For fist-time attendees to the EMC World event this year, there may be some unexpected fields of business represented in the large number of those giving interviews and presentations, but learning what each one has gained from EMC and cloud technologies can provide a better sense of how to incorporate those utilities into one’s own enterprise.

Paul Reyes, VP of infrastructure management and security services at Energy Future Holdings Corp., joined Stu Miniman (@stu) and Brian Gracely (@bgracely), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, and shared his thoughts on business challenges, balancing development with availability and the appeal of automation.

Measuring and management

As Reyes handles managing the compute, network, database and end-user computing in addition to security operations, his experience gives him a strong understanding of the push and pull behind the scenes in sharing business resources.

This ability to compromise was shown in his description of the company’s two business units: “One is time to market; the retail arm is really trying to drive activities that get us to the customer faster,” he said. “Our other business unit is the complete opposite; they want it to be safe, reliable, constantly available to our customers as we constantly generate power for the state. … At the end of the day… I’m always trying to drive cost down while our services are increasing so that we can reinvest that activity.”

Hybrid edge

Underlining the importance of the cloud to his business, Reyes pointed out, “Everything that we run mission-critical is in our hybrid-cloud services.” However, the struggle to improve from that grounding is one in which the enterprise is asking itself: “How do we ensure that we stay within our controls? How do we drive those controls down into an automation factor?” Reyes asked.

“Hybrid cloud, to us, means that we would have the capability to be the broker,” Reyes stated. “If I don’t seem to change the infrastructure and security aspects of my job, in four or five years, it’s going to be obsolete, because we’ve got to change to become a broker of services. … When I think hybrid, I think, ‘How do I manage the difference between them both?’”

He also gave a rundown of what his company sees as the big issues. “The thing that we’re trying to wrap around in our heads is how do I not only provide the brokerage of just the infrastructure itself or the service itself, but also wrap in my security aspects for native applications?” Reyes asked. “How do I understand when things need to be export-compliant based, and so then I have to exclude that from there? It’s figuring out where the controls need to be so that when I provide those services I provide them in the right means.”

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