DataCentric

The server market is rapidly changing. It's less about the speeds and feeds of your hardware, and much more about the capabilities required to support critical workloads. From software-defined to edge, Dell Technologies director of server marketing join Matt Kimball & Steve McDowell in a wide-ranging discussion on the shifting landscape of servers. The group seems to touch on every from the on-going "generational shift" of IT buyers, the cloudification of IT, edge computing, open standards, the impact of COVID-19 on IT, and much, much more. Special Guest: Jonathan Seckler.

Earnings for 2Q have started rolling in, with IBM, AMD, and Intel all early reporters from the Data Center world. There's solid financial news for all three, but each with different industry-level impacts. Hosts Matt Kimball & Steve McDowell, both from Moor Insights & Strategy, talk about what it all means. Intel delivered solid numbers, but were punished by both guidance and disclosure of some execution problems in rolling out its next generation, 7nm, processors. Solid numbers for the quarter none-the-less, with a surprising bright spot in Intel's NSG memory group. AMD, who has become a solid competitor to Intel across nearly every segment, is firing on all cylindars, expecially in the DataCentric Server world. All while IBM seems to be finding its groove with freshman CEO Arvind Krishna, as IBM's Cloud and Red Hat businesses are standouts. IBM Z-series and Storage also remain particularly strong. All of this, and more, on this episode of DataCentric 00:00 - Let's kick it off! 01:21 - Intel Earnings Analysis 20:08 - AMD Earnings Discussion 43:38 - IBM Earnings 57:34 - See you Next Time!

It's a potpourri episode as Moor Insights & Strategy data center analysts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell round-up of the past few week's news: twitter was hacked, Dell Technologies says that it might spin VMware out, ARM gets yet more traction, and does a software-defined datacenter make hardware irrelevant? All this, and more, on this edition of DataCentric. 00:00 - 03:50 Virtual Conference Life 03:51 - 07:23 Twitter is hacked & the popular and tech press have very different spins on the story 07:24 - 14:24 Dell Technologies is "exploring" spinning out VMware: will they? and what's it really mean if they do? 14:25 - 29:35 A hodgepodge of ARM news as Apple announces, AWS Graviton performance numbers start coming out, and more 29:36 - 39:11 How relevant is the hardware platform in today's software defined world? 39:11 - 46:24 Microsoft endorses Citrix for Azure remote desktop. 46:25 - that's all!

Enterprise IT is rapidly moving towards the edge, but what does that really mean? There are extremes to what defines edge. Edge can describe the safe environment of a remote branch office, or maybe the air-conditioned cushiness of a remote telco hut. Then there's the extreme edge, where the lines between IT and OT blur, and anything can go. Jason Andersen, Stratus Technologies' vice president of business line management, joins Moor Insights & Strategy senior technology analysts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell to talk about what edge computing can really mean. If you're wondering how far the reach of IT can (or should) extend out into the wilds of remote infrastructure, then this is the podcast for you. Special Guest: Jason Andersen.

What did we learn about datacenter infrastructure from the latest batch of earnings? That’s it all about software-defined and as-a-service. Data center hardware sales were down across the board, while the bright spots for the quarter landed on Nutanix and VMware, who showed particularly strong growth in is VSAN and NSX segments. This, while the traditional OEMs saw boosts in their respective service-based offerings. Moor Insights & Strategy Industry analysts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell talk about what it all means.

You don't always think about the security of your vendor's supply chain as a part of your organization's cybersecurity and compliance efforts -- but you should. Everything from ensuring the authenticity of components, all the way through the potential exploitation of systems & subsystems in-transit can cause enterprise's damage. This episode has hosts Steve McDowell and Matt Kimball, both senior analysts at Moor Insights & Strategy, talking with John Grosso, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's vice president, global supply chain, about what these issues are, and how technology providers like HPE are addressing them. Special Guest: John Grosso.Sponsored By:Links:Do You Know Where Your Servers Come From? Here’s Why Securing The Supply Chain Matters — A column by Matt Kimball

It's a strange time for infrastructure companies as we start seeing the first full-quarter earnings in this COVID-19 world. Hewlett Packard Enterprise & Lenovo are first up, and we're learning from them how to think about this market. At the same time, AMD's EPYC server CPU continues to gain traction, with new wins in HCI and Deep Learning. Join hosts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell, both senior analysts at Moor Insights & Strategy, as they digest it all. 01:08 Attending Virtual Conferences 05:50 AMD EPYC & HCI and Edge Computiong 08:50 AMD EPYC & Nvidia's New A100 13:16 We don't talk about HPE Earnings 21:35 Lenovo continues to show strength 30:00 The End.

Dell Technologies shakes up the hot midrange storage market with the introduction of its long-anticipated offering: the Dell EMC PowerStore. Dell's vice president of productg marketing, Caitlin Gordon, joins hosts Matt Kimball & Steve McDowell to talk through the vision of the new offering, as well as offering insights into some of the things that make this one unique -- things like an embedded hypervisor, in-the-box AI, new upgrade options, why this will be the last data migration Dell's customers face, and much, much more. Special Guest: Caitlin Gordon.

IT infrastructure needs maintenance, and, as we reconfigure for a remote workforce, it needs critical expansion. This is challenging in an environment where social distancing has become the norm. What does it take to deploy, maintain, and grow infrastructure in this environment? Pure Storage's VP of of World Wide Systems Engineering joins hosts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell to talk about this, as well as what Pure is doing to help out. The group talks about installation options, how infrastructure (and storage) as-a-service facilitates expansion, the role of remote managment and predictive analytics tools, as well as what it might all mean long-term. A great conversation. Thank you to Shawn, and the gang at Pure Storage, for helping us put together a great podcast. Special Guest: Shawn Rosemarin.Links:Pure Storage Remote Installation Options — Many of our customers are facing a new challenge during these unusual times. Physical access to facilities for third parties is not always possible, and in fact, may be limited by the facility owner. Meanwhile, the need for reliable data services is growing exponentially as more employees work remotely. Today we’re excited to introduce a simple and modern option to install and activate your FlashArray™ systems, even when it’s not possible to physically bring third parties onsite. Pure Storage Expands Remote Installation to FlashBlade — We recently posted about how it’s not always possible to provide third parties with physical access to your facilities, especially now. Meanwhile, the need for reliable data services across block, file, and object storage is growing exponentially as more employees need remote access to data. In keeping our focus on what you need most right now, we’re introducing a new way to get you up and running — even when it’s not possible for our teams to physically work onsite in your facilities. Remote Installation Service for FlashBlade™ is now available from the Pure Storage® Customer Experience team.

HCI has become a rare success story, a technology that continues to grow at 25-30% year-over-year. There isn't a technology company doing more to fuel that growth than VMware, with its leading vSAN solution. vSAN almost defines HCI, owning nearly 40% of the all HCI installations (with Nutanix hot on its heels with 27% of the market). The face of vSAN for VMware is Lee Caswell, and this week Lee joins Matt & Steve to talk about what's behind the growth of HCI as a technology, what's happening in that world today, and where it's all heading. Lee talk with Matt & Steve about what's behind the continued growth of HCI, why it's become nearly ubiquitous in the enterprise, and how the technology is evolving the serve the needs of the modern hybrid-multicloud world. Lee also shares his thoughts about the future of HCI. This is a great conversation -- don't miss it.Special Guest: Lee Caswell .