With a focus on edge-to-cloud, AI networking and the convergence of telco and enterprise, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. is seeking to reshape the industry landscape.

HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks Inc. underlines the company’s dedication to delivering value to customers and driving innovation in the industry, according to Antonio Neri (pictured), president and chief executive officer of HPE. As HPE continues to chart its course toward a future defined by connectivity, intelligence and agility, the technology industry is anticipating the company’s impact.

“We have been saying that the enterprise of the future will be edge-centric, cloud-enabled and data-driven,” Neri said. “When I think about the Juniper acquisition, it is about accelerating the deployment of AI through the network, because ultimately you need an AI-native architecture that brings the data to the right computational resources to accelerate business productivity and data insight.”

Neri spoke with theCUBE Research analysts John Furrier and Dave Vellante at MWC Barcelona, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed HPE’s recent market strategies, including AI-networking initiatives, and its vision for the future of enterprise technology. (* Disclosure below.)

Stepping stones to the future: HPE’s strategic evolution

HPE has been steadfast in its commitment to driving an edge-centric, cloud-enabled and data-driven enterprise approach. This strategic evolution has seen the company deploying connectivity solutions to digitize and automate enterprises, offering a cloud experience everywhere through innovations such as HPE GreenLake and, now, accelerating AI deployment through AI networking and infrastructure, according to Neri.

“I believe AI is going to be the most disruptive technology, at least in my lifetime,” he said. “It’s going to be bigger than mobile and cloud were. I think for the telecommunication sector, there is an opportunity to materialize the original vision of edge compute by bringing the AI infancy to the edge of the network.”

The acquisition of Juniper is a pivotal step in this direction, which could lead to a doubling of business in networking, driving increased relevancy and profitability for shareholders, according to Neri. With a keen focus on customer value, HPE aims to deliver speed, flexibility and choice in network architecture solutions, propelling businesses toward success in the digital era.

This strategic move positions HPE to offer a comprehensive technology stack, spanning silicon infrastructure, operating systems, software, security and services, and empowering customers to navigate the digital landscape seamlessly, according to Neri.

“We’re going to give them a very strong modern AI-driven choice,” he said. “We intend to drive a modern architecture where we bridge both the cloud-native world and AI-native world. From a shareholder point of view, this is a no-brainer.”

Pioneering AI acceleration and inference at scale

Neri’s insights into the AI landscape underscored the critical role of inference, particularly at the edge of the network. With open-source foundation models catching up to proprietary ones, HPE is poised to leverage its expertise in silicon, network architecture and software to optimize AI systems for diverse customer needs, according to Neri.

Addressing constraints such as power and space, HPE is not only selling AI-compute power, but also managed services and security solutions, ensuring holistic support for customer deployments.

“I spend almost 50% of my time talking to customers, and what they tell you is that they don’t want to be in the run part of IT,” he said. “They want be more on the innovation side. That innovation is by deploying a platform-based IT set of capabilities so they can innovate faster.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of MWC Barcelona:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the MWC Barcelona event. No sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE