>>Live from Orlando, Florida. It's the cube covering Microsoft ignite brought to you by Cohesity. >>Hello cube nation and welcome to back to the cubes live coverage of Microsoft ignite here in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. Along with my cohost Stu Miniman. We are closing down the second day of the three days of coverage. This is day two >>wall to wall to wall coverage. Joining us is Thomas LA rock, best job title ever, head geek at solar winds or speaker data expert and SQL rockstar and Microsoft MVP and Microsoft MVP and yes importantly and you saved me. You didn't have me on yesterday. You waited to the second day, the end of the second day. Thomas, we wanted to make sure that by the time you came on that you had got some time to really absorb some of those announcements and be ready to give us a different perspective on some of the items. All right. Precisely. So this is your 10th Microsoft ignite. It is my first go back to tech ed 2010 so yeah, my 10th consecutive between tech ed and McKnight. Thoughts, impressions of 2019, how is it different? How is the show evolving? What does the show all about? So your perspective, you know, I do a lot of events and shows and what my impression right now just over these two days is that this is one of the only shows this year I've been to where I feel the from year over year, the expo hall is say bigger. >>I mean I know it's the same size the last year. I think there's actually more vendors here this year. There are, and there's more people here. This year in the expo hall. Our traffic at the booth yesterday was amazing and continued through today. Uh, other events I've been to, I feel it's kind of shrinking a little bit. So to me the partners and the ecosystem for Microsoft in general is grow or I should just say Azure because that's what I think this show really is. Now I think the old tech ed you had mentioned was more like a windows type a show. But now this is th these shows between AWS and this, you're talking about the two biggest providers of infrastructure. This is an Azure show. Yeah. Well and Thomas, if you come follow us along, I'll be at CubeCon in two weeks and I'll be at AWS re invent. >>Yup. Right after Thanksgiving. Both of those shows are growing. The ecosystem are growing there too. So the cloud is definitely one of those. The raising tide is moving all boats. I want to poke you say Azure. Azure is definitely one of the main pieces, but you know, the applications that data are so important to your last year. AI front and center. Um, it was, it was more, you know, they didn't use the term AI as much here. You know, Satya, I was talking about, you know, tech intensity and all of the things we can do with data. So this, while a cloud is a major piece, I wouldn't call this just a cloud show because I think that would limit what we're actually talking about here. Cause there's so many of the apps and so many of the things. When I talked to some of the ecosystem providers, you know, they're looking for that solution that fits it and therefore they're go into the ecosystem and talking about all of those pieces. >>So for an infrastructure guy like me, cloud's a big piece of it, but it's way more than that. And that's one of the challenges is there's, you know, everything from, you know, the latest Azure arc all the way through big edge and mobile devices and, uh, you know, heck, there's even, you know, in the store they've got people playing Xbox. Uh, so it's, there's a lot in your Microsoft community here. So. Absolutely. So I, I didn't say cloud though. I said it's an Azure show. And then as your show is to me is almost synonymous with Microsoft and all that stuff. You see, uh, over there, that entire hall, you're right. They have all those other things. They have the, all the power apps, they have those applications, they have everything for developers that you need. But still to me, uh, so what was that stat you just gave me? >>We were debating, it's roughly eight upwards of 80% of workloads are still earth on premises, right? It's still there. So with Azure Ark now they have the ability to take an Azure surface and put it in your data center wherever you want it. So when I say it's an Azure show, it's not even that. It's just cloud. The cloud is coming to you and we see it with VMware, we see it with AWS and outposts that they have decided that 80% is a huge market and they're coming for it. Right? So, so Thomas, if you'd asked me two years ago, uh, which of the hyperscale providers as best as hybrid, my answer would have been Microsoft because they're in both places. The hybrid discussion at this show is way different. There was a lot of retooling. We talked about what was going on. Azure stacks has been there, but arc kind of is a new big push and everybody is trying to look at that and say, wait, is this a management tool? >>Is this just the latest Kubernetes flavor? In your viewpoint, how does arc fit in the Microsoft story? And you know, what should we be comparing it to from the other Amazon, VMware, you know, red hat type of pliers out there? Well Brian, >> I think it's the same thing is that, I was just saying is that arc to me, we can talk about the plumbing. So yeah, they put a fancy name on whether it's Kubernetes, Coobernetti's and all that stuff, but no arc to me is a way for Microsoft to get their hands on as many data estates as possible. Right? I know data state, right? I have a data state and it's next to my data Lake and I work at the data factory and everything's stored in the data warehouse and I shop at the data Mark. We can go on forever with this stuff, but that is the reality of the world. >>And the thing is all those things exist and they're, as your arc is, it's the ability to extend into there because what is Azure and AWS, they're nothing more than an electric company. Their utility and the utility, you're going to offer similar services and that's what they have. And of course VM Ware's in the mix as well. And it's just the ability for all those companies to have their hands on your data, wherever it is, whether it's in your data center or with them, they don't care. They just want the ability to have a piece of that data as it's in transit or at rest. >>And so what's the end there? I mean, you're making that sound like there's some sort of nefarious, uh, end game here. >>It's, I wouldn't say so. Farias I would just say it's market share. What's the end is to survive, to have the market share, to continue to build new cool things. Right. Um, I, I think the end is some consolidation. I don't think the end is, I don't know. Let's say there's five major players. I don't think those five will always exist. I think the are gonna see it shrink over time, but it really, that depends on how well they partner with each other too. Um, I think there's room for everybody, but it's just depends on where they want to say, um, if they want the co-exist or not. Right. So for some of them like VMware, that's really just kind of software, right? They're partnering with clouds. But the clouds are the infrastructure hose. And so how long does VMware really have? Now they've done the nice pivot and I think they're going to last a little bit longer. >>But had they not taken that pivot in the last year or two? I think their timeline with a much shorter, yeah, it's interesting cause we've been looking at, you talk about that cloud adoption, some of the traditional vendors out there, um, many of which are, you know, ecosystem providers that have show here it has to react and deal with the cloud. You know, everybody's jumped on the Kubernetes fly and bandwagon. Everybody's partnering especially with Azure but also AWS and the like. Um, you know, Thomas, you and your company deal with a lot of end users out there. What are they looking for when it comes to being a trusted provider? You know, who, what, what, what's there and how does Microsoft stack up? When we talk about that Satya talked about trust a lot and you know, just curious to how you see them being perceived out there and you know, when customer want to lead partner, what do they want? >>Well, uh, for us, we have, uh, I believe over 300,000 customers at this point and, uh, I think roughly 53% of them are Azure base and that's a higher percentage than what we have for AWS, for our customer base. So we have taken steps to be that trusted partner. So when these companies are going to take that 80% workload that isn't there yet, uh, just in the booth discussions this week where they come to us and they say, Hey, we're going to owe three 65, how can you help us? We're going here at small steps at the time, so that workload that will chip away at it, but we're a company that can help with that transition as people move their workloads and their systems into a place like Azure. Uh, I think what you're gonna also see is our ability to, um, help people understand wherever they want their for structure. >>So for example, last week we announced how we have 15 of our products are now, um, deployed to the Azure marketplace. So you're talking two clicks and everything's deployed for you and you're up and running. And then if you want, if you want to, you know, manage the nodes that are still in your data center, you can just point everything to go up to Azure and Azure, handle a lot of those infrastructure needs for you. So that to me is the trust where you partner with a company like Microsoft and you say, what will it take for us to get in the marketplace? What will it take for us to help help us help, help us help you get that data into your data, into your cloud, right? I think our customers really want to know that when it comes to, Hey, I got to go to Azure. Are you somebody who could help us get there and stay there and manage and monitor the stuff for us? >>I want to talk productivity because I think you have a pretty different take from Satya Nadella. So he had a, he on the, on the main stage yesterday, he said the human act, human attention to inattention is at the root of all productivity. He's, he laid out a stat when you multitask it takes 25 minutes. I'm sorry I got distracted. So it was a 25 minutes. Yes, 25 minutes and you lose 40% of your productivity with that 25 minute lapse. So I w I felt that compelling and that rang true to me. But absolutely >>it's true. So right after he got done with that, Microsoft told us the answer was they were going to take Yammer and shove it inside teams on a shoving inside outlook. I don't think we need more productivity tools. I don't think we need more ways of distracting us. They say they say, Hey, it's great. We'll put tasks from outlook right inside teams. I'm like maybe I'm in teams cause I shut down outlook because I'm distracted by email and other things right now maybe I don't need that. Is it a nice to have and it's a possible thing I guess, but at the end of the day, I don't need you shoving all these extra things into all the things. You're just making the problem worse. We need fewer productivity tools. At what point do we hit peak productivity? I guess? I think we're there. I think I have all the tools that enable me to do my job already. I don't need them all tightly integrated. I need to shut more things off. Right. In order to get stuff done. >>That's a, that's an excellent point because when I want to get work done, I go to a place where I can't get online. Right. Because that's, that's the biggest, >>that's why, uh, I work remote from home one that one of my advantages is I don't have people just walking by my desk and, and distracting me with all sorts of things. That's a huge advantage. I try to take advantage of what, cause I work remote, but for people in an office, bells, whistles, lists that and the other, you know, uh, I just, I get a cup of coffee. You know, it's, it's difficult and I'm not sure that these companies, not just Microsoft, I just don't think companies are really thinking through if they're making things better or not. Every one of them Slack, all of them, they all think that they're the one that's all you need. It's not true and it's not making things better. Yeah, it's a true, we've had good feedback about teams overall here. Especially you've talked to a number of people that are remote workers and they feel that that does help them get connected with teams and, uh, you know, in the remote areas and by itself, but, you know, create point, uh, on the productivity stuff too. >>Do you use teams to use teams? Uh, kind of reluctant at first, like, do I need the another tool? But now that, uh, we've all kind of started switching to it and my company went O three 65 as well. Some teams comes with it and, uh, I do find that very useful, um, uh, much more so than I have any of the other tools in the past. I think teams took a lot of good things from a lot of different tools and they rolled out of them to the one they, and it works for me. It doesn't work for everybody though. Right? >>Exactly. Exactly. So what, so what else are you taking away from the, from your 10th ever ignite, you go back to the office, but is your home on Monday? What kinds of conversations are you going to have most stayed with you, have most resonated you? Okay. >>For me, uh, I, I focus a lot on the data platform and uh, I think the thing that's going to resonate the most with me, it really is Azure arc and what that, what the, what that really means and getting a little more involved with, uh, understanding where they're headed with it. Like just the idea they're going to give me that one management console that can control everything. Earth and cloud. Uh, that's an interesting thing. I see. Come at me. I work for a tools vendor, so as a tools vendor, I'm sitting there going, so Microsoft's building something that gives visibility into both. Now, what does that mean for me and where we might, we want to think about pivoting to make sure that we stay ahead and keep offering value where Microsoft might have a gap. Um, so I think those are the things I'll probably be thinking about. >>My role as head geek is to, you know, help our users and the people who write the code and, you know, connect, share and learn and figure out where things are going. And also involves partnering and having conversations with folks at Microsoft, uh, to help our company, you know, continue to have that edge. So I think that's all I'll be thinking about on Monday, probably now on the plane ride home on Friday, but who knows, right. Uh, Thomas, any other final words about the community here? Uh, you know, you're a Microsoft MVP is we set up in front, uh, you know, Microsoft should get great kudos for, they put the unity in community and they talk about diversity and inclusion, something they highlight something that, at least from the viewpoint we've had, uh, they seem to be doing a good job in moving the needle here. >>But, uh, you know, as an insider to the Microsoft community, uh, anything particular that you'd call out? Well, certainly the changes and the emphasis I've seen on diversity inclusion over the years. You're absolutely right. I think, I know this, you were having some interviews earlier to have those specific discussions and, uh, it's an important conversation to have, uh, uh, as somebody who organizes events, it becomes, you know, what's the diversity, how diverse should the event be? At what point are we diverse enough? Right? And what does that really mean? And so I look at it and I say, if I'm going to run an event that caters to say an it community, well, what's the makeup of the it community? Then the speakers should represent the community that they're trying to speak to. So what I've seen over these 11 years is a lot more focus for events, especially like ones I help organize where it's like, no, what I'm going to go out and recruit the speakers that I need to represent the people that I want them to be presenting to. >>Uh, I don't think I will recall that I'm old. I don't recall a lot of things, but you know, 11 years ago when I was, when I joined to became an MVP, I, I don't think that the diversity was there and I don't think the efforts were being done. I think those efforts have come just in the past few years, four or five years maybe society as a whole, but specifically inside Microsoft and, and their programs. And I think it's fabulous. Uh, I, I think you could never be diverse enough. I guess. I don't know how to say that. I think he could always do more to, uh, include, I always say inclusion is better than the exclusion any day. You can never do enough for that. And I think Microsoft's made great efforts. I'm, I'm really proud to call myself a Microsoft MVP. Uh, I, I think it's a great program. I'm glad that I questioned, you know, their selection method maybe because they keep inviting me back, but they do and, but I love it. I, it's been a great ride, >>a great note to end on. Thomas law crock head geek. Great. Great to have you on the show. Great. Great. Thanks for having me back. I really appreciate it. I'm Rebecca Knight for Stu minimums. Come back tomorrow for more of the cubes live coverage of Microsoft ignite.