In their continued exclusive coverage of HP Discover, Dave Vellante and John Furrier spoke with Senior Vice President and General Manager of HP Networks, Bethany Mayer to discuss networking and virtualization solutions (full video below).

Mayer reviews the new technology, Virtual Application Network, which is a module of HP’s intelligent management center allowing clients to perform three important tasks including: characterizing applications (i.e. injecting policies and automating processes), virtualizing the running network and programing the network, allowing for easy application deployment.  Currently, applications take any where from weeks to months to provision, configure and deploy, mainly because the network is manually maintained.  CLI entries are extremely time consuming given the required data entry and inevitable cost of human error.  Vellante adds: “We talk a lot about the IT labor problem…Probably about two-thirds of IT dollars are spent on people.”  Mayer suggests the IT problem constricts innovation, but software defined networking will be a “sea change event for the network.”

Furrier asks about the promise of Open Flow networking.  Mayer explains that it offers three benefits clients require.  Namely it offers programmability, virtualization and automation, which, done really well, allow for interoperability and heterogeneity.  Mayer notes Open Flow networking will continue to grow for HP: “My commitment is that we will have Open Flow enabled the entirety of our switch-in product line by the end of the year.”  As an innovator in the market, HP has “probably the first commercial shipping product of Open Flow in terms of switches in the market.”

In Part II of Dave Vellante and John Furrier’s discussion with Bethany Mayer, the group continues their conversation with a focus on HP business growth, security and DevOps (see full video here).

HP has grown for the ninth consecutive quarter with strong customer momentum and innovation.  The company boasts leading clientele such as Omnicom.  In addition to its virtualization network, HP continues to offer enhanced solutions for clients with heavy video traffic and rich media content.

Furrier inquires about HP’s security offerings in light of breaches to major sites like LinkedIn and eHarmony.  Mayer explains that HP has had continued success with layered security solutions. HP’s Tipping Point, is a market leader in intrusion prevention and detection; Arc Site allows users to view and analyze vulnerabilities in infrastructure; and Fortify allows clients to examine code for vulnerabilities.

Furrier also asks about HP’s perspective on the DevOps movement and converged infrastructure.  Mayer notes that HP aims to reach the DevOps audience, especially in their cloud unit.  Mayer explains: “We think we’re extremely competitive for developers…we think we’re going to enable the DevOps movement within the market.”

The group concludes with a discussion of HP network’s future directions.  Mayer explains three important next steps, including its software defined network, unique wired and wireless offering (a strong differentiated solution that does not require clients to manage wired and wireless infrastructure as HP competitors do), and continued growth and performance in the data center.