Data-Driven Innovation: The Critical Role of Intelligent Data Infrastructure

Coverage & analysis from Six Five Media at NetApp Insight 2024. Host Daniel Newman is joined by NetApp’s Gabie Boko, CMO, for a conversation on how Intelligent Data Infrastructure (IDI) is supporting business growth and agility as they navigate the complexities of hybrid and multi-cloud strategies.

Their discussion covers:

  • The support IDI provides to businesses adopting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies for growth and agility
  • Exciting trends and technologies in cloud computing that impact IDI significantly
  • How NetApp’s IDI aids in better decision-making and real-time analytics in big data utilization
  • Practical advice for companies aiming to enhance their data infrastructure, focusing on cost concerns and resource management

Learn more at NetApp and Dive deeper into NetApp AI solutions and connect with NetApp experts.

Transcript

Daniel Newman: Hey, everyone. The Six Five is On the Road. We are here at NetApp Insight 2024 in Las Vegas. Very excited to be here having a number of great conversations. We have entered the era of data, intelligent data, AI, and so much more, and I couldn’t think of a better person to sit with me here than Gabie Boko, CMO at NetApp. Gabie, so excited to have you join me finally in person. It’s been too long.

Gabie Boko: Yes.

Daniel Newman: Welcome to the show.

Gabie Boko: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Daniel Newman: All right, give me the background. I haven’t had a chance to really catch up with you. Tell me a little bit how has your NetApp Insight been so far?

Gabie Boko: Oh, it’s been good. Maybe a little bit lot of action.

Daniel Newman: Yeah.

Gabie Boko: I’m on the down slide though, so I’m ready. I’m ready for it to be over, but I’m also ready for it to just get that nice halo effect that always comes after a really great event.

Daniel Newman: I’ll tell you, I talked to George Kurian, and I was telling him that some of the inputs to me in my analyst world have been really positive. And like I said, I go to a lot of events. I think I attended like 80, maybe even 100 last year.

Gabie Boko: There are a lot of us.

Daniel Newman: There’s a lot of y’all. And whatever that whole we’re going to do everything remote thing, it ended very promptly and it’s got me on the road. But what I don’t see all the time is kind of that influx of excitement and enthusiasm. And so I heard from several in the industry, IT leaders, other analysts all said NetApp really did well. So messaging I think starts here just a little bit, so I’ll fan you. I’ll fan you.

Gabie Boko: Oh, feels so good.

Daniel Newman: You’re doing really good. But I do want to talk about this intelligent data infrastructure because there are a lot of challenges right now. The biggest challenge of most businesses is actually figuring out how to get their data right to do AI. And of course, we’ve just finished or we’re just in the middle of still solving this multi and hybrid cloud strategy. So as you see it, how does intelligent data infrastructure support the need for companies to deal with being agile, being flexible, and building an environment where they can maximize their data?

Gabie Boko: Yeah, it’s really why we decided to go and completely redefine ourselves with a new term that wasn’t really in the industry. And that was really about saying we are so much more than maybe our legacy, which is very true storage, but you continue to see that as part of our story. We’re much more than all the innovations that we’ve been a part of, data fabric, cloud, hybrid cloud, multi-cloud. It wasn’t enough because it wasn’t still answering the critical question of why we were existing for our customers. And that was what do people do with their data? And that was the premise that we went into talking about intelligent data infrastructure with. When you put data at the center of how you’re going to have customer conversations or market conversations, it completely changes the perspective of how you think about innovation like AI and how you define that as really embedded integrated intelligence, like you heard George and Krish both talk about over the last two days.

It also really starts to put in the full lens of how data connects when you bring in your legacy and bring in all those other innovations. We haven’t forgotten about storage. It’s fully embedded and it’s so much more than it was when we started. Same with cloud. So I think it’s allowed us and as we think about where our customers are going, data at the center of who we are and what we do was natural, and it’s really starting to chart a course for customers and it’s charting a course for us as well. And hopefully, or I hope, it’s really going to start to shake the market.

Daniel Newman: And I remember being in and around NetApp when some of that strategy was being flushed out, and I remember thinking about how this was such an important inflection for the company. You were in this moment where you get this right and you really do become like NetApp 2.0, Meaning NetApp for the intelligent data era, NetApp for the AI era. And so AI is like a megatrend. You’ve talked a little bit about cloud. I mean, are these the biggest trends as you see it that are driving the need for intelligent data infrastructure? Are there others?

Gabie Boko: Absolutely. I mean, I’m not sure if there are others. I’m sure there are, but I think what’s prevalent is that every time data grows exponentially and people recognize that it continues to grow exponentially because it’s at the edge, it’s growing inside the cloud, every need for data is just voluminous in terms of the requests. Every time that happens, we try to find an idea that solves it. Unsiloed or unified storage was a solve. Data fabric was a solve. Cloud is a solve. AI now is another solve. But I think of all of those, AI and intelligence is probably one of the most unique and probably actual solutions to voluminous amounts of data. So honestly, is it the next thing? Probably it’s going to be the thing for a long time. Does it build on all of the other trends we just saw?

If you aren’t in any of those other trends than just trying to solve for AI, you’re probably not going to be there. You’re going to have to go back and think about how you deal with siloed data? Am I dealing with unstructured data in the right way? Am I dealing with data fabric? Or am I dealing with the cloud? So you’re going to have to answer all those questions, which is why I love where we are being on the forefront of innovation, bringing it in-house and thinking about it as it comes up. And that’s what makes us not just excited about AI, we’re AI ready.

Daniel Newman: I still really have to say how much I enjoyed that you said voluminous twice. The first time I was like, that’s a great word. Then you said it again, I’m like, that’s an excellent word. The second thing though that you said that definitely really resonated with me in a big way, Gabie, was that this is a long window.

Gabie Boko: It is.

Daniel Newman: And it’s ironic because people kind of want to talk about this like it’s a fad and that it’s coming and going. And you hear other people calling it a bubble. And then you’ll hear others, like I’ve been saying, I mean, we are in very early. We’re in the pregame.

Gabie Boko: Correct.

Daniel Newman: We’re in the warmups here.

Gabie Boko: Correct.

Daniel Newman: It’s not the first. It’s not the third quarter. We are just getting started. And so as companies are trying to sort what they’re going to do, they have to put this data fabric in place. They’ve got to get this data right, or they’ll never be able to take advantage of the potential of AI.

Gabie Boko: That’s absolutely true, and that’s really the value of an intelligent data infrastructure. When you come right down to it, the beginning of any tech trend is exciting and it’s full of promise. When it comes right down to it, the solution that you have to have probably always does start with your data. I mean, honestly, I remember back to when we were talking about intelligent data infrastructure and actually it was George’s push in saying, “I love data infrastructure. There’s something else though, and I don’t want a AI wash.” And I said, “I don’t want a AI wash. I think that would be wrong.” Intelligence though allowed us to talk about it in a way that was a precursor to what we believe the future could be. And that’s I think the value of a trend.

Daniel Newman: And it doesn’t all have to be artificial intelligence.

Gabie Boko: No.

Daniel Newman: Intelligence through machine learning, intelligence through developers building applications that use traditional data sets and schema to inform.

Gabie Boko: Exactly.

Daniel Newman: It doesn’t all have to be done artificially.

Gabie Boko: No, it doesn’t. And it doesn’t have to be scary, especially if you’re thinking about it in phases, what most trends are. It’s like, listen, let’s get basics right and let’s think about the future. Because once you’re thinking about the future and preparing for it, then you probably have a start of a really good roadmap.

Daniel Newman: And Gabie, I’m not afraid of an artificial Daniel Newman that can be developed.

Gabie Boko: I’m not either. I hear that she’s beautiful in the future, so I’m all there.

Daniel Newman: I heard she gives great Insights.

Gabie Boko: Oh, she’s intelligent, for sure.

Daniel Newman: For sure. So let’s talk about how intelligent data infrastructure enables decision-making, enables real-time analytics. Because in the end, I know everyone’s really hot on generative stuff and it is really, really cool, but the heartbeat of a company is the ability to see what’s happening and make decisions quickly. IDI enables this?

Gabie Boko: Absolutely, it does. It starts from the basis of seeing and having access to all of your data no matter where it is. You don’t have to change where it is. You just have to be able to access it and understand it. Once you’re doing that, you’re creating a view that you can analyze and see trends and spot trends and plan for trends, which is the basis of analytics. So I think that when you’re going at intelligent data infrastructure as a trajectory, not necessarily as a product, because I don’t like to put intelligent data infrastructure in that category, but as a trajectory, what you’re really looking at is a roadmap that is informed, and that only happens as you’re starting to think about and use analytics.

Daniel Newman: So as I was speaking with George Kurian, we talked a lot about the cost implications. We were talking about as you move prem to cloud, you’ve got a ton of… You’re trying to keep data updated. You want it to be logical, but you also want it to move quickly. You’ve got a lot of expense in intel… So we were talking about how companies right now are trying to figure out how to manage all this. AI is expensive. Our data is showing that basically all the traditional IT budget now is going to AI budget, which means a lot of things that are important are getting ignored. So this process is for intelligent data infrastructure as an enabler is another thing that CIOs, business unit leaders have to figure out how to pay for. What is your perspective on how companies can balance getting data right, building this fabric, enabling intelligent data infrastructure, but not feeling like they’re missing this AI opportunity?

Gabie Boko: And that’s really why you saw us unveil a picture, if you will, of intelligent data infrastructure at Insight. Really, we believe there are three pillars to it, and they are the same pillars that most CIOs, CTOs, and even directors of IT would say, “I’m in a planning stage. I need to solve for this, and then I need to solve for this.” I think that’s where most of my conversations with customers have been. Just sit down. Let me tell you what I’m doing.
Let me share with you what I need to do, and let’s build a plan together so that I don’t have costs run out of control so I can put the money where I need to put it.

One customer I was speaking to yesterday said, “I am so ready to pull to go and to get this done, but I realize I have 15 steps before I even get to making that decision, and I’m not sure I have enough budget to cover the 15 steps.” And the three individuals of NetApp, we were all sitting around the table and said, “Let’s unpack those 15 steps.” Turns out it was really only three steps. So cost optimization can happen by understanding what the future can look like by planning how you get there and by making really smart choices. And that’s really why we love IDI, intelligent data infrastructure.

Daniel Newman: And that’s great. And I always say, is it 15 steps? Are they serial? Can you do some things?

Gabie Boko: Exactly.

Daniel Newman: It’s parallel computing. You have to do more than one thing at a time.

Gabie Boko: Exactly. Or are you making something that was six steps in your mind? Can it be done in one? I mean, that’s really the power of AI. That’s the power of intelligence.

Daniel Newman: I love that efficiency. And Gabie, I want to give you props. I’ve been following the journey. You needed this innovation. You needed this step to really come into the era. And what I’m hearing, what I’m seeing from the market so far has been very positive and I want to congratulate you on the success so far.

Gabie Boko: Thank you.

Daniel Newman: And on the event, because I know in your role, this event also probably in many ways falls under you too.

Gabie Boko: It does. It does. There are many hats that a CMO wears. It does. But you know what I’m most excited about is that something that started off as a brand narrative, just trying to refine our trajectory in our soul, has turned into something that I believe is buildable more and different meat on its bones and evolutionary in every way. Not necessarily maybe revolutionary, but definitely evolutionary to take on those revolutionary trends like AI.

Daniel Newman: Gabie Boko, thanks so much for joining me here on The Six Five.

Gabie Boko: I have had such a good time.

Daniel Newman: And thank you everyone for tuning in and joining us here. We are at NetApp Insight 2024 in Las Vegas. Hit that subscribe button, join all the coverage from The Six Five at this week’s event. And of course, subscribe and be part of our Six Five community. We appreciate that. But for this episode, I got to say goodbye. I’ll see you all soon.

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