Simple to use. It sounds swell in marketing, but how many information-technology products live up to the phrase? With hybrid cloud, multicloud, and distributed applications, is simplicity a thing of the on-premises past? Can technologies built for these complex systems offer both flexibility and simplicity to the whole swath of customers?

“The funny part about simplicity is that to deliver simplicity — much like the engineering detail that delivered Tesla or an iPhone — is extraordinary,” said Keith Norbie (pictured, left), director of strategic alliances at NetApp Inc. The work isn’t less — in fact, it’s more. For an easy, out-of-the box user experience, engineers must pre-configure as many elements as possible, Norbie added. 

Norbie and Brad Anderson (pictured, right), executive vice president and general manager of the Cloud Infrastructure Business Unit and Storage Systems and Software Business Unit at NetApp, spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Justin Warren (@jpwarren), chief analyst at PivotNine Pty Ltd, during the VMworld event in San Francisco. They discussed the importance of design in building increasingly complex IT products (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

All eyes on design

Collaborating companies can accomplish more in less time than they could by themselves. They can integrate parts together to cover ground for diverse customers. But the simplicity part does not always grow naturally from this. This is why they must treat design as a first-class citizen from the start of development, Norbie pointed out.

NetApp and VMware Inc. have been working on integrative solutions for the past year. Multicloud is still young and still presents engineers with a lot to untangle. Their work has resulted in Cloud Volumes on VMware Cloud and a VMware-validated design — NetApp hyperconverged infrastructure for VMware Private Cloud. These products integrate VMware’s NSX network virtualization technology. 

“The features are important, but what’s more important is trying to make this as simple as possible for people to consume,” Norbie said. 

Upfront input from design may burden the technical team, but it’s worth it, according to Anderson.

“It is a much more powerful solution if you can pull it off. We’ve got to make simplicity now part of the value proposition rather than an afterthought as it, maybe, historically has been,” Anderson concluded. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the VMworld event. (* Disclosure: NetApp Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither NetApp nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE