HOUSTON — Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) released a couple of new products and services as part of what it calls its next-generation compute portfolio.
HPE has an eye on growing its market share via a cloud operating experience designed to power hybrid environments and digital transformation via HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management and HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, according to the company last month.
ProLiant Gen11 Servers
The ProLiant server line has been a mainstay at HPE for decades.
Gen11 models are designed to support demanding workloads, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), rendering, analytics, cloud-native applications, graphic-intensive applications, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and virtualization.
ProLiant servers, therefore, are optimized to deliver high performance on a variety of architectures, including 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors, 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, and Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max Cloud Native Processors.
As a result, they support twice as much I/O bandwidth, 50% more cores per CPU, and 33% more high-performance GPU density per server compared to ProLiant Gen10 servers.
These servers include edge to cloud security established at the silicon level via HPE Silicon Root of Trust to protect firmware code from malware and ransomware using a digital fingerprint unique to each server. There are several more added security features.
HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO6) remote server management software allows IT to securely configure, monitor, and update HPE servers. A new authentication feature uses the open-source Security Protocol and Data Model (SPDM). Platform certificates and Secure Device Identity (iDevID) are included by default as a way to prevent alterations to server identity access. The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) provides an added layer of authentication by verifying a secure boot and system state. HPE Trusted Supply Chain certifies servers that feature hardened data protection during the manufacturing process.
HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management
HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management aims to simplify management and provide an automated cloud operating experience.
On HPE ProLiant servers, a subscription to HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management provides a cloud-native management console to securely automate the process of accessing, monitoring, and managing servers, regardless of where they are. It can also be used to onboard thousands of devices and deliver faster server firmware updates.
In keeping with ongoing sustainability initiatives, HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management includes carbon footprint reporting on emission metrics and energy usage that range from the individual server to full compute environments.
“Closer to the edge”
“The foundation of any hybrid strategy is compute,” said Neil MacDonald, EVP and GM of compute, HPE.
“HPE Compute brings businesses closer to the edge, where data is created, where new cloud experiences are delivered, and where security is integral.”
With a long history of success “at what is now known as the edge, positioning the 11th-gen ProLiant servers in support of that market and associated workloads makes perfect sense,” said Greg Schulz, an analyst with Server and StorageIO Group.
“There’s a lot going on out at the edge with new emerging and traditional workloads needing more compute capabilities with improved economics, environmental footprints, security, ease of management, and flexibility,” Schulz said.
“HPE continues to offer flexibility to their customers and partners with ProLiant, including various processor options to meet different software needs.”
HPE’s Recent Activity
This summer, HPE became one of the first tier-one server providers to offer compute with optimized cloud-native silicon, using Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max Cloud Native Processors.
HPE has also been heavily promoting the HPE GreenLake as-a-service platform during the entirety of 2022. It enables customers to have their server and other HPE infrastructure operated, managed, and updated as a service as a way to free up internal IT resources. The platform includes over 70 cloud services that can run on premises, at the edge, in a colocation facility, and in the public cloud. It also enables those wishing to move from one server generation the option of remaining on traditional infrastructure or switching to a pay-as-you-go model with HPE GreenLake.
HPE appears to be positioning its servers and supporting infrastructure to make a major play to the emerging edge market. IT is decentralizing to reduce latency and provide compute power far more locally.
Growth of the Server Market
HPE and Dell Technologies have been locked in a battle for server leadership for some time.
HPE was slightly ahead in 2021, and the race is tight in 2022, according to IDC.
IDC expects a strong year for the market, with 10.7% server revenue growth for the year and continuing at that rate for the next few years.
These levels of growth indicate the overall health of the market, despite major obstacles. On the one hand was the pandemic and the shutdown of the entire business world. Yet, the server market managed 6% growth in 2020 and 2021. On the other hand, the market suffered from supply chain turmoil for the past year or so.
IDC thinks those issues will have worked themselves out in 2023. In any case, they have not inhibited growth. In fact, the analyst firm expects pent-up demand and postponed server refreshes during the pandemic years to be a driving force of additional growth in 2023.
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