Storage as an operating system and infrastructure must become more flexible, according to HP Enterprise Group EVP Dave Donatelli. He and Craig Nunes, the company’s vice president of marketing, weighed in on software-defined storage in a Q&A session with SiliconAngle founder John Furrier.

Donatelli believes that storage is where “all the features and function come from.” He told Furrier that data management is a top priority for organizations because data mobility affects both end-user experience (productivity) and the bottom line. The new software that HP unveiled at this week’s Discover conference facilitates nondisruptive migrations across several different tiers.

IT infrastructure has to become much more flexible than it is today in order to make data easier to move, manage and store as cost-effectively as possible. Craig Nunes believes that software-defined storage is the key to achieving this goal. He said that SDS enables users to “unleash the benefits” of storage by abstracting away the underlying hardware that powers their cloud, mobile, and big data deployments.

Nunes told Furrier that HP set out to provide customers with a unified, software-led architecture that meets all of their primary storage and data protection needs. He added that his company’s newly launched solutions deliver the data management functionality that Donatelli outlined earlier, and that they do so cost-efficiently.

Wikibon chief analyst Dave Vellante shared his take on HP’s vision for the data center in a recent discussion with John Furrier and Wikibon analyst Jeff Kelly.

“IBM is trying to turn hardware into a platform with an API and drive analytics for better decision making,” he said. “HP, based on what I heard today from Dontaelli and from our guests, is much more practical. These two companies are the enterprise leaders, the one that customers look to as the most trusted advisors.”

For the full analysis and Day 2 wrap up of HP Discover, check out the video below.