The HPE Big Data Conference day two keynote opened with Jeff Veis, VP, HP Big Data Platform Solutions, HP Software, noting that some big announcements would be made during the presentation. Veis quickly moved on to introducing Robert Youngjohns, EVP and GM, Software at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE). And he immediately set the tone for the keynote, which was “where we see analytics, and how we see analytics fitting into our broader vision as a software business.”

‘Analytics first, data first’

In 2010, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen coined the now-famous phrase, “Software is eating the world.” This may seem like a far-fetched statement, but if you ask some people in the world today, they do seem to believe that machine learning or “artificial intelligence” is a dangerous road we are going down that will end with the destruction of the world. While this is an extreme viewpoint, it is fair to say that many people believe a shift is occurring in today’s world, where almost everything we do is becoming software-defined.

Youngjohns, however, disagreed, and he put a new spin on Andreessen’s sentiment. He believes a fundamental shift is in fact occurring in the software industry, but it is toward a world where deep analytics and machine learning are becoming a part everything software related, and it will eventually drive every application that is written.

“Now, analytics and analytics software are ‘eating’ the entire software industry,” quipped Youngjohns. “Everything we see is morphing to become an analytics application of some form.”

HPE tools: Analytics at the core

Youngjohns spent the next few minutes elaborating on the main HPE product offerings. The foundation of HPE is Big Data, so it makes sense that the combined enterprise platform HPE offers — Vertica, IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) and Haven OnDemand — are first and foremost analytics tools, and machine learning and deep analytics are the primary focus of the company.

“How we think about this business is, everything we do is going to be found with analytics at the core,” said Youngjohns. “This is the foundation of what we’re doing in Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.”

In closing, Youngjohns summarized his presentation with the statement: “Around this whole circle, our vision as a software business is to take that core of analytics, of applied machine learning, and then apply it to these areas where we believe, because of our history, we have deep domain experience.”

The HPE-Microsoft alliance

For the third segment, Veis invited Mike Schutz, GM of Product Marketing, Server and Tools Division, at Microsoft, to the stage for a one-on-one between HPE and one of its strategic partners: Microsoft. Schutz took the stage and the two spoke at length about the origins of the HPE-Microsoft alliance, and in particular Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure and how it is being used to support Vertica and Haven OnDemand.

“We’re really excited about the things we talked about here in terms of Haven OnDemand and Vertica that really provide higher-level solutions that get focused on some of the high-value areas that organizations can apply to their businesses in Big Data,” said Schutz. “And that’s what we’re excited about … delivering the infrastructure and platform to be able to enable some of those high-level solutions.”

Veis added: “This isn’t pie-in-the-sky; people can go today to the Azure marketplace, and they can get their machine imaged for Vertica. And they can be up in running in a day.”

Uber to offer self-driving cars

Veis then retook the stage to introduce the day’s final keynote speaker, Cory Kendrick, data science manager of Policy Research at Uber Technologies, Inc., who spent some time talking about Uber as a company and how it is using HPE analytics software. However, before Kendrick spoke, Veis announced that Uber will begin offering its ride services in automated, self-driving cars this month.

“[Uber] will start a public, pilot program for self-driving cars,” said Veis. “You’ll be able to get an Uber self driving car. And of all the cities in the world, it’s going to be done in Pittsburgh.”

Stay tuned for the complete keynote video, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the HPE Big Data Conference.

Photo by SiliconANGLE