(upbeat music) >> Live, from Copenhagen, Denmark. It's theCUBE. Covering Nutanix.NEXT 2019. Brought to you by Nutanix. >> Welcome back everyone to theCUBE's live coverage of Nutanix.NEXT. We are in Copenhagen, Denmark. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, hosting alongside Stu Miniman. We're joined by Fran Scott. She is a science and engineering presenter. Thanks so much for coming on the show. >> No worries at all. It's good to be here actually. >> So you are a well known face to UK audiences. You are a three times BAFTA nominated science and engineering presenter. Well-known. >> Give her a winner. (laughter) >> You're the Susan Lucci of science. You are the pyrotechnician and you lead the Christmas lectures at the Royal Institute. >> Yeah. I head up the demonstration team at the Royal Institution. We come up with all the science demonstrations, so the visual ways to show the science ideas. I head up that team. We build the demonstrations and we show science to people rather than just tell them about it. >> So mostly, you have a very cool job. (chuckles) >> I love my job. >> I want to hear how you got into this. What was it? What inspired you? >> Oh gosh, two very different questions. In terms of what inspired me, I was very lucky enough to be able to pursue what I love. And I came from a family where answers weren't given out willy-nilly. If you didn't know something, it wasn't a bad thing. It was like a, "Let's look it up. Let's look it up." I grew up in an atmosphere where you could be anything because you didn't have to know what you had to be. You could just have a play with it. I love being hands-on and making things, and I grew up on a farm, so I was quite practical. But I also loved science. Went to university, did neuroscience at university. I enjoyed the learning part but, where I was in terms of the science hierarchy, I found out that once you actually go into a lab, there's a lot of lab work and not much learning straight away, and it was the learning that I loved. And so my friends actually got me into science communication. They took me to the science museum and they were like, "Fran, you will love this." And I was like, "Will I?" And I was like, "You are so right." I got a job at the science museum in London by just approaching someone on that visit and being like, "How do I get a job here?" And they were like, "Well, you got to do this, this, this." I was like, "I can do that." I got the job there and I realized I loved science demonstrations and building stuff. Eventually I just combined that love of science and being practical together. And now I produce and write, build science props and science stage shows. And then it became a thing. (laughter) Hand it to me, I love it. >> So Fran, our audience is very much the technology community. Very supportive of STEM initiatives. Give us a little flavor as to some of the things you're working on. Where is there need for activities? >> I suppose the biggest example of that would be a show that I did a few years ago where there was a big push for new coders within the UK. And I was getting approached time and time again for visual ways to show computer coding. Or programming, as we used to call it back in the day. I didn't have an answer because then, I wasn't a coder. So I was like, "Well, I'll learn. And then I'll figure out a demonstration because this is what I do. So why don't I do it on coding?" And so yeah, I set about. I learnt code. And I came up with an explosions based coding show. Error 404. And we toured around the country with that. Google picked it up and it was a huge success just because it was something that people wanted to learn about. And people were stumped as to how to show coding visually. But because this is what we do day in and day out with different subjects, we could do it with coding just like we do it with physics. >> What do you think is the key? A lot of your audience is kids. >> Yes and family audiences. >> So what is the key to getting people excited about science? >> I think science itself is exciting if people are allowed to understand how brilliant it is. I think some of the trouble comes from when people take the step too big, and so you'd be like, "Hang on but, why is that cool? Why?" Because they don't under... Well they would understand if they were fed to them in a way that they get it. The way I say it is, anyone can understand anything as long as you make the steps to get there small enough. Sometimes the steps are too big for you to understand the amazingness of that thing that's happening. And if you don't understand that amazingness, of course you're going to lose interest. Because everyone around you is going, "Ah, this is awesome, this is awesome!" And you're like, "What? What's awesome?" I think it's up to us as adults and as educators to just try and not patronize the children, definitely not, but just give them those little steps so they can really see the beauty of what it is that we're in awed by. >> One of the things that is a huge issue in the technology industry is the dearth of women in particular, in the ranks of technology and then also in leadership roles. As a woman in science and also showing little girls everywhere all over the UK what it is to be a woman in science, that's a huge responsibility. How do you think of that, and how are you in particular trying to speak to them and say, "You can do this"? >> I've done a lot of research onto this because this was the reason I went into what I'm into. I worked a lot of the time behind the scenes just trying to get the science right. And then I realized there was no one like me doing science presenting. The girl was always the little bit of extra on the side and it was the man who was the knowledgeable one that was showing how to do the science. And the woman was like, "Oh, well that's amazing." And I was like, "Hang on. Let's try and flip this." And it just so happened that I didn't care if it was me. I just wanted a woman to do it. And it just happened that that was me. But now that I'm in that position, one, well I run a business as well. I run a business where we can train other new presenters to do it. It's that giving back. So yes, I train other presenters. I also make sure there's opportunity for other presenters. But I also try, and actually I work with a lot of TV shows, and work on their language. And work on the combination of like, "Okay, so you've got a man doing that, you got women doing this. Let's have a look at more diversity." And just trying to show the kids that there are people like them doing science. There's that classic phrase that, "You can't be what you can't see." So yes, it comes responsibility, but also there's a lot of fun. And if you can do the science, be intelligent, be fun, and just be normal and just enjoy your job, then people go, "Hang on," whether they're a boy or a girl, they go, "I want a bit of that," in terms of, "I want that as my job." And so by showing that, then I'm hopefully encouraging more people to do it. But it's about getting out and encouraging the next generation to do it as well. >> Fran, you're going to be moderating a panel in the keynote later this afternoon. Give our audience a little bit. What brought you to this event? What's going into it? And for those that don't get to see it live, what they're missing. >> I am one lucky woman. So the panel I'm moderating, it's all about great design and I am a stickler for great design. As a scientist, prop-builder, person that does engineering day in and day out, I love something when it's perfectly designed. If there is such a thing as a perfect design. So this panel that we've got, Tobias Manisfitz, Satish Ramachandran, and Peter Kreiner from Noma. And so they all come with their own different aspect of design. Satish works at Nutanix. Peter works at Noma, the restaurant here in Copenhagen. And Tobias, he designs the visual effects for things such as Game of Thrones and Call of Duty. And so yes, they each design things for... They're amazing at their level but in such a different way and for a different audience. I'm going to be questioning them on what is great design to them and what frictionless design means and just sort of picking their amazing brains. >> I love that fusion of technology and design as something they talked about in the keynote this morning. Think of Apple or Tesla, those two things coming together. I studied engineering and I feel like there was a missing piece of my education to really go into the design. Something I have an appreciation for, that I've seen in my career. But it's something special to bring those together. >> Yeah. I think care is brought in mostly because yes, one, I love design. But also I've worked a lot with LEGO. And so I was brought in to be the engineering judge on the UK version of LEGO Masters. Apparently, design in children's builds is the same as questioning the owner of NOMA restaurant. (chuckles) >> So what do you think? Obviously you're doing the panel tomorrow. What is in your mind the key to great design? Because as you said, you're a sucker for anything that is just beautiful and seamless and intuitive. And we all know what great design is when we hold it in our hands or look at it. But it is this very ineffable quality of something that... >> So the panel's later today actually. But in terms of great design, yes, we all know when we have great design. But the trouble comes in creating good design. I think the key, and it's always obvious when you say it out loud, but it's that hand in hand partnership with aesthetics and practicality. You can't have something that's just beautiful. But you can't have something that just works. You need to have it as a mixture of both. It's those engineers talking with the designers, the designers talking with the engineers. The both of them talking with the consumers. And from that, good design comes. But don't forget, good design means they're for different people as well. >> What are some of the most exciting things you're working on, because you are a professional pyrotechnician. We've never had someone like this on theCUBE before. This is amazing. This is a first time ever. >> I was strictly told no fire. >> Yes, thank you. We appreciate that. >> Well at the moment, as I said at the beginning, I'm lucky enough to head up the demo team at the Royal Institution. We are just heading into our Christmas lectures. Now if you don't know these Christmas lectures, they were the first science ever done to a juvenile audience. Back in 1825 was when they started. It's a tradition in the UK and so this year, we're just starting to come up with the demonstrations for them. And this year they presented by Hannah Fry, and so they're going to be on maths and algorithms and how that makes you lucky or does it make you lucky? We've been having some really fun meetings. I can't give away too much, but there definitely be some type of stunt involved. That's all I can say. But there's going to be a lot of building. I really need to get back, get my sore out, get stuff made. >> Excellent. And who is the scientist you most admire? >> Oh my word. >> Living or dead? >> Who is the scientist I most admire? (sighs) I do have... Oh gosh, this is... >> The wheels are churning. >> It's a cheesy one though, but Da Vinci. Just for his multi-pronged approach and the fact that he had so much going on in his brain that he couldn't even get everything down on paper. He'd half draw something and then something else would come to him. >> I had the opportunity of interviewing Walter Isaacson last year, and he loved... It was the, as we talked about, the science and the design and the merging of those. But reading that biography of him, what struck me is he never finished anything because it would never meet the perfection in his mind to get it done. I've seen that in creative people. They'll start things and then they'll move on to the next thing and there. Me as a engineering by training, it's like no, no. You need to finish work. Manufacturing from standpoint, work in progress is the worst thing you could have out there. >> He would be a rubbish entrepreneur. (chuckling) >> Right, but we're so lucky to have had his brain. >> Exactly. I think that's the thing. I think it gives us an insight into what the brain is capable of and what you can design without even knowing you're designing something. >> Well Fran, thank you so much for coming on theCUBE. This was so fun. >> Thanks for having me. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Stu Miniman. Stay tuned for more of theCUBE's live coverage of .NEXT. (upbeat music)

(upbeat pop music) >> Announcer: Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE covering HPE Discover 2017, brought to you by Hewlett Packard Enterprise. (synthesizer music ticking) >> Okay, welcome back everyone. We're here live in Las Vegas for SiliconANGLE Media. It's theCUBE. This is our coverage of HPE Discover 2017, our seventh year covering HP Discover, now HPE Discover. I'm John Furrier with my Cohost, Dave Vellante. Our next two guests, Paul Miller, Vice President, Software Defined and Cloud Group Marketing at HPE, welcome back to theCUBE, CUBE alumni, Danny Yeo, System Administrator at BYU, Brigham Young University, guys, welcome to theCUBE. Welcome back. >> Thank you. >> Welcome to theCUBE. >> Hey, guys. >> So, tell us-- >> Glad to be here. >> So, tell us, what's your experience in Vegas, so far? What's the take, here, from your perspective on what's happening at the show, your takeaway? >> A lot of exciting technology, with HPE, some things that I wasn't aware what they were doing and I'm very impressed, really impressed. >> John: Like what, what are the things that-- >> One of the things, I was just telling Paul, is their memory driven computing with genomic research. I'm with the College of Life Sciences, specifically, at Brigham Young University and we have people doing research in that area, mapping the human genome, for example. We've got people doing DNA analysis and so forth, so that, that was really fascinating. >> About computing, the Meg Whitman keynote, really, >> Yes. >> redefining compute, it's the vision, >> Yeah. >> and the messaging, hybrid cloud, obviously the center of the action. How does that fit into the portfolio with hyperconverged still on fire? I mean, IT is just getting more automated in a way, but it's more scalable infrastructure. >> Yeah, so we see, you know, our mission in our organization is to drive software defined everything, right, and hyperconverge is all about software defining and making virtualization environments easy and the SimpliVity and the SimpliVity architecture, which is built on rich data services, will enable us to take software defined storage to the next level to make it super, super scalable and extensible and give customers that resilience that they need, the inline dedupe, compression, all those great technologies. You'll see us, you know, push really hard in the hyperconverge space. As you say, it's on fire and I can tell you the sales are on fire. The sessions, here, are on fire, standing-room-only for every SimpliVity session, hands-on labs booked beyond capacity with people loving and learning the technology, but we're not stopping there. We're going to take that same technology and embed it in our Synergy offering. So, just think about the ability to compose and recompose highly scalable software defined storage for enterprise applications and enterprise scale and then you'll also see it be a key part of our technology on the new stack, so, a lot of cool things. The sessions are really hot and on fire, as you say. >> So, Paul, if we go back to the 2009 timeframe, it was converged infrastructure, >> Yeah. >> HP, at the time, kind of coined the term and then it, but essentially, it was some compute, some storage and some networking kind of screwed together >> Yeah. >> and, you know, pre-tested and pre-engineered. >> Yeah. >> That's all good, but it's really evolved dramatically and when you think hyperconverged, you think software defined, software defined everything. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of what Synergy was all about, fluid pools of infrastructure, >> Yeah. >> we heard you guys talking about that, last Discover. So, tell us, help us understand SimpliVity and how that fits in that portfolio. >> Okay, so, yeah, so the whole convergence thing was all about static building blocks, right? You built 'em, you deployed 'em, but they were really static. What we're trying to go to is fluid pools of everything. So, think about SimpliVity being a fluid pool of storage other you could compose and recompose for different workloads. And, in our overall portfolio, the biggest advantage we have, like with the Synergy product, is the ability for a customer who has, needs the scalability and resilience of SAN, today, to be able to on the time you're deploying an application, compose it for that workload, but now I want software defined because I may need some, a lower cost basis, be able to, at time of deployment, at time of provisioning, deploy it there. So, we see this being a very complimentary strategy, where, now, we have composability from software defined all the way up to the largest SAN type software architectures. >> All right, Danny, let's get into this, sort of your situation. So, can you help us? Paint a picture of what's going on in your shop. You know, what are the challenges that you're having? What are the drivers that are affecting your IT decisions and take us through, sort of, what you're doing with infrastructure. >> Absolutely, so, before we got into hyperconverge, we were essentially like everybody else who had not been exposed to hyperconverge. We have the traditional service stack. You got compute nodes, you got fabric, you got storage nodes and then you got the fabric for them to communicate. And, you know, when you have problems, you get the finger pointing, right? (hosts laughing) And so, that was really frustrating and then, of course, you got a hypervisor and all that put in place in the mix. It was frustrating and supporting that, the outbacks was (object banging) a little bit challenging because, you know, for example, my systems engineer would have to stay, sometimes after hours, after five and he'd start doing things and, you know, patching, upgrading, you name it and sometimes to way after midnight. That was problem. We were trying to minimize that. The other challenge that I had in my shop was backup. We had a backup window, during the weekend, that we cannot meet. At some point in time, the RTO and RPO weren't sufficient and, so, we had to look at a different strategy. Disaster recovery, that was like something unachievable. It's like out there, somewhere, right? >> You can't even meet your backup windows. >> Right, sure. >> Dave: I mean, forget about disaster recovery, right. >> So, summer of 2014, I went to a VMware user conference, stopped by the SimpliVity booth and they asked me if I knew about the technology; I didn't, so they spent some time explaining that to me and after that, they asked me if I just had a little bit more time so that they can do a demo for me, a demonstration. During the demonstration, the engineer basically did a failover from California to either Boston or New York. It was in seconds, 22 seconds if I remember correctly. And then, he says, "Well, that simulated a disaster. "And so, you failover and if the disaster is "now all over and averted, you want to failback, right, "to your primary location, " and he did that, again, in seconds. I was blown away. I was sold. It reminded me of when in 2005, I saw VMotion from VMware. >> Yeah right. >> Yeah (laughs). >> John: Right, everybody went, "Wow." >> Game, game changer isn't it? >> Game change, yes! >> Yeah. >> Right. >> And so, I thought to myself, I need, you know, it was like that movie, I got to get me one of these (laughing). And so, I asked them to come over and visit us on campus, do a deeper dive of the technology and so that way we can ask questions back and forth. They did and then we decided to do a Proof of Concept, so we did that late 2014 and after the Proof of Concept, we were convinced that was the technology to acquire. >> So, you had to make sure it was real? >> Yes, now-- >> You did the proofs, Proof of Concept? >> I have, sorry, go ahead. >> No, please, continue. >> So, I had the unique situation where after I have acquired SimpliVity and was running it in production, a competitor, I'll just put it that way, came in and asked us if we would consider doing a POC with their product. And, we're like, "You know, well, I've already bought this," and they said, "Not a problem, we would like you "to try our product and if our product is superior, "we want to swap out those SimpliVity boxes." So, I thought, well, what do I have to lose? (Paul laughing) So, I had the opportunity to run both hyperconverged technologies, side-by-side. >> Okay. >> As we were thinking how best to really test which one works, which one's superior or if they're essentially the same thing, we had an engineer suggest, "Why don't we simulate a drive failure, "start pulling out drives?" And so, we did, we started pulling out drives and I had three nodes on, with SimpliVity and on the other I had four nodes and a box. As we pulled out the, after we pulled out the sixth drive, the other technology failed. We couldn't recover data, basically. We would have to send it to a data recovery center. SimpliVity was just, you know, it was business as usual. It was going, no sweat. >> Dave: Because you had it replicated? Is that right, or-- >> Not yet. We haven't had it replicated, >> Oh, okay. >> but it was an evaluation. >> Dave: Just all synchronous, that's what happened. >> So, it's their technology, right, it's the RAIN and RAIN architecture. >> Yeah. >> and, that's the thing, the RAIN architecture that protected us, so we were able to pull the sixth drive. It was still continue, it threw up a lot of flags, >> Yeah. >> alerts and we knew that-- >> Redundance with the nodes, redundancy at the node level >> Yes. >> as opposed to just the drive level? >> But, that little experiment basically proved to us that we bought the right thing. It validated our acquisition. >> John: So you did the bake-off. That's awesome, right? >> Yes. >> John: So, what did you say to the other guys when they came back and said, yo, your stuff's not working? >> Well, we asked them first. We asked them first, "Help. "Your box is not responding, help." They threw up their hands in the air. >> It's your fault. (hosts laughing) >> Yeah, here's the answer. >> John: You got finger pointing? >> Here's the answer, >> Come on. >> you'll love this, right, the answer is, "You know, you can't just pull out the drives. "You've got to time 'em. "You know, you can't just, willy nilly, you just yank 'em. "You've got to time them." >> Say that to the tornado that's coming down or the earthquake >> Yeah, yeah, sure. >> that's happening or floods, I mean, you? >> Yeah, how do you time those? >> It's a disaster. >> Yeah, how do you time those, yeah? >> So, we decided, look take your product back. We're happy with SimpliVity. We'll keep it. >> This is a huge issue. I mean, Hurricane Sandy, which happened in New York, >> Oh, yeah. >> that was a game changer for a lot of the folks we talk to on theCUBE. You don't know when this is going to come and, literally, this disaster recovery thing is, has to be part of the plan and that's really the key. Now that you have SimpliVity, now that it's part of HPE, what's your world like now with HPE with the SimpliVity? >> It's too soon to tell. (all laughing) No, really, honestly, but after the keynote yesterday, I'm pretty convinced other SimpliVity has, is in good hands. >> John: Yeah. >> And, only time will tell, right? >> So, I want to just sort of summarize the story 'cause we were throwing in all kinds of buzz, RPO, RTO, so, but basically you had a problem with your backup window. That's where this all started. You weren't meeting >> That's where it started. >> your backup window? >> Yes. >> You really didn't even have a disaster recovery, an adequate disaster recovery plan. >> Danny: Not at all. >> So, RPO is a Recovery Point Objective, essentially a measure of how much data you're going to lose, right, >> Yeah. >> and then RTO is Recovery Time Objective, the time it takes you to get your applications back up and running. >> Right. >> And, of course, nobody wants to lose any data, but there's always some exposure. If you want to spend a billion dollars, maybe you can minimize that to near zero, but, and I presume, you didn't spend a billion dollars on this, >> No (laughs). >> but those are the drivers. So, you essentially solved your backup window problem and, at the same time, >> Right. >> you got disaster recovery out-of-the-box, is that correct? >> Yes, so backup is in seconds, right? It's, you know, to do a backup, takes us only a few seconds, like six seconds and so forth. We bought an additional node, put it in a remote site and replicated to it and now we can failover to that node and run only mission-critical apps and when everything's good in the primary location, we can just failback. >> And, that gives you your disaster recovery. Now, and your RPO, is what? I mean, what's the-- >> Seconds. >> Oh, seconds? >> Seconds, yeah, seconds. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Your RPO is down to seconds? >> Danny: It is that impressive, yeah. >> Okay, so you're at risk of losing seconds of data, which is not the end of the world, necessarily, in your world. And your RTO is minutes? >> About there. >> Yeah. >> Tens of minutes kind of thing? >> No, no. >> No. >> Minutes? >> Just minutes. >> Minutes. >> Minutes, yeah. >> Under 10 minutes? >> Danny: Under 10 minutes, yes. >> Oh, yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we're not as huge as some other data center, in the College of Life Sciences, so, so-- >> Dave: Well, you know, and you're not financial services. >> Right. >> So, now, when you, what has been the reaction from your user base? I mean, do they even know? >> They have no clue. >> They don't know. >> It is completely transparent, too. We are now able to do maintenance work during the work day, business hours. We can upgrade. We can patch. They have no clue that this is all going on in the background, which is great because, now, my systems engineer does not have to work after five, hardly ever. >> Dave: So, is this why you bought the company? >> Absolutely, we looked at 'em all, right, and I mean all of 'em and we did similarly. We brought 'em into our labs, we did failover, we did scalability. and that's another huge advantage of the SimpliVity platform built and designed for scalability, compression, because system utilization is very, very, important. And, you know, SimpliVity had a really great marketing tool that we're continuing: it was their guarantees. Guaranteed 90% capacity savings, guaranteed the failover time, a terabyte of VMs in under three minutes, so we're carrying on those guarantees, but what those guarantees actually did was really highlight the architectural advantages that SimpliVity designed in. They took a different approach, right. A lot of people started at, I'm going to simplify the VM management layer. They said, "No, I'm going to make "the most robust virtualization data services platform "in the world," and that's where we really see the core advantage and, again, we looked at 'em all. We put 'em through paces and nobody came close on scalability, availability, disaster tolerance than SimpliVity. >> Paul, what does this mean for your other customers, now, extending out through your portfolio? Obviously, there's different categories, campus and the different use case, but for the other use cases with the composability vision, how does this fit into the hyperconverging, overall? >> Yeah, so we have multiple customers, now, who are running a hyperconverged and composable in their same shop, where they want to have just virtualization and a simple easy deployment, whether it for robo sites or for different work groups. Drop in SimpliVity, up and running in minutes. There are other use cases where they need the high performance of bare-metal or they want to move into containers on bare-metal and that's where Synergy plays out. We have people like you saw, Dreamworks, using Synergy for rendering. >> Right. >> You need bare-metal, you need the power. They can compose and recompose for different movies that they do, different animations. They really love that. We were talking about a genomics research company we're working with. They're using it for bare-metal as well. HudsonAlpha, they're driving bare-metal, but they also have hyperconvergence where the developer community says, I just need to do a few, build a new couple applications. Log in, self service, get your work done on a few VMs and then, when they're done, then they'll move that research into bare-metal, so a lot of different use cases across the board. >> Right, what I love about that, John, is it's horizontal infrastructure >> Yeah. >> that can support multiple workloads and multiple applications, which is kind of infrastructure nirvana for a pro, you know, a practitioner, right, I mean >> Sure. >> having that single platform that you can throw multiple apps and workloads at is, I mean, we've not had that in the industry before, right? >> Paul: No. >> No. >> No. >> So-- >> And building it on one view makes things easy for our customers to manage across the board, so, yeah, we're seeing, I mean, what's interesting about, I think, where we're heading is not only working with, you know, IT leads, but now, developers are starting to become part of our core customers who we're talking to. >> Now, you guys are really, really checking the boxes on making IT easier and as it shifts to the cloud and hybrid, you know, this is the kind of thing; you want out-of-the-box experiences, literally, here and then recovery, this is a good trend. >> Yeah. >> Paul, thanks so much. I know you guys got >> Yeah. a hard stop and you've got to roll to another appointment. Danny, thanks so much for sharing your story. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Love that story, real practitioner, you know, on the ground, on the front lines, doing the bake-off, SimpliVity story, great, great job, thanks so much for sharing. It's theCUBE with more live coverage from HPE Discover after this short break Stay with us. (upbeat pop music)