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Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is extending its hybrid cloud strategy by adding to its private cloud offering.
HPE Greenlake for Private Cloud Enterprise now enables users to run on premises the same container run times they use in the public cloud across their hybrid cloud, according to the company last month.
HPE sees hybrid cloud as a big opportunity. HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise, therefore, offers a modern private cloud experience and provides it via an automated, fully managed approach. In other words, enterprises gain the convenience of public cloud services while retaining data and applications in-house.
HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise offers expanded container deployment options for Kubernetes with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Anywhere from Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well as infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and cloud-native tool chains to support customer DevOps and continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) environments.
In addition, six workload-optimized instances for general purpose, compute, memory, and storage are available on HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise. They come with pay-as-you-go pricing.
Built for both cloud-native and traditional applications, HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise supports the self-service deployment of bare metal, virtual machine (VM), and container workloads. These are taken from a common pool of infrastructure and are optimized for price and performance.
Those taking advantage of these services can manage VMs, containers, or bare metal using a user interface console, APIs, command line interface (CLI), or IaC. Developers gain immediate access to their workspace. They can choose their preferred operating systems, containerized application stacks, and tool chain integration services.
Consumption analytics, too, have been enhanced to deliver improved usage and cost analytics of applications for the three hyperscale public cloud vendors.
For example, easier show-back reporting and dashboard insights improve capacity planning and budgeting across hybrid environments.
The HPE GreenLake for Data Fabric and HPE Ezmeral Unified Analytics are now available through the new HPE Ezmeral early access program.
HPE’s Hybrid Cloud Expansion
HPE Greenlake has also been developing ways to improve the management of containers and VMs while reducing costs.
As part of its commitment to the hybrid cloud, HPE expanded its partner ecosystem to include the HPE GreenLake for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and HPE GreenLake for VMware.
HPE GreenLake for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform is a combo of Greenlake and Red Hat open-source solutions. As well as reducing costs and complexity, HPE believes it enhances stability and performance. It includes self-service management of containers across edge, data center, and hybrid cloud environments.
HPE GreenLake for VMware integrates HPE GreenLake and the VMware Cloud using a pay-as-you-go hybrid cloud consumption model. It is available across the HPE GreenLake portfolio.
See more: 5 Hybrid Cloud Case Studies
“Out of the box”
HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise is “a ready, out-of-the-box private cloud with a modern experience, delivering optimized performance, open choice, and low and predictable TCO,” said Vishal Lall, SVP and GM, HPE GreenLake Cloud Services Solutions.
“Customers recognize the importance of a hybrid cloud operating model for their digital transformation.”
The private cloud offering “brings hybrid cloud capabilities from edge to core and across multiple clouds, delivered as a cloud service,” Lall said.
The Growing Hybrid Cloud Market
The big three hyperscalers, at one point, were keen to convert everything to the public cloud. But pushback from enterprise customers has changed the game. Some want only public cloud, some want only on premises, and some want a hybrid arrangement.
Further, some workloads are well suited to the cloud whereas others are destined to remain on premises due to security, compliance, performance, or other factors.
Hence, renewed interest in private and hybrid cloud deployment. The global hybrid cloud market was valued at an estimated $85 billion in 2021, according to Statista. It is expected to reach $262 billion in 2027. Over this period, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest rate. HPE is named among the key players, along with Cisco, AWS, and IBM.
“Once upon a time, the term cloud meant public cloud, and many commentators thought it would remove the need for enterprises to run their own servers or locate infrastructure in their own choice of data center,” said Owen Rogers, an analyst at 451 Research.
“But over the past few years, the word hybrid has emerged not just as an aspiration, but as the model of choice for most enterprises.”
451 Research reports that 57% of IT decision makers want to pursue an integrated on-premises and off-premises environment as part of their overall strategy.
Part of the reason for the public cloud hasn’t conquered all is that the service provider makes many decisions on the customer’s behalf, concerning the underlying infrastructure, security measures, and data location. Despite the scalability, flexibility, and potential economic advantages of the public cloud, enterprises need to know how and where their data is being located. Thus, on-premises deployments will remain with us.
“Hybrid cloud gives enterprises the flexibility to choose where to place each workload, depending on that individual workload’s requirements,” Rogers said.
See more: 10 Top Hybrid Cloud Trends
