HPE Storage Cascades Into Cloud-Native Biz, GreenLake Expansion

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today added storage to its cloud-delivered services lineup under its HPE GreenLake business.

“Today is a proof point of the transformation of that core to a cloud-native, cloud first modern operational experience of our very large storage business within HPE,” said Tom Black, SVP and GM of storage for HPE.

The new platform includes the Data Services Cloud Console, cloud data services, and a new line of cloud-native hardware systems called HPE Alletra. Together, the combined hardware and software “eliminates the complexity around storage and data management that is impeding customers ability to transform and unlock the agility of cloud,” Black said.

CEO Antonio Neri previously pledged to offer HPE’s entire portfolio as a service by 2022 under its GreenLake business. GreenLake enables customers to deploy HPE infrastructure in a data center, colocation facility, or at the edge.

The storage service follows a slew of new software and cloud services rolled out last June, and the expansion of its high-performance computing (HPC) service for customers via GreenLake in December. More recently, the vendor unleashed a flurry of updates to the business, including new cloud services for bare-metal management and expanded portfolio support for virtual machines (VMs) and containers workloads.

Data Services Cloud Console

The new storage service centers around HPE’s Data Services Cloud Console, a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based console that unifies data operations through a suite of cloud services.

The cloud-delivered platform is built on a microservices-based architecture with origins in Aruba Central, which unifies network management, artificial-intelligence (AI) powered analytics, and security across wired, wireless, and WAN at the edge.

Data Services Cloud Console features a unified-API that will enable HPE-branded cloud infrastructure and data services, software partners, and customers to build on. It can also host full stack GreenLake managed services.

Cloud Data Services

HPE also rolled out a new set of data services. This includes Data Ops Manager, which enables users to provision and manage data infrastructure from anywhere and any device.

Additionally, Data Services Cloud Console also features an intent-based networking (IBN) service that will automatically choose the best location for a workload. It uses telemetry and analytics to identify workload characteristics to determine the appropriate placement.

HPE Storage Goes Cloud-Native

To pair up with the new Cloud Console, HPE also introduced a new line of cloud-native hardware systems called HPE Alletra. Omer Assad, GM of primary storage and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) for HPE, said these systems will give organizations the architectural flexibility to run any application without compromise on cloud-native hardware that is optimized for that particular applications experience.

HPE Alletra systems are constructed with end-to-end non-volatile memory express over fabrics (NVMe-oF). Protocols like NVMe-oF are enabling super-fast, low-latency flash storage, which means enterprises can run webscale applications and access data in near real time.

HPE offers two flavors of Alletra: The 6000 system, which caters to the midrange storage market for business critical and general purpose workloads; and the 9000 system to run mission critical workloads. The 6000 system has its DNA in HPE Nimble codebase, and the 9000 system has its DNA in Primera codebase.

“We took decades of engineering, years of investment, and we added to and evolved them into what I think what the industry now would clearly define as a cloud-native system, and married them in a symbiotic fashion to Data Services Cloud Console,” Black said. “So, these are very mature products with new cloud operational capabilities added onto them.

HPE Alletra boasts a simplified deployment in which new devices are automatically discovered on-boarded and configured, tapping into the IBN capabilities of the Data Services Cloud Console.