doing- >> Belly-to-belly!
>> Belly-to-belly as Dave says. (Dave laughing)
That's a positive. What's it like?
Explain what it's like.
>> Well, I mean you never know
what you've got 'til it's gone.
(group laughing)
And so, people didn't really realize that
hey, we really needed to have this kind of touch
and this kind of activity,
and it was funny because people before the pandemic,
there was also a push to do a lot of virtual stuff.
Economies of scale, >> Yep.
>> some of that stuff works,
teams are making decisions,
but then, it all goes away and people realize how valuable
just the conversations were,
meeting somebody, >> Relationships.
>> meeting somebody for a coffee,
talking through different...
Bumping into colleagues
that you haven't seen for years,
or you worked with somebody and now they're doing this.
And then you realize
you have some sort of synergy with each other,
and you know you can still help each other.
And just the discovery (chuckles) of being at Discover
and running into these >> Yeah.
>> different types of things.
So- >> Well, you think
about it, Norm,
we've done plenty of stuff virtually
but I think, >> We have.
>> we've talked maybe four times this week?
>> Yeah. >> I've seen you here
walking around the hallways.
We saw you last night. >> Yeah.
>> That just wouldn't happen in your little virtual world.
>> Yeah, I don't know.
And during that virtual era,
and I think, we'll look back on that,
and we're still going to do
virtual stuff, of course. >> And we're learning.
>> It's got value, >> Sure.
>> but I just want to thank you, guys,
for just being theCUBE
and the whole team, >> Yeah.
>> Frank, everybody.
Just tremendous partners through that,
because you can still look at that content
we produced together last year,
and it's still relevant. >> Yeah.
>> We're still sharing it,
It still has impact. >> Yeah.
>> We tell people, hey, here's your call to action.
You're leaving Discover.
By the way, there's these three or four pieces
out on theCUBE >> Yeah.
>> that really go at this topic.
>> John: That GreenLake event
we did last year was phenomenal.
>> It was, it was, and it was a partnership with you guys
and I speak on behalf
of many of my colleagues here at HPE,
we just want to thank theCUBE
for all the support and creativity,
and how we got through that altogether.
>> Well, back at ya, >> Yeah.
>> because, Norm, you were real innovator.
When John and I first met you, we were like,
hey, this guy is actually, (John laughing)
he's going to push us to some new levels.
>> The whole marketing-
>> And our team was a little nervous.
>> Yeah. >> a lot nervous actually
because you are not demanding, but you're super creative.
>> Well, thank you.
>> Dave: And so, you helped us up our game.
>> Norm: Yeah, thanks a lot.
Frank was getting...
Hey, Frank.
Dave, can you guys do this? (Dave laughing)
>> Yeah, we were
on the backbone a lot. (Norm laughing)
>> But we were growing and surviving
and thriving together >> Yeah.
>> and getting through it, >> Yeah.
>> but what's coming out the other side now is a new format.
You mentioned virtual, that's not going away.
Hybrid is a steady state for all of us,
even theCUBE. >> Yeah.
>> So, the new protocols and the new standards are emerging.
Now, I think that the newness of it scares people,
also like how do you do it?
Whose role is it to take >> Yeah.
>> the virtual and digital? >> Yeah.
>> So, this whole new set of experience is still coming out.
>> Yeah.
>> Dave: What's your vision? How do you see this?
'Cause face-to-face is clearly what everyone wants.
From schoolkids to adults, >> Right.
>> John: we want face-to-face.
>> Right.
>> Norm: How does digital fit in?
>> Well, (chuckles) that's a really tricky question.
I'll back into the answer a little bit.
You guys can see this.
Right behind us, we have this whole backdrop here.
Greetings from the Edge: A Virtual Reality Experience.
Well, we built that.
We built that during the COVID era,
so we could have experiences with people remotely.
And we used it for our Executive Summit
last year for the virtual Discover.
We shipped those Oculus headsets to everybody.
Everybody jumped into it,
and so, I was sitting there being a host
with four CTOs (John laughing)
that were scattered all over the world.
So, we were
in cyberspace together. >> Yeah.
>> And so, of course, being
good business people, we realized,
hey, this is pretty fun, so let's dust it off
and bring it out here for the more general public.
So, again, it was like a 200-person
executive level experience and all that,
but it had tremendous value, different types of experiences.
I recommend you try it if you ever have the opportunity.
So, that's a way that we started
merging virtual reality and digital experiences
to try to keep that human connection,
but now, we're using it again
and everybody's in these little pod rooms,
six of them together,
so they're having this experience in cyberspace,
and they're having it physically,
>> John: Yeah.
>> and everyone's enjoying being together,
and still in cyberspace together.
So, I think, when we start to build assets,
and we start to look at different
types of things and experiences,
we got to think through that now.
How is this investment or this experience,
how's it going to translate outside of these four walls?
And how can we use it outside of these four walls
and create a more engaging experience?
So, that's a little bit of a backing
into that answer, >> Yeah, yeah.
>> but I think- >> It's emerging.
It's emerging. >> Well, I'm saying it
more as an example of us thinking through
and trying to level- >> Yeah, I love it though.
You've always struck me as a visionary
and I loved that answer, and I can just see
it's just going to progress by the end of the decade.
This is going to become >> Right.
>> a normal practice,
and we're going to bring people in
from the outside and interacting.
I love what you were saying about,
even though we're here physically,
we're actually creating a virtual world
within this physical pod. >> We are.
>> Dave: Where can people discover more about that?
About the show, >> About
>> about the content >> those experiences?
>> Dave: that was here.
>> Well, on hpe.com, you can just launch into Discover.
We have a tremendous amount of content that's been recorded,
keynote sponsor sessions, theCUBE,
they're dialed into to all kinds
of different pieces of assets that we've done.
I'll plug just another couple of things
just, again, to talk about >> Yeah.
the connectivity of things that we're doing.
So, one of the projects that I lead,
I am very proud to lead it,
is HPE Spaceborne and our Spaceborne Computer.
>> Sure. >> Spaceborne Computer-2
flying at the most powerful machine,
computer to ever fly in space.
We've been up there for a year.
We've done 24 different experiments over the year,
for the benefit of the entire scientific community.
Also, doing things for the ISS National Lab at NASA,
our partners up there.
But what we've got, is we've built a scale replica
of the Columbus module. >> Yeah.
>> So, this is a 28
by 12 foot module. (intercom playing)
(Dave laughing)
Hey, we're bringing her home.
Seriously, seriously. >> They're going to pull
the plug soon.
>> They're going to pull the plug
on me soon. (Dave laughing)
So, anyways, so we have that module built.
And we work with a Hollywood production company.
We've had it before, but we've customized it.
We have a live link to the ISS station in there.
And so, we're talking
about everything that we're doing there.
But also, in this virtual reality experience,
we have you going on a spacewalk.
>> Oh. >> Oh, wow.
>> And so, we've captured that as well,
so we're tying this physical >> Nice.
>> and virtual experience together.
So, it's a fun project, so you can check that out
on hpe.com >> We did Exascale together
during the pandemic,
and that's when I first really got into Spaceborne.
It was awesome
to see Frontier, >> Yeah.
>> and now, it's actually
breaking through the Exascale barrier.
We were on the cusp,
but we now see it breaking through,
>> Yeah, yeah. >> so congratulations on that.
>> Thank you very much. >> That's awesome.
>> John: Great stuff.
>> A couple of other things
that we're doing that's pretty exciting.
I don't want to give away all my tricks,
but we've organized our demonstrations
through the customer lenses,
so we have these customer journeys
that we see people that are using our technology.
So, I'm not talking about the storage business unit,
or the networking business unit,
but how are our customers really trying
to advance AI and machine learning, for example.
How are they actually trying to protect their data?
Different things- >> The business issues-
>> The business issues. >> Yeah.
>> And so, we've organized our demos through that
and we have these pods and then satellites,
and you walk through that whole thing
and it's addressing different aspects of that.
And then, another thing that we've done
is we have tours here as well, >> Yeah.
>> 'cause there's so much content
that people can take tours.
And 1,400 people have taken those tours.
And these are guided tours,
headsets, curated, >> That's a lot of bug numbers.
>> designated places to go.
And we see big traffic the first day or so,
and by design, and so, we hit the highlights,
and then they decide how to use their valuable time
later in the showcase, about what they want to deep dive on.
And so, that's been a tremendous success for us.
>> Well, Norm, thanks for bringing us
on the tour of Discover.
>> Yeah, well- >> And really sharing that
with our audience.
And you've been a awesome partner
and as I say, a great innovator.
I can't wait to see what's next.
>> All right. >> All right.
>> Okay, we'll see you later. >> Thanks so much.
>> Hey, thanks for letting me on here, guys.
>> Welcome. >> Our pleasure.
>> I'm somebody, I made it. >> You're a CUBE alumni.
You're a CUBE alumni. >> Whoa!
>> Welcome to theCUBE alumni. >> I made it!
>> So, guys, >> It was a great week.
>> that's a wrap on day three.
Dave Vellante, John Furrier, Lisa Martin.
Don't forget to go to siliconangle.com
where we've got all the news,
all the interviews that we've done this week
get written up and posted on siliconangle.com, thecube.net.
I publish every week, my "Breaking Analysis" on wikibon.com.
It's on a podcast, so check that out.
Thanks to everybody, thanks to the crew,
everybody back at the office, >> Yeah.
>> really appreciate it, great job!
And we'll see ya next time!
>> All right. (Norm clapping)
(soft upbeat music)