Hybrid cloud is the future. HPE is loudly proclaiming that message at Discover. Whether in the cloud or on-prem, HPE wants to be where your data is.
During HPE Discover, we will witness a world first. Antonio Neri will go down in history as the first CEO to give a keynote at the Sphere in Las Vegas. No one wants to miss that moment: already an hour before the start, attendees start looking for the best seat and photos, videos and selfies are taken lustily as proof of attendance. Sighs of wonder can be heard at the sight of the visual spectacle.
Neri immediately tries to pack the audience in, as if he were a rock star ready to play the show of his life. “Intelligence has no limits anymore with artificial intelligence. But we need to be aware of the risks. We need AI technology that we can trust. We want to be the stewards for AI,” echoed his prophetic opening words.
The audience listens intently to Neri. But the many lights on display during the keynote simultaneously betray that some audience members are more focused on getting the best possible picture of what is happening on the Sphere’s imposing 16K LED screen.
Mutual love with Nvidia
Neri has another surprise in store at the end of his show. None other than Jensen Huang, who Neri says “needs no introduction,” comes strolling onto the stage. Huang travels the globe making guest appearances at conferences, and he was also very happy to accept HPE’s invitation to speak at the Sphere with him. After an intimate hug with Neri, Huang whips up the room some more by shouting “HPE” loudly with clenched fist.
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In the Sphere, HPE sees the world through hybrid glasses
The presence of the Nvidia boss is not accidental. Every major technology player these days wants to be seen in public with Nvidia to establish itself as a serious AI player. Neri, who nonetheless predicts competition for Nvidia, is also heaping praise on it. The love, however, appears to be entirely mutual. Both companies have worked together for years around supercomputers, and have now found each other again around GenAI.
The latest love child of the successful marriage is the newly announced Private Cloud AI. Huang: “We are experiencing the biggest computing transformation in sixty years. Artificial intelligence consists of three layers: models, computing and data. Each layer in practice requires a stack. This is incredibly complex. The entire stack has been reinvented to produce intelligence on a large scale.”
“Implementing AI has never been easier than it is now. Many companies waited because it was complex, but now there is no need to wait. Data is everywhere. If data is not linked together quickly, the value diminishes. AI needs a hybrid cloud,” adds Neri.
We are experiencing the greatest computing transformation in sixty years. Software has been reinvented to produce intelligence on a large scale.
Jensen Huang, CEO Nvidia
Starting and ending with dates
That last sentence aptly sums up HPE’s philosophy. The company has long championed hybrid IT infrastructure, giving equal love to the cloud and on-prem. Neri predicted back in 2018 that hybrid cloud would be the future. Just then he wasn’t laughed at with that statement, but now those words don’t sound nearly as radical. Consequently, the CEO shrugs with a broad smile.
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In the Sphere, HPE sees the world through hybrid glasses
“Workloads need to move to data, not the other way around,” we hear from Fidelma Russo, CTO at HPE. “Many organizations don’t know how to use their data and where they want to process that data. Do they want to move to the public cloud, and if not, how do they modernize the on-prem infrastructure? These are complex questions. Conversations we have with customers often begin and end with data.”
Hybrid by design
HPE Greenlake is not just any hybrid cloud, but hybrid by design. Hang Tan, COO of the hybrid cloud division, explains why those two little words are so important. “Companies used to see on-prem as a barrier to innovation, so they looked for a way out in the public cloud. In practice, fragmentation and lock-in ensued. The IT infrastructure may have been hybrid in theory, but that happened accidentally and without reaping the benefits.”
“We represent a new approach where hybrid is built in from day one,” Tan continued. “We try to get customers to understand which applications are better left on-prem and which can go to the cloud, without creating IT and security silos. If you follow the ‘playbook’ of hybrid cloud, you’ll discover the benefits it offers in terms of flexibility and cost savings.”
So are you immune to lock-in in a hybrid cloud? Tan has an appropriate answer to that question. “Wherever possible, we support open standards. There’s no point in developing our own standards if they don’t add additional value. In addition, GreenLake is a multi-vendor environment where our own services are available alongside those of third parties. We don’t want to force products on customers: it’s not a ‘take it all or leave’ principle.”
“From this logic, we are convinced that AI is the ultimate hybrid workload,” Tan concurs with his CEO. “It is a misconception that AI has to be in the public cloud. That may be for training now because of the scarcity of GPUs, but I am convinced that this is only a temporary phenomenon. Once you run the models, you have to fine-tune them with the proprietary data, and in many organizations those are in the on-prem environment. AI will eventually have to come to the data.”
“It’s a misconception that AI has to be in the public cloud,” he said.
Hang Tan, COO Hybrid Cloud HPE
Network as a silent force
Among the green of HPE, shades of orange also stand out on the show floor. Subsidiary Aruba Networking held its own conference at a different time until last year, but that didn’t make much sense, according to David Hughes (Chief Product Officer). “There was already a lot of overlap between the visitors and partners present. Therefore, the decision was made to consolidate both events this year.”
Aruba Networking did not descend on Discover to play a walk-on role. Neri also has words of praise for the networking specialist during his speeches. Hughes explains why: “You have three crucial pillars in IT today. There’s compute, storage and then the network that connects everything. There are many things happening in the edge and that data needs to be connected to the cloud and on-prem data centers. The network is the backbone that makes this possible.”
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In the Sphere, HPE sees the world through hybrid glasses
We met Hughes earlier at MWC to talk about AI’s impact on networking. This time, we reverse the order and ask Hughes why AI needs a network. “AI works with large data sets. But you have to be careful: some information you might prefer to keep private. The network builds a secure architecture around AI. People see Aruba Networking as a networking company, but security always comes first for us.”
The network is the backbone of IT.
David Hughes, Chief Product Officer HPE Aruba
The world is hybrid
Aruba Networking may soon gain a stepsister. Juniper Networks, acquired in January, is not yet physically visible on Discover, but the name is frequently heard. Neri sees the acquisition as another step in “completing the hybrid cloud. The United Kingdom may yet be able to put a stop to that.
Hughes: “More than what Antonio has already said about the acquisition, I can’t say about it, but both Aruba and Juniper have a five- to six-billion-dollar networking business. Add that together and you potentially double your business. The acquisition will further change the perception that HPE is more than a computer company.”
To instill that message, HPE pulled out all the stops. The self-confidence exuded by Neri and his colleagues illustrates that the hybrid world the company envisions is also gaining traction in the marketplace. For HPE, it’s not either on-prem or cloud. The company wants to be wherever your data is.
