HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack Enables the Application … · the Application-centric Hybrid Cloud Date: August 2017 Author: Edwin Yuen, Analyst Abstract: HPE ProLiant for
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This ESG Solution Showcase was commissioned by HPE and is distributed under license from ESG.
As companies work to adopt digital transformation, the need for hybrid cloud has risen to the top of their requirements.
We now live in a world where everything computes and digital technology is transforming nearly everything we touch.
Technology is being embedded throughout our lives, from the mobile devices we use, to the devices connected in our
homes, to the sensors being integrated into everything from roads to buildings to lights. Everyone and everything is being
connected, with important information passing back and forth to help optimize our lives.
The impact on IT is to figure out how to both cope with and leverage this new digital transformation. Digital transformation
is one of the key factors in changing the role of IT within a business from a cost center into a function that can not only
support business outcomes but actually fuel and drive the business itself. Technologies that support this transformation
include the adoption of agile application development and delivery, big data and analytics management, and the use of
cloud technologies, both off-premises and on-premises, as well as across environments, often referred to as hybrid cloud.
To address digital transformation, IT is turning to hybrid cloud, enabling them to deliver rich services with the speed and
agility of a public cloud, while also leveraging on-premises private cloud resources to meet the data privacy, sovereignty,
and performance requirements of particular applications. Hybrid cloud also allows IT to not only cope with digital
transformation but also leverage it to implement new processes and capabilities in order to drive business outcomes. This
can include agile application development, the ability to develop applications quickly and with one process, and deploy
those applications across environments. An application-focused hybrid cloud that can enable digital transformation in IT
can unlock that capability.
HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack Enables the Application-centric Hybrid Cloud Date: August 2017 Author: Edwin Yuen, Analyst
Abstract: HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack enables an application-centric hybrid cloud that meets the needs of customers that leverage on-premises and off-premises resources.
• Digital transformation is driving the need for hybrid cloud.
• ESG research shows the need for an application-centric hybrid cloud, a solution that goes beyond just the infrastructure.
• HPE and Microsoft have created a hybrid cloud solution that closely aligns to current and future hybrid cloud requirements, with power and flexibility that differentiate it from other solutions.
• HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack delivers Azure-consistent services, focused on managing and delivering applications across Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure Stack on-premises.
Solution Showcase
Enterprise Strategy Group | Getting to the bigger truth.™
Solution Showcase: HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack Enables the Application-centric Hybrid Cloud 2
ESG Research Shows That Applications Help to Define Hybrid Cloud
One of the challenges facing companies interested in hybrid cloud is that the current landscape of hybrid cloud solutions is
often focused on the management and delivery of infrastructure resources to both on- and off-premises data centers.
Customers are looking for hybrid cloud solutions that focus on application management and delivery, in addition to the
infrastructure resources that support them.
But what exactly is hybrid cloud and what do customers want from their hybrid cloud solutions? ESG has conducted
research on the hybrid cloud, systems management, and the impacts on IT today. ESG surveyed 318 IT decision makers,
with knowledge of and/or responsibility for systems management or cloud infrastructure strategy at midmarket (i.e., 100
to 999 employees) and enterprise (i.e., 1,000 or more employees) organizations in North America. ESG research
respondents were asked to choose the description that most closely aligned to their definition of hybrid cloud (see Figure
1).1
Figure 1. Hybrid Cloud Definition
Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2017
The ESG data shows that the largest percentage of respondents said that hybrid cloud involves the management of
applications with resources that span across on-premises and off-premises environments. This definition was selected by
more than twice the respondents as any other definition. Twelve percent of respondents selected the definition of hybrid
cloud regarding deploying applications with resources both on-premises and off-premises. Both application-centric
responses, when combined together, represent over half of the survey respondents. These results show that hybrid cloud
is focused more on applications and the resources supporting them than on simply managing resources.
These results do not mean that resource management is not important for hybrid cloud. Rather, it shifts the management
lens towards supporting and delivering applications and managing the resources underneath them, as opposed to
managing the resources and supporting the impacts to the applications. We are starting to see a shift from infrastructure-
1 Source: ESG Brief, Applications Help to Define Hybrid Cloud, June 2017. All other ESG research charts and references in this solution showcase have been taken from this brief.
Managing applications with resources that
span across on-premises and off-
premises environments, 43%
Managing resources from disparate vendors regardless of location,
20%
Managing resources that are both on-premises and off-
premises, 19%
Deploying applications with resources both on-premises and off-
premises, 12%
Other, 1%Don’t know, 4%
Which of the following most closely aligns with your definition of hybrid cloud? (Percent of respondents, N=318)
supplies, and various rack options to meet the needs of their business. In addition, based on larger memory configurations,
the HPE solution delivers up to 50% more Azure VM computing capacity. This flexibility will enable customers to more
easily deploy HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack within their existing infrastructure.
In addition, HPE offers a number of options to assist with purchasing and operations. HPE has several different operational
options, including HPE Flexible Capacity for a pay-as-you-use consumption model, HPE Data Center Care, Operation
Support Services where HPE performs the infrastructure management and monitoring for the customer’s organization, and
additional HPE professional services to assist across the broad range of scenarios.
Microsoft and HPE are two of the most established, trusted vendors in IT, both delivering class-leading on-premises and
off-premises solutions. In addition to joint R&D, HPE has also trained over 4,000 HPE employees who can support this
offering. Finally, HPE and Microsoft have jointly invested in developing HPE-Microsoft Innovation Centers where customers
can go to learn about and experience Azure Stack first-hand. Customers can receive help with business planning,
implement a proof of concept, or perform testing at one of these centers, currently in Redmond, Washington, and Geneva,
Switzerland.
The Bigger Truth
For hybrid cloud, application focus and on-premises integration are the key attributes that customers are looking for to
support digital transformation. Enterprises need a hybrid cloud solution that meets those needs and more, driving a
consistent, application-centric experience, with power and flexibility that differentiates it from more infrastructure-focused
solutions. Hybrid cloud users are looking for a solution that enables the power of public cloud while maintaining
compatibility with their on-premises applications and infrastructure. Only an application-focused hybrid cloud solution can
enable the features, capabilities, and processes IT needs to support digital transformation for today and for tomorrow.
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Enterprise Strategy Group is an IT analyst, research, validation, and strategy firm that provides market intelligence and actionable insight to the global IT community.