As the accessibility and market penetration of cloud systems continue to grow, the idea that traditional storage is becoming an outdated field is finding a surprising number of customers ready to believe. For IBM, however, storage is becoming more important than ever in the new data age.

As IBM Edge 2016 came to a close, Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Stu Miniman (@stu), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, met to discuss some new findings and fallout from the latest announcements and interviews.

Slimming and systemizing

The main points of interest fell in the circles of IBM’s finances and internal organization, particularly as it trims down some of its long-time holdings. “IBM’s shedding low-margin businesses, going hard after cognitive development,” Vellante noted, referring to the company’s move away from networking and x86 servers in favor of newer technologies.

Along with those moves, theCUBE hosts examined IBM’s reinforced commitment to the storage side of their business, as discussed with Ed Walsh, GM of Storage, IBM Systems, earlier during the event. “Storage isn’t necessarily about the storing of data; it’s about data and all the services that can go with it,” Miniman said, with those topics having received a fair share of coverage over the event so far.

Less well-covered, though it had come up in a few interviews, was IBM’s position regarding the development of hyper-converged structuring. “I was a little disappointed on hyper-converged, in that there wasn’t much of a discussion about why they aren’t pushing more that way, despite having some really interesting solutions,” Miniman noted, going on to address the long-term potential of hyper-converged systems and their growth.

Up to speed

Despite these vague spots, both hosts felt that IBM was putting itself into a generally good position, with Vellante stating, “They’ve rationalized [the portfolio] in systems. …. I think [IBM] are moving quicker, and that’s good. … They’re doing everything you have to do.”

Vellante also felt said, “The [OpenPOWER Architecture] strategy … is coming into focus. … It seems like there’s a viable market for x86 alternatives,” a point that led into discussion to the advantages of software in the storage realm and how IBM is leveraging those.

“It’s a nice admission from IBM that change is hard. … IBM’s one of the last companies that really does hardcore R&D,” Miniman said, and Vellante agreed, commenting on how IBM was improving its turn-around from research to market-ready products. Vellante also examined how the pressures of the current market were helping IBM to find strengths in its new fields, particularly with cloud-related offerings.

“It’s taking a lot of services by industry and leveraging them to drive services through the cloud. … They’re not trying to prop up the mainframe business,” Vellante said. He added that for these older divisions, “It’s sink or swim, and they’re swimming; it’s just not the growth business that is Watson.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Edge 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE