HPE’s Antonio Neri talks about the SimpliVity Acquisition
Who is SimpliVity and why did HPE acquire them
On Tuesday, January 17, HPE announced plans to acquire SimpliVity, a leading provider of software-defined, hyperconverged infrastructure. We sat down with Antonio Neri, executive vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Group, to better understand the acquisition, what it means for HPE, and what it means for our customers and partners.
1. Who is SimpliVity and why is HPE acquiring them?
SimpliVity is a leader in the hyperconverged infrastructure market. Founded in 2009, the company’s software-defined, hyperconverged infrastructure is designed from the ground up to meet the needs of customers who require on-premises technology infrastructure with enterprise-class performance, data protection and resiliency, at cloud economics.
With this move, HPE will bring together its best-in-class infrastructure, automation and cloud management software with SimpliVity’s industry-leading software-defined data management platform, to deliver the industry’s only “built-for-enterprise” hyperconverged offering. And, the combined best-in-class technology will be backed by HPE’s leading financial services and go-to-market resources. We believe this will not only bring better options to our current customers but to the entire market.
This move will strengthen HPE’s leadership position in the fast-growing, high-margin, hyperconverged market. Today, that market is estimated to be around $2.4 billion. Going forward, the market is expected to grow at a 25% compound annual growth rate and reach nearly $6 billion by 2020. With this acquisition, we will be incredibly well positioned to compete and win in this market.
2. Let’s start with the basics – why is hyperconverged technology important to customers?
The business world is moving faster than ever, driven by cloud-based services and on-demand applications.
This has put tremendous pressure on IT professionals, who must build the infrastructure to support rapidly evolving business needs and expectations. IT has to be an enabler of the business, and accelerate time to value. It can’t be a barrier that slows critical initiatives. Today, companies need modern, user-friendly interfaces to IT infrastructure that give business leaders the tools they need to maintain a competitive edge and to seize opportunities as quickly as they arise.
Essentially, companies want the cloud experience – faster speed, better economics and ease of use - without sacrificing control and security. Hyperconverged infrastructure can do that. SimpliVity’s software-defined hyperconverged infrastructure is designed from the ground up to meet the needs of customers.
3. How will this acquisition impact HPE customers and partners?
More details will be available once the transaction closes, which is expected to be in the second quarter of HPE’s fiscal year 2017, subject to regulatory review and approval, as well as other customary closing conditions and adjustments. What I can tell you, however, is that we have a proven playbook for making acquisitions seamless for our customers and partners. So customers on both sides can expect little disruption during the planning and execution of the acquisition. And after the deal closes, customers can expect an exciting combined roadmap ahead.
Software-defined infrastructure is at the heart of HPE’s Hybrid IT strategy and this move accelerates the company’s ability to deliver a modern, multi-cloud, multi-IaaS platform, powered by automation software and composable infrastructure.
For current HPE customers and partners, the company will continue to offer its existing hyperconverged products, the HC 380 and the HC 250. For SimpliVity customers and partners, there will be no immediate change in the product roadmap and HPE will continue to support existing SimpliVity customers and platforms.
Within 60 days of closing the transaction, HPE intends to offer the SimpliVity Omni Stack software qualified for its ProLiant DL380 servers. In the second half of 2017, the company will offer a range of integrated HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged systems based on HPE ProLiant Servers.
Looking forward, HPE customers can expect to see their hyperconverged experience continue to improve with new innovations like “workspace” controls, which provide business leaders and developers with simple self-service portals to compose virtualized and containerized resources, and accelerate application development and deployment. Additionally, HPE will provide enhanced business insight, including predictive analytics, which will give IT managers the tools they need to increase resource utilization and proactively respond to needs for new resources.
4. Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
The SimpliVity acquisition will enable a unique enterprise-grade offering and deliver the industry’s only built-for-enterprise hyperconverged technology to HPE customers and partners.
SimpliVity’s software will significantly advance HPE’s vision to make hybrid IT simple, bringing a modern software-defined enterprise data service across its hyperconverged, 3PAR storage, composable infrastructure and multi-cloud offerings.
We are excited to write this next chapter of the HPE story with SimpliVity.
Forward-looking statements
This post contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including relating to the proposed acquisition of SimpliVity and any statements regarding future operations. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Hewlett Packard Enterprise may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements.