From consumer electronics to business-level IT, the Everything-as-a-Service model is dominating how technology is being paid for and delivered. This new on-demand world is no longer willing to pay for thousands of cable channels we don't watch. We are also not willing to pay for products and services that are bundled with ones we don't want or need.
This trend really started gaining traction when software developers moved to this new subscription model. No longer did you have to re-purchase expensive software every time an "upgrade" surfaced. Updates are now expected to be included with the paid subscription, and everyone seems to be on board with the process.
From the beginnings of the Software-as-a-Service model, it has now exploded into many areas including hardware and infrastructure. As we are becoming more and more demanding of paying for what we actually use, as we use it, we expect businesses to make it available to us.
Indeed, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) recently launched Green Lake, a suite of pay-per-use solutions available for top customer workloads. The solutions include big data, backup, open database, SAP HANA, and edge computing. As part of its continued focus on providing customers flexible consumption offerings, HPE is also rebranding and making enhancements to HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity, an infrastructure consumption service. Depending on need, level of expertise required, and in-house IT resources, businesses can choose between HPE GreenLake complete solutions or HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity based infrastructure solutions.
The outcome-based IT consumption solutions include:
- HPE GreenLake Big Data offers a Hadoop data lake, pre-integrated and tested on the latest HPE technology and Hortonworks or Cloudera software.
- HPE GreenLake Backup delivers on-premises backup capacity using Commvault software pre-integrated on the latest HPE technology with HPE metering technology and management services to run it.
- HPE GreenLake Database with EDB Postgres delivered on-premises and built on open source technology to help simplify operations and substantially reduce total cost of ownership for a customer’s entire database platform.
- HPE GreenLake for SAP HANA offers an on-premises appliance operated by HPE with the right-sized, SAP-certified hardware, operating system, and services to meet workload performance and availability objectives.
- HPE GreenLake Edge Compute offers an end-to-end lifecycle framework to accelerate a customer’s Internet of Things (IoT) journey.
Instead of only being focused on pay-per-use infrastructure, they are delivering on-premises consumption services that are based on pay-per-use outcomes. Included in each HPE GreenLake outcome-driven solution is:
- Advisory and professional services from HPE Pointnext to help customers quickly define, deploy, and integrate your solution, as well as provide HPE recommendations for continual optimization of systems and processes.
- Purpose-built reference architectures, based on the latest technologies (hardware and software) and optimized for each solution, to help deliver results quickly.
- HPE’s proven pay-per-use HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity model to consume a wide range of infrastructure from HPE using a unique business metric.
- Remote monitoring and management of the solution by HPE Pointnext, offloading routine infrastructure management tasks from the IT department and providing both skills and knowledge of the new technologies from day one.
- Enterprise-grade support along with an HPE Digital Learner subscription to e-learning content, providing the digital skills needed for IT to do its best work.
HPE also announced enhancements to HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity that include new modular, pre-packaged infrastructure choices that will help customers get started quickly and stay ahead of demand with active capacity planning. The company is also expanding the technology choices with high-performance computing, Microsoft Azure Stak, and HPE SimpliVity to help customers design their infrastructure solutions and consume them in the ways that make the most sense for their business.
According to Ana Pinczuk, SVP and GM of HPE Pointnex, IT teams are being pushed to provide everything businesses want and need – real-time analytics, advanced apps, rapid scalability – and as quickly as possible. Cloud-based solutions can offer these features, but also carries a risk of giving up the control businesses can have with on-premises IT.
The compromise is a consumption-based, as-a-service model that accelerates business value, frees up capital and simplifies day-to-day operations on-premises. Hybrid solutions, like this offering from HPE, enables the speed and flexibility of the public cloud, while retaining the peace of mind and control of data maintained on-premises.
Of course, the tricky part is making sure an on-premises offering truly has the "scale up/scale down" flexibility of a true cloud service. Pinczuk states that it’s consumption-based, so you can get the service you need and pay for what you use without a significant capital investment. And that means you can redeploy that capital and IT resources in the pursuit of other strategic goals.
HPE isn't alone in its ambitions. During today's Ingram Micro ONE conference in Dallas, company executives repeatedly described "technology as a service" models that leverage Ingram Financing for OpEx partner and customer options.
Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.
