The People Behind DriveNets: Andy Holland

1. Why DriveNets?
2. What sets DriveNets apart?
3. The most exciting part?
4. How do you start your day?
5. Core philosophy?
6. Three things you didn’t know about Andy?

“The People Behind” is a blog series sharing stories of the amazing individuals behind DriveNets. From developers and engineers to sales managers, we’ll get to the heart of the team disrupting the networking industry.

This week, meet Andy Holland – a sales executive with 15+ years of scaling global AI infrastructure and SaaS sales organizations. He joined DriveNets after nearly 7 years at HPE.

Why DriveNets?

“I saw a market inflection point with what’s happening in building GPU-based compute clusters,” Andy explained. As organizations build their back-end networks, the industry is moving towards more open, performance-driven solutions.

With the massive momentum around AI, Andy saw the market was at a decisive moment. “It became very clear that I was joining a company that’s going in a very upwards direction, like a rocket ship, and with amazing people.”

What sets DriveNets apart?

The explosion in large language model use cases has taken center stage. As more organizations consider GPU-based compute, there’s real openness to avoid proprietary systems.

“The history of technology cycles has shown that moving to an open standard can be equal in performance, and it allows you the flexibility to look at multi-vendor solutions in all aspects of your design,” Andy noted.

DriveNets delivers a compelling solution with expertise to manage large clusters end-to-end, backed by founding members from both Mellanox and Cisco product lines.

The most exciting part?

“The level of talent we have,” Andy said. “We work in an agile environment with extremely talented people, supporting creative execution. Every day I wake up thinking how lucky I am to be part of this organization.”

How do you start your day? After getting his two young kids to school, Andy focuses on building relationships and setting daily objectives. “When you have chaos non-stop at home with your kids, you have to think about how best to be successful day-to-day.”

Core philosophy?

Be curious.

“Curiosity is the foundational thought process on how you can be successful in any area.”

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“It’s cliché because I’m Canadian,” Andy said, “but Gretzky said this in reference to why he would shoot the puck so many times in his career – it’s the law of averages. It’s a great statement for how one should approach life in general and be ready to take risks.”

Three things you didn’t know about Andy?

• Professional volleyball player – Over his career he played for numerous teams, including a team in Israel, living in a kibbutz near Haifa.
• Avid motorcyclist – “I’m a big believer in riding anything on two wheels. Both my wife and I love to do that.”
• Camping– Loves to travel with his sons. “We camp all over the USA and Canada. Here is a picture of us camping in Moab, Utah and eating a dried scorpion!”