A common theme among the participants in theCUBE’s Cloud Ops Panel during VMworld 2015 was the challenge of integrating new technology, especially Software as a Service (SaaS) technology, into existing workflows, departments and companies.

The panel, hosted by Brian Gracely, cloud computing analyst at Wikibon and cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, featured three leaders in cloud technology: Madhura Maskasky, cofounder and VP of product at Platform9 Systems; Shiv Agarwal, cofounder and CEO of Arkin Net, Inc.; and John Blumenthal, cofounder and VP of strategy at CloudPhysics, Inc.

Switching from an on-premise infrastructure to cloud

Agarwal said that Arkin Net’s goal is to help people understand and manage this new technology, focusing on solving problems at the workload level. He highlighted some of the challenges he’s seen customers face when switching from an on-premise infrastructure to cloud.

“Basically, the last few years, what has happened is there is a big shift we just started … specifically on networking and security,” he explained. “You’ll hear about microsegmentation, hear about virtual networks, SDN. So enterprises have really started adopting those technologies now. And one of the big challenges that they face as they look into these new technology is challenging 20-30 years of how networking and security was done.”

Agarwal continued: “And as they look at these new ways of doing networking and security, they are trying to figure out how do they leverage their existing workforce, their existing admins operators, existing skillset that they have developed over time to operate these new technologies.”

Delivering OpenStack as a pre-packaged web service

One way to utilize that existing skillset is to aim for simplicity using tools developers are already familiar with. Maskasky said Platform9 Systems has found a way to deliver OpenStack as a pre-packaged web service, simplifying the transition for companies.

“We started around 2013 or so … and what Platform9 does in a nutshell is we are OpenStack as a Service,” he said. “So we deliver enterprise-grade OpenStack. What’s unique about our offering is that we package it up and deliver it to our end users as a web service. So it’s a SaaS offering.”

Blumenthal explained the importance of SaaS technology during this transition. “We basically have built a SaaS platform that delivers data science to the VMware admin in a way that is highly simple and very rapid, in terms of the time-to-value, to figure out how analytics that are born out of the minds and work of very, very sophisticated data scientists can be put to work for problems you currently face in an on-premise solution.

He added, “And using SaaS is very key to delivering that value because it delivers simplicity and a rapid time to that analysis that you just don’t see with traditional on-premise management applications.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of VMworld 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE