At the heart of digital transformation lies innovation and deep-rooted strategic partnerships.

During this week’s HPE Discover event, theCUBE explored these partnerships, including talking with two industry executives from Infosys Ltd., a company that has seen remarkable growth in the past 20 years since it first ventured into the infrastructure business, charting a year-on-year growth of approximately 30%, according to Umashankar Lakshmipathy (pictured, right), executive vice president at Infosys.

“We’ve helped all segments, enterprise segments and large clients deliver programs for them,” he said. “Digital transformation has been a central theme for all these clients. And we’ve been a digital-first … cloud-first company.”

Lakshmipathy and Saju Sankarankutty (left), senior vice president of Infosys, spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Dave Vellante and Lisa Martin at HPE Discover, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the company’s robust growth in the cloud infrastructure and security business, with a special focus on their platform, Cobalt 2.0. (* Disclosure below.)

From surviving to thriving: Infosys adapts to the new normal and accelerates digital transformation

Despite economic concerns and the challenges of the pandemic, Infosys experienced consistency in its business during the past few years. The success is mostly a result of the industry’s overall resilience during the COVID era, as IT companies had to adapt to enable remote working, according to Umashankar.

“We are now seeing the whole momentum of moving into the next business models, because companies have learned to survive — companies want to now thrive,” he said. “I think that’s really helping the agenda for digital transformation. That’s been the mantra of success.”

Today’s computing ecosystem relies on key technologies associated with cloud computing, including data, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, internet of things and 5G. Cobalt, Infosys’ open-source platform, integrates services, solutions and platforms to accelerate an organization’s journey to the cloud.

Initially launched in 2020, Cobalt today has 35,000 assets and over 300 industry blueprints, playing a pivotal role in enabling digital transformation for diverse industries by harnessing emerging technologies, according to Sankarankutty, who highlighted its unique community-driven approach, fostering collaboration among Infosys, its partners, universities and startups.

“Cobalt 2.0 is all about developing these industry solutions,” he said. “It’s all about solving the problem of cloud and associated technologies for industry problems for whatever our customers are facing.”

Cobalt 2.0 addresses pressing industry issues, such as data security for banks, improved customer experience for retailers and enhanced productivity for manufacturers. It’s the first marketing brand launched by a system integrator, one that thrives on the power of its community, according to Umashankar.

“It’s not only employees; it’s the ecosystem of partners, like HPE, partners like universities and the startups — the whole community coming in and helping develop this platform,” he said. “The ability for us to navigate from one technology or one platform to another platform is pretty easy, because it’s all open.”

One of the most striking examples of Infosys’ work is a partnership with a wind energy company that underwent significant consolidation after a merger. Infosys, leveraging its Cobalt platform, helped the client solve a challenging problem.

“It’s like … different Lego blocks coming together. And that’s how we are able to sustain this,” Sankarankutty explained.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover:

(* Disclosure: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Intel Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither HPE and Intel nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE