Few names in Big Data are as well-known as Hadoop, one of the more common products on the scene. As a constant feature in the digital revolution, the people behind Hadoop have seen every problem, solution and disruption that a business might have to face on its own digital journey. This has given them a rare perspective in the industry and granted them a wealth of hard-earned experience.

To get an inside look at some of these lessons learned, John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, invited Armando Acosta, Hadoop Product Manager at Dell, Inc., to join them and share his wisdom at the Dell World 2015 conference.

Considering the customer

The conversation started with a discussion of customers and their needs. Acosta explained how customers want to get an optimized configuration right away with their system, but this can be difficult in practice. One thing the Hadoop folks learned, Acosta said, is that it was vital to simplify the time-to-value equation for the customer. A big part of this involved reducing the level of skill needed for a Hadoop install. The point was to get customers up and running quicker and easier than before.

This philosophy also applied to Big Data trends. Dell has learned to build end-to-end solutions, Acosta said, because customers had other, more important concerns than figuring out all this new technology, like keeping the lights on. Simplifying the solution and providing their own expertise has become a component of the Hadoop strategy.

The Cloud and the journey

Acosta explained that he believes in the hybrid Cloud model. Some data, he said, is too valuable to go into a public Cloud space, so companies will always need a private, internal Cloud to handle such information. However, public Clouds are also very useful for other purposes. A company will need both spaces.

As for the digital journey to the Cloud, Acosta mentioned how they have been working with customers to get them started and prepared. They build around the customer’s use cases, he said, as part of the drive to improve time-to-value for the clients and their Big Data projects.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Dell World 2015. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts during Dell World 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE