(upbeat music) >> Narrator: Live from Copenhagen, Denmark, it's theCUBE covering Nutanix.NEXT 2019. Brought to you by, Nutanix. >> Welcome back everyone to the cube's live coverage of Nutanix.NEXT here at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. I'm your host Rebecca Knight, alongside of my co-host Stu Miniman, Analyst. We have two guests for this segment. We have Angie Cusworth, she is the COO of Hardy Fisher Services. >> Hi. >> Thank you so much for coming on Angie. >> Hi. >> And we have David Cusworth SVP sales at Hardy Fisher Services. Thank you so much! >> Thank you. >> And husband and wife. >> And a husband and wife team! >> I believe we have done it before, I know we've had twins on the program. >> Right, yes. >> Uh, but uh, yeah. >> Couples who work, I like it! We'll get into how you make it all work. But David, I want to start with you. Describe Hardy Fisher Services for our viewers who may be unfamiliar with your company. >> Yeah, so we own and operate a large data center based in Leeds, so it's a 400 watt capacity data center previously built for BT house NHS patient records in the UK. And we operate that as a reseller base data center, so we are a very clear go-to market. We have our co-location, we have money services and then obviously cloud which is based on Nutanix. >> So, wait Angie what are the biggest business challenges that you face in your world. >> So I think it's trying to convince customers to move to the cloud. Obviously, you know, we've been doing cloud for some time now. I don't know how to-- >> Yeah, so David, we're talking about that move to cloud. It help it put where, you know, your services built both now Nutanix fit in the customers overall picture. Cause you know, you've SAS, you've got public cloud people are building private clouds off Nutanix or other type of hardware, so you know how do you play with some of those other components and position yourself? >> I think a lot of the challenges that we've seen is people are comfortable with Azure so a lot of resellers that we deal with. Azure is a safe bet. Nutanix is still quite a new name in the marketplace. There's people who don't want to move to the cloud because they don't understand it. So, a lot of the time, we show them the cloud platform in our data centers, and can touch and feel it they can actually see it. Which gives them a bit more confidence. And then, from our side it's the service wrap, so it's holding them the hands on the journey to the cloud. So it's given our technical ability to say, you know, we'll do it for you, we'll hold your hands, we'll get you working. And at the end of the day, the cloud is people's businesses. So if the cloud doesn't work, it affects their business and we're trying to put our hats on as a customer. >> Yeah, it's funny. It reminds me, we used to have the joke, there is no cloud, there is just you know, your computer somewhere else. Angie, bring us inside, a little bit? Your customers, it sounds like they're still a little bit of trepidation about them making changes there? >> Yeah, I think one of the reasons that we've been so successful, is that we follow IT Service Management very well. So we help our customers through the whole journey. So people that are new to cloud, we have excellent technical people, that can help them. We have a fantastic data center, as well. So, they know their kits are safe with us. >> Yeah, bring us inside a little bit. You talked about how many racks there. What differentiates your data center? There's you know, most companies, you know, we tell the average enterprise out there, you know. Friends don't let friends build data centers. There's other people that know what they're doing. So, give us a little bit of a virtual tour, if you would. >> Yeah, so our data center. Like I said, It was originally built for BT and for the NHS. And as they moved to cloud, the need for their data center shrunk. Leeds as a city is growing city and there's not many data centers in Leeds, so we took the opportunity to really re-launch the data center. We knew it was a very high spec data center, cause it cost a lot of money to build. And it gives the customers confidence that when they are going in there, it's very secure. It's very high resilience. And from a cloud platform, we've gone completely Nutanix. So it is literally, you can come in, you can touch Nutanix, you can play with it. And it's just the whole journey really, that to make sure they're in a safe pair of hands. >> Talk a little bit more about how Nutanix comes into play with your organization. >> We went with Nutanix because we're looking for something to be different. There's a lot of people who've got this UA to be WES in that V seller market. So we wanted something that was focused on SME. So we've got very, very much SME focus. And cost comes into it. Having that support, so being able to ring somebody up and not being in a big call center in Asia or in Europe. Somebody who can actually talk them through, what the issues are, also be very responsive, and put the customer first. >> Yeah, it's interesting, and when I think about kind of the traditional service provider. It's like they've build out their management stack, they build something at a scale, so that, you know, they can do something that their customer couldn't. It sounds like Nutanix is a different type of offering. We've been talking about it all week. It's not thriving in that complexity, but you know you just have a simple offering. And then, of course, you know price and easy to manage. Is something that service providers need, so, It sounds as if you built this ten years ago, you might have had to do something very different then how you do it today. >> Yeah, no, absolutely. It's given us a market that really hasn't been there in the past. You know, we can help resellers on the journey, we can give them a bit of a lift up, so. If their too small or they've just got going in cloud and they can't afford to get their own Nutanix platform, then we can get them going and then they can start going into Nutanix. But it's a real differentiate. It's like I say, to a lot of people, it's the safe bet it's your AWS. It's you know a Microsoft name. No one ever gets sacked for by Microsoft kind of conversation. >> I think one of the other compelling things is the cost of it as well. A lot of people think it's cheaper to go as your AWS. Actually it's mechanics are very cost effective for our customers and that's why it appeals for, you know the kind of smaller resellers that we deal with. >> You know, are you starting to do any connection now that you think about as your AWS have their direct connect. When you have people's environment, sometimes they might want to access those services or are you starting to look that, in that environment? Where some of the Nutanix hybrid solutions? >> Yeah, so what we do at the moment is we backup mainly to Azure. So we've, we've a central core platform with Nutanix and then, we're back up as a failover to Azure. But, again, customers don't like the complexity of even doing that as a back up. So it's been great coming to the event and seeing the Nutanix backup and the options there because our customers love Nutanix. >> So are you interested in the mine solution, that has been rolling out? >> Yes, absolutely. >> Yeah, yeah absolutely. That's one of the things that we're really looking forward to going back to explore. And that will be next on our road map. >> Are you starting to look out as to which solution with mine you're going to use or are you still under discussion? >> Yeah, we'll leave that to our technical director. I'm sure he'll point us in the right direction. >> One of the things we hear a lot about at this conference is Nutanix's culture. It's people first culture. It's humble, honest, hungry. How does that come into play in terms of your interactions with the company? >> I think for us, that's a culture that we have as well in our own business. And that really does shine through for every person that we've ever dealt with at Nutanix. There it's always customer first. I can't fault them, they're amazing. >> I think for us, it doesn't feel like you're a big company because it's such of a personal relationship. So it doesn't feel like you're talking to a big corporate company where you're not heard, you know, if you're not a a big customer. The relationships we've got with people work and just pick up the phone it might be a really senior position and they'll help us, and that's something that's really good in Nutanix. >> I'm wondering if you've had any experience with Nutanix support, so we know uptime is, is super critical. So what is your experience? >> Yeah, fantastic. I mean, from an operational perspective, I love the self healing, that's built into the platform. Anyway, I love the fact that my technical guys don't have to be uber technical to be able to operate. That's one of the other benefits in Nutanix for us. It ticks all the boxes from an operational perspective. >> I think from our side as well, the technical guys, so, our first and second line guys can understand Nutanix. They can get their head around it, so it's very easy to train and more with Nutanix as opposed to other platforms where it can take up to a year to really understand how the platform works. It is very, very simple for our support desk. Which means, it is less demand on the support that's got Angie then. >> Training in the skills gap is a hugely important issue in the technology world. It's in the United States and also in Europe. How are you finding it, what is it like to be a Leeds based company, are you finding the people you need to fill the roles you have open? >> We're really lucky actually, because our technical director is an ex-trainer, so we can do a lot of the training on site. But Nutanix training is something that we're definitely going to be tapping into. I've been speaking to the guys here, and that's another useful thing for us to take back to the UK. >> Give our audience a little bit of insight, so you know, what you get out of coming out to the Nutanix conference, you came last year to London, you came out here to Copenhagen. What were you hoping to accomplish? What are the conversations been, give us a little bit of a flavor. >> I think it's been good to network with other Nutanix customers to understand their journey. Definitely to learn about what Nutanix is doing now and in the future. When you're running a business it's kind of head down sometimes. Allowance, you know, you don't get time to really sit and look up what the market is doing. So for us, it's also to be part of our journey, you know, we went to event four or five years ago when it was much smaller, much newer name. And to see how fast Nutanix has gone is amazing. It really is. >> Absolutely, I think it's given us clarity on what we need to do next year. Like I say, you've helped us by coming here today and yesterday, seeing the presentations on how we can implement that into our own business. And how we can really take Nutanix forward. >> In terms of the future, you said you are going to, you're looking into Mine. You're thinking about using some of the Nutanix training, capabilities. >> Frames, Beam. >> So, there's a lot there. >> So yeah, we've really honestly taken so much back and I can't wait now. I think for me personally, it's re-energized me. I'm excited about going back and just working out where we can really take Nutanix forward. >> And what's next for Hardy Fisher? >> It's just growth, we're at an early journey now. So we're kind of at the start of our journey, over the next five years, it's all about growth. We see Leeds as a bit a city that's growing itself. We've had a lot of changes in Leeds as a city. It's still quite small. It's a digital city, but it's got massive focus on growing. We're having a big part of that because we're one of three data centers in Leeds. So, it's not a heavily populated area for data centers. And we're all about helping local resellers, you know, get on that ladder for Nutanix. >> So that will be a big driver for us, you know help the small MSPs. You know, let them touch and feel Nutanix in our data center. And then hopefully give them the leg up for them to buy their own boxes, and then co-locate that in the data centers as well. >> So, as as as devoted Nutanix customers, any advice for Dirige Pandey? He's got, he's under a lot pressure. It's a competitive landscape. You love Nutanix. >> Angie: He's nailed it. >> David: I think, just keep doing what they're doing. >> Rebecca: Stick to your knitting. >> Don't get sold to one of the bigger boys and keep the-- >> Yeah, absolutely, keep the culture. And the, everything that you're doing technically wise it's just unreal. We're blown away. >> I think the culture as well, keep it to grow as big as you are now, keep that culture which has been very hard. I mean, we try doing it in our businesses. You know we have a very hardworking ethic. But we want people to enjoy where they work. We want to have a good work flow, life balance. And it's very difficult to do in a big company. >> Is it, do you like working with each other, in your husband and wife team? >> Yeah, it has it's challenges. (laughing) It has it's challenges but we've worked together for 12 years now, so. >> It's gotten better at work. >> All right. >> It's very hard because, I sell it and I support it, so unless I sell it properly I get in trouble. (laughing) >> Dog house. >> I have to reign him in. >> Exactly, well David an Angie, thank you so much. It has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. >> Thank you very much for having us. Thank you. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Stu Miniman. We'll have more for Nutanix.NEXT in Copenhagen coming up in just a little bit.