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Nick Hennessy, Under Armor & Rüya Barrett, Dell EMC | Dell Technologies World 2019


 

>> Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE, covering Dell Technologies World 2019. Brought to you by Dell Technologies and its ecosystem partners. >> Hey, welcome back to Las Vegas. Lisa Martin with Dave Vellante of theCUBE on our second day of wall-to-wall coverage of Dell Technologies World 2019, and we're welcoming one our guests back to theCUBE. We've got Rüya Barrett, VP of product marketing from the Data Protection Division. Rüya, it's great to have you back on the program. >> Great to be here, thank you for having us. >> And from Under Armor, a brand everybody knows, Nick Hennessy, Senior Manager, Compute and Storage. Nick, welcome, it's great to have you here. >> Great, thank you guys very much. >> So Rüya, we'll start with you. We've had, this is, you can hear all the energy behind us. And if you can hear dogs barking, by the way, that's normal. We've got some dogs next to our-- Lots of energy yesterday and today. Everything about data as this asset, and I think Michael said yesterday, that it's inexhaustible. You guys did an interesting recent survey with over 2,000 IT decision makers. With respect to data and getting their hands on it, what are some of the really interesting things that you've learned about that? >> Yeah, there were some really great takeaways. Great question. One, it's not a surprise to anyone, People have more data than ever to manage. There was over 586% growth in the last two years in terms of how much data on the average customers are managing. So that's a given, not a big surprise. One of the key things that we saw was that they value data. These people surveyed value data more than ever. So it was 96% value data more than they ever did, and 36% of them have already started monetizing data. So it's critical for accounts now, and one of the issues that they brought up for not being able to recover data, around data protection, was that if they can't recover data, they have new concerns now. Loss of opportunity, loss of bringing products to market, loss of competitive advantage, which are issues that we have never heard before because this is the third time we did the survey. We did it first in 2014, 2016, and we just did the 2018 survey. So those were some of the key really big takeaways for me from that survey that we did. >> So if they value it, they've got to protect it. >> Yeah. >> Alright, so Nick, Under Armour, a brand I mentioned everybody knows and wears. You guys have a great brand reputation. And you have some great brand ambassadors. I've got to mention Steph Curry. We have established Nick as a Lakers fan. And I have to point out, Dave, that you're wearing a Warriors colored tie today. Just got to say. >> I won't be if the Celtics make it to the finals though. >> But also Tom Brady's a brand ambassador. We've got Tommy boy covered, Lindsey Vonn. So you've got this great brand of reputation. How does Under Armour, to Rüya's point, value that data and leverage that data to keep and grow that brand reputation? >> Well, you know one of the things about data is, at Under Armour, we call the data is the new gold. So to us, it's very important, especially to our consumers, stuff that we're gathering at the retail stores, and kind of tracking all that stuff. So in order for us to protect that data, we're using Dell Technologies as sweeter products. And it's been working out great for us. >> So paint a picture, Nick, what are you protecting? What's the infrastructure look like, the applications, I know big SAP shop. But what's it look like, what are you protecting? >> So in terms of data, we're protecting over a thousand virtual machines, Two plus petabytes of data, everything in our five regional hubs. So it's quite a bit, it's quite a chore, especially for a small team like we have. >> So you mentioned data is the new gold. I have this idea that it's even more valuable than gold 'cause you can only use gold once. You can't spend it multiple places, data. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but Under Armour's ascendancy really coincided with strong technology ethos, very strong use of data, understanding of customers, and technology of sports clothing. So how are you using data to drive competitive advantage? >> Yeah, so very interesting. The brand and the culture is very infectious. So it's like, rah rah, let's go out and get it. That works into how we work IT in our everyday lives. So we kind of take that and kind of run with it. >> So what were you doing before you guys started working with Dell EMC? Talk to us about some of the challenges that you faced before you were using a different solution, so some of those opportunity costs that Rüya mentioned, in terms of if we can't monetize this, we're going to miss opportunities to identify new products our customers want, bring it to market. Walk us through your journey. >> Yeah, so I joined Under Armour about four years ago. And we really set the foundation with our three-year road map. Year one, build the foundation. It was really aligning what we were going to do, right, aligning with Dell Technologies, we're using all of your products. Year two was really architecting the future. And that's where things such as data protection really helped us out. We needed stuff that was easy to deploy, things that, for a small team to manage, that we don't have to think about it. We can sleep easy at night. It really aligned with our road map. >> So historically, data protection has been insurance. Rüya, you and I have talked about this for a long long time. Nobody likes to buy insurance, but you got to do it. Are you trying to move beyond that sort of one use case equation into new areas of value, whether it's compliance, whether it's data analytics. Are you able to use the corpus of data that you're protecting, and the management of that data in new ways? And if so, how? >> Yeah, in terms of the management for our small teams, we need something really easy. But security always comes to mind, so that's built into the product as well. But things moving to the cloud, scalability, things that we want to do in the future, we're really setting that up now. And us doing a huge storage refresh a couple months ago, we really flattened out, and we're using all brand new products. Now we're ready to scale the cloud. >> Rüya, you say that in the customer base, that people are trying to move beyond just straight back-up. >> Definitely. >> It's becoming increasingly new world, digital transformation, hybrid clouds. What are you seeing? >> Oh my god, yeah there's a ton of demand right now for customers to be able to leverage data, regardless of where it lives. So primary data, secondary data, tertiary copies, cloud data. How do you really start gaining business insights regardless of where data is? And how do you make sure that it's constantly recoverable under any circumstance. So one of the other things that we found in that study, again, is that there's new threats. So cyber recovery has become, and ransomware, and cyber recovery has become such a foundational consideration for customers. Being able to also spin up VMs regardless instantly. We just announced the X400 PowerProtect, which is very exciting and was part of today's announcement. It's all flash, and the reason it's all flash is because the use cases such as data reuse, app test and development, being able to test disaster recovery scenarios or cyber recovery scenarios real time, these are all critical use cases that you couldn't imagine doing years ago on your protection data. So we're really excited about both the PowerProtect announcement, as well as the Integrated Data Protection Appliance announcement. So you and I, Dave, have talked a lot about the Integrated Data Protection Appliance and simplicity and efficiency and breadth of coverage and cloud capabilities. Under Armour actually is a big proponent. They use cloud very prolifically, in terms of their IT environment. And IDPA really fit that need for them, in terms of being able to really drive costs out of their environment through efficiency, have that protection performance, just the foundational capabilities, yet still be able to offer some of those new innovation and the cloud capabilities, as well as automation. >> Alright, so we've heard from the marketing pro. Nick, now we got to hear from the customer. I heard simple, efficient, so how simple, how efficient, how do you measure these things? How does it compare with other products that you've looked at? >> Well, the product that we had before, we used Avamar Data Domain, and the problem that we had with it, it was decentralized. So we were managing a regional hub separately. So by refreshing, as we did, it got very simple. Now we have a centralized management. We were able to reduce 40 to 1 ratio. We're getting reductions, before we were getting 92 to 93%. Now we're getting 98, 99%. More importantly, for me, reporting. So able to produce those reports, we didn't have that before, so it's been really great. >> And how do those internal benefits that you talked about manifest out through the organization and really drive, like we talked about earlier, brand reputation or Under Armour being able to use that valuable data to identify new insights and act on the new product streams to delight, say, Tom Brady, for example. >> Well not only does it make-- >> You know he cares. (laughing) >> We certainly care about Tom Brady. >> I know! >> It makes my life a lot easier, right? So I'm able to take this data, it allows me to think, it allows the teams to be agile. Can you use that data to promote other projects, other ideas, things that we really want to do in the future to kind of push the brand even farther. >> When you guys meet privately, what kind of things, Nick, do you ask Rüya and her team at Dell EMC to do that will make your life easier? >> Quite honestly, the Dell team that we work with is wonderful. Really, we ask for a partner, someone that works with us, someone that understands us, understands our pain and is in there with us, so that we can really work on solutions together. >> Okay, obvious question, is that why you work with these guys? 'Cause of the strong partnership? Two part question, and what about the product? Is the product in your opinion, based on what you've evaluated, best of breed relative to other competitive products that are out there. >> Yeah, we did look at some other competitor products. We believe that it is best of breed. And that's why we chose to partner with Dell Technologies. >> So a lot of news yesterday and today, everything around multi-cloud. Customers are in this multi-cloud world for a variety of reasons. With the partnership that you've established with Dell Technologies and Rüya's group, what are some of the things that you've heard from Michael, from Pat, from John, Jeff, that really resonated with you that, ah, Dell Technologies is listening to customers like Under Armour and others as they're developing, helping you to really tackle this multi-cloud world with a lot of success. >> Yeah, so one of the things that was really exciting was part of the keynote yesterday with the SDDC. You can spin up a data center at the click of a button nowadays, and that resonates with us because it's going to make our lives really easy. We're going to be more agile. We can speed up and really take the brand farther. >> So you mentioned cloud before. I think Rüya said you've got multiple clouds. You have multiple clouds, is that right? >> We have a hybrid cloud infrastructure. >> So you've got multiple public clouds, is that correct? Obviously. >> Yes. >> You've got SAS, you've got on-prem stuff, and you try to make them all look the same, substantially similar from a control plan standpoint? >> We try. (laughs) >> It's a journey. >> Yes. >> I get that. But there's also the operating model. And I want to follow up with, are you enabling, whether it's DBAs or application owners, to do their own back-ups, do their own recoveries, do their own analytics, et cetera. Is that where you're headed, are you there today? Is it something that you don't want to do? Can you elaborate? >> That's the idea is to try and make everyone's life a lot easier. And being part of the Compute and Storage team, we're really stuck in the middle of all teams. Applications teams come to us. Sequel teams come to us, networking teams. So we really have a lot of responsibility on our plate. In order to make our lives simpler, we have to enable all these teams to do it themselves, and that's really where we're headed. >> Well, great stuff guys. Nick, Rüya, thank you so much for joining Dave and me on the program this afternoon. And go Warriors. >> Ahh. >> I said it. (laughs) >> For Dave Vellante, who again is wearing a Warriors colored tie. I'm Lisa Martin, you're watching theCUBE live from Las Vegas. Okay. >> I do. >> Alright. >> I like the Warriors. >> Alright, good, see and I mentioned Tom Brady-- >> I like them a lot better than the Lakers, sorry Nick. I can't get over that. >> I'm not sorry. I was saying, we're at VM (laughs). No, we're not at VM World, we're at Dell Technologies World. Oh my goodness, Lisa Martin for Dave Vellante, thanks for watching. (electronic music)

Published Date : Apr 30 2019

SUMMARY :

Brought to you by Dell Technologies Rüya, it's great to have you back on the program. Nick, welcome, it's great to have you here. And if you can hear dogs barking, One of the key things that we saw was that they value data. And I have to point out, Dave, How does Under Armour, to Rüya's point, So to us, it's very important, So paint a picture, Nick, what are you protecting? So in terms of data, So you mentioned data is the new gold. So we kind of take that and kind of run with it. So what were you doing before you guys started working that we don't have to think about it. Nobody likes to buy insurance, but you got to do it. Yeah, in terms of the management for our small teams, Rüya, you say that in the customer base, What are you seeing? So one of the other things that we found in that study, how do you measure these things? and the problem that we had with it, And how do those internal benefits that you talked about You know he cares. So I'm able to take this data, so that we can really work on solutions together. Okay, obvious question, is that why you work Yeah, we did look at some other competitor products. that really resonated with you that, Yeah, so one of the things that was really exciting So you mentioned cloud before. So you've got multiple public clouds, is that correct? We try. Is it something that you don't want to do? That's the idea is to try and make everyone's life Nick, Rüya, thank you so much for joining Dave and me I said it. a Warriors colored tie. I like them a lot better than the Lakers, sorry Nick. I was saying, we're at VM (laughs).

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