HPE: A new era of not just storage but also data processing (Interview)

Przemysław Kucharzewski, BrandsIT: What is intelligent IT according to Hewlett Packard Enterprise?

Michał Zajączkowski, CEO, HPE: In our understanding, smart IT is the use of currently available technologies in such a way that our customers have the opportunity to benefit from digital transformation in many ways. In the case of the HPE Primera disk array, it’s our most advanced technology solutions, including using artificial intelligence in the products we sell to the market.

BrandsIT: And what will a day in the life of a human being look like in 10 years’ time?

Michał Zajączkowski: It is difficult to predict exactly. Probably ten years ago we would not have been able to say what it will look like now. Technology is rushing forward strongly and we can talk about what we expect. I believe that we are moving at a very fast pace towards the automation and robotisation of numerous processes, and not just industrial processes, but processes where machines can replace humans in many fields. Recently, IDC presented areas where artificial intelligence is now occurring and supporting the lives of entrepreneurs or companies in all kinds of places. What’s more, IDC analysts were tempted to show where it will be present in a few years’ time or where the potential for this type of technology to grow can be seen.

For me, what’s going to be happening in a while requires thinking about where people’s place will be and what they will be doing. This is not the first time in people’s lives that there has been a retraining: during the industrial revolution, too, everyone wondered what would follow. And now we have the technological revolution and a rapidly changing world all around us. We are moving not to make things harder for ourselves, but to make things easier in the first place. A simple example is autonomous cars. I expect that we will be passengers in such cars, and sooner than we think. I am convinced that we ourselves are capable of doing this faster than adopting any standards. Technology is no longer a constraint.

Krzysztof Kowalczyk, Hybrid IT Sales & PreSales Leader, HPE: The products we are launching today use technologies called future technologies, i.e. artificial intelligence. What will a human being’s work look like in the IT area? I think it will reap the full benefits of the support that artificial intelligence provides. What we are introducing today is a product that is built around these technologies. Why? To be able to make the job of the administrator or operator of such a product easier today, so that it is the artificial intelligence that can analyse, advise and support the decision-making. I think that in 10 years’ time we will already be at a stage where IT products will be handled by artificial intelligence, while the administrator will be the person who has to create something. Repetitive tasks, on the other hand, will be handed over to a mechanism that analyses large amounts of data, is able to draw conclusions from it and implement corrections or improvements. I think that in 10 years’ time, we will be at a place where artificial intelligence will be our daily support in suggesting what needs to be done and how to improve, and in simple activities it will replace us..

BrandsIT: Who do you address your new solution to?

Michal Zajączkowski: For us, HPE Primera is a solution for critical applications. In fact, I can imagine that every customer has some critical applications. This is a disk array that is designed precisely to provide 100 per cent data security, data storage and also access to that data. And we commit to that as part of this product. There is no other product, there is no other company that would take on this kind of commitment. And this array from the very beginning has been designed in such a way and is supported by artificial intelligence to make sure that its configuration, its performance or possibly its expansion needs will allow it to maintain the continuous business operation of customers.

For end customers and Primera, this is definitely the tool to use in those areas of the market that require uninterrupted operation. However, in terms of the partner market, I think it is a very good solution for companies that are service providers themselves and provide this type of IT service to smaller companies. The ability to make application environments available flexibly and quickly and to resell them further based on our reliable solution allows you to benefit from these features of the device, which translate into high customer satisfaction.

Krzysztof Kowalczyk: Market analysts identify the three most important features related to data storage in the area of mission-critical applications. The most essential feature for critical applications is their reliability. Data is now de facto currency and the customer must have access to it at all times. The second is the ability to scale flexibly and quickly: both capacity and performance. In third place, customers mention ease of use. Nowadays, IT departments should focus more on areas resulting from the development of the company’s business, rather than on activities related to the day-to-day management of the environment. In Poland, there is indeed a very strong customer demand for solutions with all the above-mentioned characteristics.

BrandsIT: What does the introduction of HPE Primera mean for HPE Partners? Will all partners be able to implement the new platform?

Michał Zajączkowski: We have one partner programme and here nothing will change with the arrival of the new solution. In our channel there has always been a kind of specialisation regarding certain areas. For my part, I believe that the HPE Primera disk array is an advanced solution that needs to be properly understood and positioned accordingly. Moreover, I will pay attention to specialisation on the partner side. Therefore, we will also invest heavily in their education for effective array sales. I don’t see any threats here, because we look at the market through the lens of the partners.

Krzysztof Kowalczyk: The HPE Primera disk array is built with simplicity in mind. This array is a product that can be supported, upgraded and expanded by both the partner and the customer. And it is all offered as a solution that guarantees 100 per cent availability. Naturally, it is very important from our side that our partners are educated. And this is what we will be betting on. I think the new solution opens up new possibilities for those who do not have full specialisation in the pure storage area. The matrix itself will help them to optimise its operation, protect against failures and achieve guaranteed 100% data availability.

BrandsIT: Do you think the new arrays will go to your customers’ own server rooms or rather to external data centres?

Michal Zajączkowski: There is no simple answer to this question, but in my opinion both options are possible. Just as it used to be assumed that everything would migrate to the public cloud, which is in an unspecified place, we now think that the cloud is not the place, but the way we process data, how we store it, how we acquire it, and that is the most critical thing. Will the data be stored in the server room of some company or in the data centre of a large or medium-sized service provider selling to smaller customers? There will also be customers who have their own server rooms without the need to hand over access to the data externally for a number of reasons. Whether it’s regulatory or any other factors – it justifies installing it in-house. Simplicity is one of the features we would like to emphasise once again with the launch of Primera.

Krzysztof Kowalczyk: We touched on data centres here, which are data centres that are not the kind of public cloud that Google, Amazon or Microsoft offer. These are shared centres where customers can get a tailor-made offering. I think HPE Primera is able to fit into this segment very well. In addition to 100 per cent reliability, HPE Primera is equipped with mechanisms that make it easier to make the resource available to the customer. They can also streamline the delivery of data not as hardware, but as a service. They can integrate this product into their system for automatic generation of the resource for the customer and financial billing[KW2] . This product fits the classic service provider model, i.e. companies that make resources available to their customers in a service model. In Primer, it is possible to set a minimum SLA, performance in terms of the number of operations per second, which is what such a hoster de facto offers its customers. The artificial intelligence embedded in the HPE Primera disk array ensures that the resources of the array itself are used optimally and in accordance with the established policy. In this way, the array is able to autonomously guarantee the required SLA level for all running applications. I think these are useful technologies that will appeal to our service providers.

BrandsIT: Why is Primera called Primera?

Michal Zajączkowski: Primera is an acronym for ‘PRIMary platform for new ERA of data’ . And elaborating – HPE Primera is exceptional reliability and performance combined with the flexibility of the cloud in the smartest array for mission-critical applications.

BrandsIT: HPE places a very high value on the launch of this solution. Why is it so important to you?

Krzysztof Kowalczyk: Primera has a link to data, and data is the real currency of today. Losing access to data is becoming extremely critical. At HPE, we are introducing a product that is powered by artificial intelligence. We are introducing a product that is a new era of not only storing data, but also processing it.

Michał Zajączkowski: The Primera matrix is prepared to provide services billed in such a way that the customer pays only for how much they actually consume. In other words, what is very important for customers these days, also for service providers, is that they pay for what they actually consume. We are able to easily check this, measure it and calculate the cost. This means that a partner who wants to provide this type of service does not have to pay for the hardware, but can bill, for example, for a terabyte of data that is guaranteed to be available.

BrandsIT: Thank you for the interview.