Interview: how Nutanix Innovation Tour changed our perspective
A deep dive in a community where everything is connected
MailUp Group and Nutanix have been working together for nearly three years. The switch to a new infrastructure supplier can be tricky, so, for us, building a strong and honest relationship was of utmost importance.
This is why we were extremely glad to take part to a number of events organized by Nutanix to get to know the company better, consolidate our knowledge of the tool, and tie personal bonds with the Nutanix staff that would bring mutual advantage to both companies.
In early February, Marco Aroldi (MailUp Group Infrastructure Engineer) and Michele Cappellini (MailUp Group CIO) took part to the Nutanix Innovation Tour, in San Jose (CA).
So, I decided to interview them to share with you their experience.
Paolo: Tell me something about the Nutanix Innovation Tour: what was it about?
Marco: It consisted of five days full of events, talks and deep dives about the Nutanix services galaxy. It was an excellent opportunity to meet a lot of people from the Nutanix team that shared with us their way of thinking and working.
Michele: It was a challenging tour that allowed us not only to visit the Nutanix headquarters but also to get in touch with the Silicon Valley. We were able to see how IT companies work, and we met people that work in a lot of different businesses, from small startups to structured companies like Nutanix itself. It was also a good opportunity to absorb the “American” way of thinking that, in many ways, is different from our European mindset.
In these five days, I realized that the Silicon Valley is not only a place where there are a lot of IT companies: it’s a community where everything is connected. These connections generate energy that encourages everyone to push the boundaries.
Paolo: Ok, this is very interesting, especially the fact that it was an experience that blew away your minds!
Let’s go to the next question: what were the steps that brought MailUp Group to participate in this event?
Marco: It was an offer by Nutanix, MailUp Group didn’t ask for participation. I think that, probably, Nutanix invited MailUp Group in this event because they saw good potential in our company. It was a great recognition and pleasure because it means that our vendors, and not only our customers, appreciate our way of thinking and working.
Michele: I think that Nutanix had they had the foresight to let their customers live this experience that was not only a Nutanix experience but was a full immersion into the Silicon Valley ecosystem. In fact, in only one of the five days dedicated to this tour, we had the opportunity to see and work on Nutanix.
Back to your question, I think that they choose to invite MailUp Group because we used their platform to solve a real problem. In 2017 we had some issues with MailUp infrastructure, especially with the SAN and storage: a long time issue for us! We identified in hyper-convergence a possible solution. The key points were:
- innovation
- performances
- reliability
After scouting to find the right product, we selected Nutanix: a new organization that developed very interesting software on existing hardware. We were among the first customers in Italy to use Nutanix. There was an immediate connection probably because we are similar companies: fast-growing and in close contact with our customers. This affinity allowed us to give them fast feedback that led us to a stable relationship that took MailUp Group to local, national and European events. In one of these events, .Next in Copenhagen, the Nutanix staff interviewed us as one of the leading customers in Italy.
Paolo: so your perception is that MailUp Group was invited thanks to the advanced use of Nutanix software, coupled with mutual sympathy. I think that it’s a special recognition for your work.
Marco: yes, I think that Nutanix Italy sees MailUp as an excellent customer, not only thanks to our bills but also because we push their platform beyond the limit.
Michele: you are right. They often say that, as customers, we add special value because we push the boundaries of their platform. Our engineers are very meticulous, and very often they split hairs when they open issues and give feedback to the Nutanix team. This accurate and direct feedback is crucial for them because, as a young company, they need this clear and close relationship to grow better and faster. Furthermore, we are evolving the use of their product in the same way in which they are developing their business: a win-win situation that brings our companies to share the same perspective.
Paolo: you told me that we use their platform in a particular way. Please, tell me more about this.
Marco: our prerequisite was to maintain one of our infrastructure pillars: Hyper-V. Nutanix supports Hyper-V. As soon as we had the first Nutanix POC in our hands, we began to tear it to shred. Like a child that disassembles a toy, we saw what worked well and what would have given us problems. Without any doubt, compared to the other two virtualization methods supported by Nutanix, Hyper-V was the worst implemented in their platform. So we began to hack their software (obviously in a good way) to see what could be accomplished and what could not. The day we brought them our feedback, they were thrilled because probably no-one had ever raised such kind of issues and feedback.
Our way of working consists in being aware of the tools that we use: we do not consider ourselves regular users. Instead, our technical culture is a mix of engineering and hacking.
Paolo: wow, now I like the idea of having hackers as colleagues! Now, coming back to Nutanix Innovation Tour, what did you bring home from this journey?
Marco: undoubtedly, the primary thing that I learned is the American way of thinking. It’s not easy to explain. We talked a lot with Nutanix people and with other companies. They have big numbers. In the Silicon Valley, if you have an idea, you do everything to make it happen. The cool thing is that if you know that you don’t have enough resources or skills to develop your project, you can quite easily find an investor that can believe in you. Thanks to this system based on mutual trust, everyone with a good idea can be successful.
Probably the geographical proximity of all these successful companies is a catalyst: in a handful of meters, you have Intel on one side of the road and AMD on the other side.
For us in Europe, it’s not quite simple or easy. If I can use an analogy, these are fireworks for us European!
This experience opened my mind and allowed me to think differently. Surely my way of working and thinking will not be the same anymore.
Michele: personally, from this journey, I brought home an innovative way of thinking. Probably it was the goal of Nutanix since this experience was called “Innovation Tour”! I realized that strong motivation, in conjunction with an exciting ecosystem, allows everyone that has an idea to have the possibility to develop it. As an “inventor” you can be supported not only on the financial side but also on legal advice, agreements, coaching and mentorship.
Although our journey in the Silicon Valley lasted only five days, we had the opportunity to absorb their mentality.
For someone like me that has to manage a department and a lot of people, the next challenge will be to transfer this ecosystem, or at least part of it, to Italy. In this way, we can try to connect big structured companies with startups or just with someone that has a good idea and wants to develop it. I think that the key to moving forward is the free flows of ideas and the continuous knowledge sharing between companies and people. Probably this is the best way to have a motivational boost and to try to grow together.
There is also another important thing that I brought home: discussing with our European colleagues, we shared our common problems, with the awareness that in the Silicon Valley probably these problems are already overcome. It comes to light that in Europe, we put less emphasis on communication and sharing. We need to work on that.
Paolo: both Marco and Michele talked a lot about mentality and way of thinking. It must be something pervasive in Silicon Valley.
In the recent past, you have attended other events organized by Nutanix. How do you compare these events to the Nutanix Innovation Tour?
Marco: there is another event, the Nutanix .Next, organized every year both in the USA and in Europe. As MailUp Group we attended to the European one. The Nutanix Innovation Tour was a deep dive into their modus operandi: in fact, keynotes were mainly hig-level, and Nutanix people acted as facilitators for knowledge sharing.
.Next is addressed to technical people, so it’s a very different kind of experience. It’s an event where Nutanix shows off its muscles, exhibiting their new features and product previews.
Michele: I agree with Marco there is no doubt that they are two different kinds of events. .Next is a conference with thousands of people. There you can have a full immersion into Nutanix features preview, case studies and example projects provided by their customers. Also, there are a lot of satellite events that contribute to creating a community around the Nutanix products.
The Nutanix Innovation Tour was different and not complementary to .Next. Here there were just a few dozens of people in closer contact with the Nutanix staff.
.Next is multicast, Innovation Tour is almost one on one. The first is technical, and the latter is non-technical.
For example, during the Innovation Tour, there were occasions to talk and share experiences about how to manage a feature release with large engineering teams. It was a unique occasion in which we could ask for advice to managers that had solved their problems on a larger scale than ours.
Moreover, we had the privilege to discuss with their engineers about our feedback. They pay significant attention to customer points of view, and they note everything down to bring continuous improvement to their product. This behaviour is undoubtedly a successful strategy.
Paolo: do you have any feedback about your experience at the Innovation tour?
Marco and Michele: probably the only feedback is about the organization. It was a guided tour, and sometimes we felt the need to skip some meetings to deepen some arguments in front of a coffee with the Nutanix staff and other customers like us. We think that probably if we had more free time between meetings, the entire experience would have been more enjoyable.
More time doesn’t mean that we wanted to visit San Francisco or the Golden Gate bridge, but instead, we would have used it to expand our knowledge about the topics of our interest.
