Allison Randal, HPE - #OpenStack Summit 2016 - #theCUBE
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 26/04/2016

01. Allison Randal, HPE, visits #theCUBE!. (00:14)
02. The Background of Women in OpenStack. (00:48)
03. The Many Focuses of Women in OpenStack. (02:00)
04. Finding Models of Women in Tech. (03:22)
05. Bringing Diversity through OpenSource Adoption. (04:27)
06. The Process of Adopting OpenSource. (06:15)
07. OpenSource Reception in the Market. (08:01)
08. Mentoring and Outreach to Young Girls. (09:00)
09. What's Exciting at the OpenStack Summit. (10:45)
10. Reflecting on the Growth of OpenStack. (11:56)

Track List created with http://www.vinjavideo.com.
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Fighting monocultures with OpenStack | #OpenStack

by Amber Johnson | Apr 26, 2016

Many businesses find themselves on the brink of being monocultural. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) is fighting that trend with several diversity initiatives. The company is working on acknowledging team members who do not have a digital footprint, like project organizers.

Allison Randal, distinguished technologist at HPE and board member of the OpenStack Foundation, talked with John Walls and Brian Gracely (@bgracely), cohosts of theCUBE, from SiliconANGLE Media team, during OpenStack 2016 in Austin, Texas. Diversity seems to be a career path for Randal, who has been coding since she was a child. In addition to her duties at HPE and OpenStack, she is a research linguist.

Taking an active role in diversity

Randal’s perspective on monocultural workplaces is that those companies are only getting “half, one-quarter, or less” of diversity potential. To that end, Randal looks at OpenStack as a “commons” or as an “open door” for vendors, customers and developers to walk through.

She warned Walls and Gracely that companies “cannot sit back” and “expect everything to grow in a healthy way.” OpenStack is about “access and innovation” but “customers come in on different levels.” Randal broke these levels out into three rungs: getting open source, effective engagement and “sustainable forest.”

During the interview, Randal also discussed the impact the Women of OpenStack initiative has made on the industry.

And regarding HPE as a 75-year-old company, Randal remarked it is “not as traditional” as its age implies. Certainly, with these compelling diversity initiatives, including mentoring students, we will be seeing diversity continuing to expand at HPE, as well as throughout the industry.