(click and snap) >> Hi, I'm Stu Miniman with theCUBE, and we're here at the Winslow Technology Group Dell EMC User Group here in Boston in the shadows of Fenway Park. Happy to have with me Mike Franco, who's the principal solutions architect with Virtustream. Mike, thanks so much for joining us. >> Thank you Stu. Thanks for having me, and this is a terrific event. It really is. I mean to be here with one of our first channel partners, and by that I mean Winslow Group has been part of Dell for many, many years. They now sell the whole Dell EMC platform with the acquisition last year. And Virtusteam, we opened up a channel partnership just a few months ago, and they were one of the first to join. And here I am in front of hundreds of clients. This is a great opportunity. >> All right, that's great. So we've talked to Scott Winslow, his organization, some of the partners. So, I understand a lot about the Dell relationship. How WTG has been kind of expanding into cloud. Virtustream. Tell us why there's a channel partner now. What that means, and what you look to for somebody like Winslow Group. >> Well, Winslow Group opens up a lot of clients for us, okay? And we need to sell through those partners. Most of these clients are running operations, maybe in the small midsize business, which are really perfect candidates for what we do. Virtustream provides a managed cloud. So unlike the Amazons, the Googles, and the Azures which are great solutions, we're finding clients and saying, "Hey, that was good." But as we start moving to these mission critical applications. The applications that are running my business. We need a managed service. We need performance. We need IO type of critical workloads to be run in a more secure and performance- laden type of cloud. >> Yeah, Jeremy Burton gave the opening remarks. The CMO of Dell. The Dell family really has a large portfolio. I look at kind of the hybrid and multi-cloud world these days, and from a Dell standpoint, you know, VMware has a number of solutions, including VMware on AWS. Dell was working with Microsoft on the Azure (mumbles) solutions. How does Virtustream fit into the overall portfolio? How do you help position, you know, where that fits, okay? Get the mind share and (stutters) the users? >> Great question. I mean, back in May, we announced a connection, okay? So our Cloud Connect, which is vRealized into our stream based clouds. Extreme is our cloud management platform, and a technology that we use to run our off prem clouds. So clients now have the capability through vRealize automation to recognize our cloud into revision, and to modify and manage their workloads through that. We also announced in May, a partnership with our sister company Pivotal. Okay, on their Cloud Foundry. So we now have in Virtustream Enterprise Cloud, the capability to run Cloud Foundry in a managed fashion. Okay, again, Cloud Foundry is a technology that a lot of developers will be using to build applications, but it also runs those applications. And now that those applications are becoming stateful and a critical part of their business, they're looking to somebody to manage that. And now we have the capability. And then we talk about the rest of the EMC portfolio, where Native Hybrid Cloud is a package solution that's built on vRacks or vRails, right? Dell's converged black forms with the Native Hybrid Cloud or Pivotal Cloud Foundry, lay it right on top of it with the tools to be able to manage it. That's sold directly to a client, and we have the capability as Virtustream to manage those. So now the client can have these on-client premise solutions, as well as being able to tether back to our enterprise cloud. Our Virtustream Enterprise Cloud. >> Yep. Mike, we saw in the storage industry, there's lots of different solutions, because there's lots of different needs. I find there is no typical cloud strategy when it comes to most companies. But when you're talking to users, whether it be at this event or you know, out talking to customers, you know, why are they coming to Virtustream? What are the big questions they're asking you? What are the challenges that they see, and how do you help them? >> So, I see most of the time they come to us is because at these types of events, they are clients that are delighted with Dell EMC technologies, right? Dell EMC is a leader in almost every product that they sell, okay? And not only that, but the customer satisfaction, the client care service that Dell EMC provides is second to none. We're an extension of that, okay? We have the ability to manage either on prem, or of prem, and that gray area in between in helping them enable to get to the cloud. So, it really has opened up a lot of doors for Virtustream, and yes the solutions are endless. But we had the capability to manage that for them on their prem, and we've been very successful doing it. >> Great. Mike, we know SAP was one of those solutions that really Virtustream made its name on. Well, I know you continued to work on that. Can you give us, you mentioned Cloud Foundry. What are some of the applications? What are some of the big use cases that your customers are having success with? >> So in June we announced the Virtustream Healthcare Cloud. Okay, so what is that? That's our enterprise cloud, now tailored specifically for the healthcare compliance. So it's HIPAA compliant. And also, we're managing some of the more critical applications. The healthcare environment is not cloud native, okay? It's still based on the platform too, right? They virtualized the client server, the three-tiered architecture database, web and app server type of environments that the systems have reckoned, okay? We're expanding into electronic medical records, EMRs, critical client patient care, some analytics for medication. So we're moving into those other areas that's complimenting the SAP work that we're doing. >> Okay, well Mike, appreciate you giving us the updates on Virtustream. Thanks so much for joining us here at the Winslow Technology Group Dell EMC User Conference. (click and snap)

>> Hi I'm Stu Miniman with The Cube, and we're here at the Winslow Technology Group Dell EMC User Conference here at the Hotel Commonwealth in Boston. Happy to have with me Mike Berthiaume who is the northeast SE manager with Nutanix. Mike it's great to see ya. >> And I'm happy to be here Stu. Thanks for having me, appreciate it. >> So Mike, I've actually known you for a bunch of years. We've been in some of the local user groups, actually moderated a panel you were on a couple of years ago. Talk to us a little bit about Nutanix's channel and of course the relationship with Winslow. >> Excellent, I think Nutanix's channel is very strong. As you know, I think a lot of our viewers know, all of our Nutanix sales are done through the channel. So we are a 100% channel focused company. The Winslow Technology Group has been a tremendous channel partner for us in New England and other parts of the country as well growing their business down in the southeast and the New York Metro area. But they've been fantastic. And what makes them a little bit interesting, you know, they are very focused on Dell EMC, right? So being part of the Dell EMC portfolio opens up quite a few opportunities I think for Nutanix. And it really I think helps Dell EMC complete their portfolio with our technology. >> Sure, Mike absolutely. We're going to be talking to Scott Winslow today. You know, been using Dell, and I think was one of the earliest of the Dell XC customers out there. What is it for the customers that they look for, I guess specifically for Dell XC from a partner like Winslow Technology Group? >> I think from, you know, customers are looking for a partner who has their best interest at heart, right? So the value at a reseller as in specifically Winslow is going to their customers as trusted advisors, as consultants, understanding business challenges, and how to they can solve those with technology. And Nutanix is a natural fit, specifically Dell XC, due to the simplicity, you know, the non disruptive operational procedures that we can bring in. And that's some of the new exciting stuff around our enterprise cloud operating system that we recently talked about at our .NEXT conference. I think the vision that Nutanix holds is in lockstep with what Winslow is trying to do for its customer base here in New England. >> Mike, I want you to talk a little bit about your customers that you're meeting with. What do they care about? What are the drivers there? What are things like converged, hyperconverged, and cloud? Does that mean something to them, or how is it, how do they say it in their business terms? >> Yeah I think when we talk to customers, most customers today, almost all customers, know what converged infrastructure is. Hyperconverged I would say is a little bit less than a converged, but most customers are educated and understand the concepts. I think when we start talking to customers and educate them about the XC platform in Nutanix and open their eyes to this concept of enterprise cloud or enterprise cloud operating system, it changes the discussion. We see, typically I'll see a lot of light bulbs go off and a lot of, "I didn't realize that Nutanix could do that," or "I didn't realize you guys had a native integration with public cloud" or we're focused in the application stack which is again some of the announcements that we made last week, or a few weeks ago now, at .NEXT. >> Yeah, specifically around cloud, what's the, I find there is no typical state out there. Companies are all over the map trying to figure out kind of hybrid or multicloud. Give us a couple examples, probably can't give us customer names, but how are they integrating cloud? How are they building their environments to be more cloud-like, what we at Wikibon call true private cloud? What are you seeing out there in the field? >> It's a great question. So I think there is a sort of a misconception from my view that cloud is purely lift and shift. I'm going to take my applications, and I'm going to move them into public cloud or somebody else's environment. In reality, cloud is a way of doing business, right? It's a way, it's a new way of thinking about IT. We talk about mode one and mode two applications are your legacy and your more stateless applications that probably belong in a public cloud environment. And what Nutanix brings is the ability now to manage an environment in that new way, focusing both on your traditional legacy applications, but helping you move to those mode two applications, partnering with public cloud providers, specifically Google. So that's the conversation we're really having is don't think of cloud as lift and shift. Think of it as a new way of doing business. Let's figure out how cloud is going to benefit your business and align to the business style you're looking to achieve. >> Yeah, absolutely. One of the lines we've heard many times is, "Cloud is not a destination. Cloud is really an operating model for many of the users." Last thing, just what's kind of the feeling you get from people in IT today? In the keynote this morning, discussion was, "IT kind of went from a call center to supporting the business and now IT is a driver for the business." Is that what you're seeing? Where is kind of the typical IT mindset? What are they thinking about? What's exciting them, and what's worrying them? >> Yeah I think first and foremost, digital transformation has quickly become kind of the cliche term, right? Maybe one of the most hated terms in IT these days. But it's a reality I think for most folks, and understanding what digital transformation means in the business now understanding that, again IT is actually driving business value in every way. And how can they get to the level where IT's no longer in the way, you know. Long duration projects are a thing of the past. It's a move forward mentality now. Continue to push the boundaries, but yet keep, obviously keep the lights on and ensure that we're not going to disrupt existing business processes that are tried and true. So it's kind of a tough paradigm that we're in right now. And again I think Nutanix really helps because we bring that non disruptive perspective to being able to get to that next level. >> Alright, Mike Berthiaume, really appreciate you joining us here. Nutanix been a great role and working with partners like Winslow Technology Group. You're watching The Cube. We've got lots more coverage here from the WTG User Group Event.

>> Hi, I'm Stu Miniman with theCUBE and we're here at the Winslow Technology Group User Conference for Dell EMC. Happy to be joined by the keynote speaker for the event, Jeremy Burton, CMO of Dell. Jeremy great to see ya. >> Thanks Stu, always good to be on theCUBE. >> Yeah, so Jeremy, you've been on theCUBE since the inaugural event back at actually EMC World, here in Boston. >> Yeah. >> Just a short drive from where we are today >> I know, seven years. >> Yeah, seven years ago, 2010, wow, pretty amazing. One of the things you talk about Dell and EMC coming together, truly the scale and distribution is a big piece of that. So being here at a user conference for one of the partners of the company that been with Compellent since like the earliest days and with Dell and now with Dell EMC. You know, what is the importance of the channel to Dell and Dell EMC? >> Yeah I think, I mean look at relationships. A company like the Scots, they've been around 15 years. They've had wins with customers, they have trusted relationships there. And sometimes actually, they're better at presenting a solution to the customer than even we are. I mean we've got a lot of capabilities, but they're businesses deliver an outcome for the customer. And so at times they're pretty adept at really understanding you know, in local markets in particular, what that customer's business is and what the best solution for them is and giving them impartial advice. >> Yeah. Jeremy, in a recent interview you did with us, I was struck by, you talked about when we make strategy. We used to put together the five-year plan. These days, two years, things are changing drastically. >> Right. >> Turn back to, you've been with EMC and now Dell, you know, for seven years, you know, two years ago was just when Dell was looking to buy EMC. When you talked to your partners and your end user customers, how are they keeping up with change? What are some of the biggest challenges you're seeing from the user base? >> Yeah I think it's particularly difficult right now because, you know, we've all seen the cloud phenomenon. You've also got the digital thing going on at the same time. There's the big data thing going on at the same and also look, the computing devices that people use are starting to change. So, I think what you've always got to do and what we always try and do, we can't, we don't know exactly what's going to happen in future, but I think we've got a good idea of what the general themes are, and so I think the best thing we can do to help our users along with us is articulate those very clearly. What do we think of the next three, four, five years, the key themes that you should be watching are? And then you're right, like a couple of years you can have a product road map and then some aspirations beyond that what you might want to do, but the reality is if you lock into a three, four year road map and articulate it and get committed to it, I mean it could quite easily change and certainly it's more of the development team's move to like agile methodologies. There's not always really now the need to do that because you kind of build those cost corrections into the development process. >> Yeah, Jeremy, as the CMO I need to ask you about brand. >> Yeah, okay. >> So, you know, we're sitting here in the shadows of Fenway Park, used to be an EMC level, there's now a Dell EMC level. In the keynote you talked about really how Dell is a lot like Alphabet, which is the Google holding company. Dell, Dell EMC, Vergestry, Morrisey, Pivotal, VMware, all these pieces. All of the transformations going on. What do people look to the Dell family? Where do you make your mark in your brand? >> Yeah, I mean all of, the brand campaign that we're in right now, all of the effort is going and all of the money to the point is going to Dell Technologies. That was the new company that we created. And we want to make sure that people understand that Dell Technologies is maybe not what you thought. Dell was evolved. I mean most people think of Dell, they think of the PC. That's what Michael made his name selling. But Dell Technologies it goes a mile wide and a mile deep at this point and so really what we're trying to do with the brand campaign is put everything into Dell Technologies, understand the capabilities of that, and then look, over the next few years we can then reinforce what Dell, the PC business, Dell EMC, the data center business, VMware, Pivotal and so on, how they plug in. So really I think for the next year or so, we're going to kind of keep kind of beating on Dell Technologies and make sure everyone understands that. And then over time, you know, reinforce whether the ingredient brands. It really is, and Dell Technologies is a family of brands. That's the approach we're taking. >> Yeah, last thing I want to ask you, Jeremy. You talked about how we've seen the progression of kind of IT responding to the business and now IT really being a major driver for the business. >> Yeah. >> Maybe you could talk, you know, what are you seeing in customers, you know, how is it, you know, IT is a central point for so many companies? >> Yeah I mean it's exciting times. It's exciting and scary, I think, for the IT teams, because I'd even go further and say IT is the business in many companies now. I've seen many models, some companies have felt that their IT team couldn't adapt to be the new digital team and so they've created a second IT function. You know, sometimes you hear it mode one IT, mode two IT. But look, I've also been in companies where the CIO has really been like on it with the business, and they built out that capability within the existing IT structure, so I think the opportunity for IT folks is being more relevant than they've ever been in the past. And actually, supporting the business, doing real competitive differentiation, which it's maybe been a while since some IT departments landed there. And the threat though is that if you don't get on board, you could find yourself with your nose pressed against the window looking at a different IT operation doing the work that maybe you want to do as an IT pro. So it's exciting times and scary times together. >> Alright, well Jeremy Burton, appreciate you joining us here on theCUBE and we have lots of coverage here from the WTG Dell EMC User Event. Thanks for watching theCUBE.