Verizon’s younger customer base is driving the company to remain on the edge of new technology, and Larry Rau, director of technology at Verizon Labs, is excited about the influx of new devices and technology.

Talking with John Walls and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, Rau discussed the importance of efficient use of data centers and hardware management to increase speed. You don’t want to be locked down into a specific hard drive, he said, adding that you need to have the data move around with the application.

Strong development teams key

Asked if the move to cloud infrastructure has impacted his role as a manager, Rau said that he doesn’t see much change from a people perspective, with strong development teams that are able to learn new technologies still key.

One difference is that developers don’t have to deal with the physical layer anymore, he added, which makes them more efficient and able to write better quality code, faster.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of EMC World 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE