(upbeat music) >> Live from New Orleans, Louisiana, it theCUBE. Covering .NEXT conference 2018, brought to you by Nutanix Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of Nutanix .NEXT 2018. We're here in New Orleans, Louisiana. I'm Stu Miniman joined by my co-host Keith Townsend. And while this is the North America show, we've seen the expansion of it, we actually have two guests coming in from the Asia-Pacific region. Happy to welcome Rod Lappin. Rod, SVP with Lenovo, thank you so much for joining us all the way from Singapore. >> Yep, absolutely, great to be here. >> Stu: And we have Deepu George, who's the Senior Director with Capgemini Group IT, in from Bangalore Thank you also for joining us. >> Thank you for having me. >> Alright, so Deepu, let's start with you. We always love conferences like this. We get to talk to the users. Tell us a little bit about your group inside Capgemini, some of the challenges that your IT team's been tackling. >> Yes. So I'm part of the group IT, responsible for handling all the data centers, group data centers within Capgemini, and we are responsible for delivering data sorting services and processing services, et cetera. So, one of the key ideas we started last year was DC modernization and consolidation. And one of the key strategies we were looking at was hybrid cloud and extra DC stack, completed as revision stack, support for that and plus, you know, automation. So these were the three areas where, which was a key strategic areas for that data center modernization and consolidation. And when we looked at the various options available, one thing stood out from the Nutanix side was, I mean it checked all the boxes and they had a very good roadmap on certain areas which were not available at this particular point of time. So then we chose, okay let us have a PoC done, we did a PoC along with Lenovo and it was successful. And then we went ahead with this relationship with Nutanix. >> Great, Rod just want to bring you in here, we've been talking about really the growth and expansion of Netanix, one of the big pieces is the OEM. Lenovo have been hearing good growth rates. Give us a little bit of a customer viewpoint, what you've been seeing. Nutanix in general and the Lenovo HX specifically. >> Yeah I think obviously Stuart, the very exciting thing is Nutanix is the leader in the industry, right, and with them Lenovo this last year, we grew about 197%, year-on-year. So it makes us their fastest-growing partner. And in the North American channel environment, for example, you're at 280% actually, so we're growing very, very rapidly with them, and there's real reasons. Customers are seeing the value obviously in the solution, the consolidation of the data center footprint, and obviously as customers are being pushed more, as Deepu just mentioned, to the hybrid cloud, or what we're calling really the multi-cloud these days, right, because customers are really looking at and choosing their cloud solutions based more on the workloads and what they're actually trying to do longer-term. You know I think we're best positioned to do that with Nutanix, it's a great solution, I think Capgemini's really one of our great global, strategic global systems, integrated partners, that's taken a choice to run with Lenovo and Nutanix. It's been a great HX solution for us. >> So Rod, before we get too deep, let's ask a basic question. Lenovo, tier one server provider. You guys consistently in one of the leadership positions, and in number of units shipped, obviously you guys have the chops to field a similar solution. Why partner with Nutanix? >> Yeah I think Nutanix, firstly from a software perspective I think that's definitely where we're seeing, you know, if you jump back sort of 10, 15 years, that three-tiered architecture was where everyone was going, SAN and all that sort of stuff. Now when you're seeing the solutions that Nutanix and the hyper-converged market is growing so rapidly at, you're really seeing customers recognize that they get a lot more value out of the software suite, data center consolidation, data center footprint consolidation, and really the ability to manage on-prem and off-prem workloads seamlessly, you know with the prism solution and we integrate that with our Xclarity offering, our management suite, and as a result, it's a real match made in heaven. It's actually doing really well. >> So Deepu? >> I'll talk to that, if you look at software-defined, and that is a key area where we are going right now. Most of the organizations for this data consolidation, they are looking at software-defined, and when you look at the network stack, you have SDNs and all these things, so when you have Nutanix with an NCI, with the complete SD stack, it all ties up together. It's pretty easy for us to, you know, completely scale out the data centers. It's flexibility we have with software-defined and it's a good match, it's a good fit. >> Deepu can you walk us through a little bit of the application side of what you're doing? What did you start with? What have you rolled out? What haven't you touched yet? >> Yeah so once we started our PoC, once we know that data centers, so what we did was, we had our first data center consolidation exercise, modernization exercise, which just happened in Brazil. We had our own three data centers which we wanted to consolidate into one as part of our consolidation and modernize strategy. So we had a mix of upload there, we had basic things, we had normal applications, we had VMs running, we had physical nodes running. And what we did was we consolidated, moving into a single data center on 10 nodes of Nutanix, and we closed down all the other data centers and it was a pretty good experience that we had. The support we received from Lenovo and Nutanix and most of this work was done completely from off-shore. So we had a couple of our engineers posted in Brazil for the coordination activities, but the physical work was completely done from off-shore interfaced our support engineers. So it was a pretty good exercise. We got very good support from Nutanix. We got very good support from Lenovo to get consolation done in the correct time. >> So Deepu, Capgemini has a pretty capable consulting firm, I'm sure you guys got plenty of advice internally as you set out to select the vendor. Let's talk about that selection process. How did that conversation initially go, where you guys kind of threw out Nutanix and Lenovo as potential solutions? >> So if you look at the commercialization world right, I mean it's already pretty much standard. So when we looked at the key modernization initiatives, I already talked about this with VC and stuff like that. We came out with a list of parameters that we wanted to look at, just so that there cannot be any compromise on that. And then what we are looking for in the future when we, so modernization cannot happen in a day or two. So it is a journey. So we have a two- to three-year window in which we wanted to consolidate all our data centers, modernize everything, so the Nutanix roadmap on the various automation, STDC, as to the complete hybrid cloud journey, was pretty strong. And we had the complete management commitment from Nutanix, that they will stick to this particular roadmap and these features will not be compromised in any way. So that is one of the key decisions for us to go with the Nutanix way. >> Well let's talk about performance. You guys have been Nutanix customers for a while, how has the roadmap matched with the promises? >> So from a performance point-of-view, so if you look at only the pure CIA performance, right, wherever you have a high-performance workload, we have an option to go with a complete full SDN stack, where the BIOS in not absolutely a challenge or anything there's a huge throughput available. So from a performance point-of-view, we don't think, that's not an issue as of now. Even for the traditional storage, performance has never been an issue but the actual issue is how do we make the complete software available? How do we make the completely controlled from the software point-of-view. So there is where we found that that the CI use of very good challenging, you know, what do you call, user complete flexibility in how you want to define your data centers. >> Actual performance performance, that's really great. But I meant from the promises Nutanix made from a roadmap thing. This feature will be available on what day, you know, three months from now, a year from now. Were they actually able to deliver based on your own internal roadmap, and the capability you needed? >> Let me put it now this way. So if you look at the kind of investment that we have been making, in Nutanix and Lenovo, so you can be pretty much assured that these promises are kept 'cause otherwise we would not be making that. So Brazil was just a start that we are just going ahead. We are just looking at different workloads now. We have already looked at exchangeable close, which is currently in January and getting installed now. We have looked at video close one of the largest in Capgemini, we have 42 nodes of Nutanix running for 410,000 medias. So based out of Bangalore and Mumbai. So if we just, the performance, if it was not met I don't think we would have expanded the way we have expanded. >> Changed decisions. I think really ultimately, as Deepu mentioned, they started off with a pilot, as you mentioned, obviously in Brazil, and he's ended up taking this globally, which has been a great success story for both of our organizations. >> Right, could you give some more color on the partnership? >> Yeah sure, so I think Capgemini's a great global systems integrator for us. Both to sell to, obviously, as well as sell through, and they're doing some pretty amazing things with their customers and I think one of the great things that we're seeing in this particular instance, as we mentioned, Nutanix, leader in the hyper-converged space, and Deepu's made a call on them, based on their performance, and their basic feature set in their suite. And then ultimately Lenovo, who's number one customer service, number one reliability, number one quality in industry on independence, so you put 'em together, we ended up having a great relationship from that point, and then it's built confidence inside Capgemini now, for us to be going out to their customers and driving this solution out into their customer base. So it's once again, a great outcome for both of our organizations. >> Lenovo's been a traditional partner for us, it's not that new to us, so one of the major reasons is that they want a global reach and we have global data centers, and we have got global footprints, and it's a pretty good time. >> Deepu, how are you measuring the relationship? Any success metrics, from either the application deployments or you know, how do you measure internally and share that with your teams? >> So we have timelines on our consolidation, modernization, et cetera, as long as that is met, together with Lenovo, Nutanix, we are very good. >> So I'd love to hear about day two operations. What are some of the benefits you've seen from a people, resource talent, have you seen resources freed up to do other projects? What are some of the interesting projects that you've done as a result of freeing up time? >> So currently we are progressing through this particular journey, so this year we have a huge focus on the automation piece of the data center. So we are in the beginning stages of getting automation, automation in the sense that the normal proactive activates, all are given. So we are not talking about that, we are talking about the repetitive task, which is less part of the data center and that we have started. So basically we are looking around for any virtually reduction in our ticket volumes, our, you know, the normal work which is being done by the normal engineers so that the can be freed up for these kind of modernization projects. So that's what we are looking at, so let's see how it goes. >> Deepu, one of the things that we're talking about at this show is beyond just the HCI, it's cloud, even edge, what kind of futures do you see for Capgemini in general, and maybe with Nutanix and Lenovo relationship. >> As I said in the beginning, hybrid cloud was one of the requirements for choosing the correct partner for our data center modernization. So currently as we are beginning this part of the journey so moving the data seamlessly into the cloud is one of the key requirements of Capgemini. From an applications standpoint, from a visibility standpoint, et cetera, so we will be looking at which applications easy target for moving into the cloud, and we will be doing that and we believe that Nutanix, hybrid cloud technology will be able to help us in achieving that. >> And I think Stu, that's a really good point because I think what Deepu's just describing is effectively what we see happening in the industry everywhere. You know, we go back 20 years in the industry, a few of us have been around that long, and we remember like a homogeneous environment, everyone would say, I'm this vendor shop, they've got network administrators patching servers, when we're getting hardware put on site and customers are doing all of the integration on site themselves. That's just what the industry did back then. Now, as we see workloads changing it's a little bit like cloud. Three years ago everyone was like, I'm going to be this cloud vendor. That's it, that's my cloud vendor solution, right. However now it's become really acquiring the workload infrastructure and the software suites in line with customers' specific workload requirements, and so now, instead of going after the one cloud provider, now you've got a cloud provider in marketing, you've got a cloud provider in ERP, you've got a cloud provider in IT. So that's why this whole multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, type scenario's really starting to proliferate throughout the customer base. And you really find that, as Deepu just mentioned, they're starting, customers are really looking for how do they manage cloud, multiple clouds in multiple ways, with different workloads, and they're really going out and looking and exploring, how to best address that and I thing once again the Nutanix-Lenovo solution's fantastic for that. I mean you're going to see that proliferate more and more in the industry over the next couple of years. >> So one of the, sorry Stu, one of the comments throughout the show has been, you know what, and this is not a pick on Nutanix or anyone else, I just, both of you guys are not from North America or Western Europe, is that the focus, a lot of vendor's focus has been on Western Europe and America, from a cloud perspective. How do you feel that Nutanix relationship from both a customer and as a partner, has been, on expanding capability beyond North American and Western Europe clouds? >> Rod: Why don't you go first, Deepu. >> Yeah, so if you look at, traditional Amazon Azure, so we have their clouds which are already available in India. So we have been checking that now, we have been looking at various options for the biggest workloads. But predominantly, our predominant workloads have been on the European and the North American cloud for lots of reasons, because if you look at Amazon or Azure, they're coming recently into the Asian footprint with (mumbles) if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, but I mean I think we will get there. >> So I think from our perspective, we break the world into five different geographies. So China, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and South America. And when you look at our earnings this last quarter, I'm only about two weeks away from our next earnings so I can't say anything about Q1, but the Q4, calendar Q4, we grew about 17% year-on-year but we grew double-digit growth in every one of those geographies, consistently. So in Nutanix, with our HX solution, which is really what we're talking about today, my Asia-Pacific team is growing just as fast, if not actually a little bit faster, than my North America teams. So we see that this technology actually being a real world-wide phenomenon and it's really growing everywhere. Japan is fantastic, India's fantastic for me. Obviously Western Europe. Deepu's a great example, 'cause he's deploying this globally across all of the geographies and I think we're seeing a lot of our G2000 customers, really addressing that, that way. But we see a lot of local companies as well, driving it across the geographies. Asia-Pacific's a great example. >> So if you look at, again, from a CA Nutanix-Lenovo standpoint, we have been going evening everything out so we have recently done that on 16 nodes within Bangalore and Mumbai, so that's a pretty good story. >> Alright, well, Deepu George, thank you so much for joining us, Rod Lappin, always a pleasure to catch up with you. >> Thanks Stu, thanks Keith. >> For Keith Townsend, I'm Stu Miniman, we've got a full day of Day 2 coverage here of theCUBE and Nutanix .NEXT 2018, thanks so much for watching theCUBE. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. (bright music)