HPE buys Simplivity

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced a definitive agreement to acquire SimpliVity, a provider of software-defined, hyperconverged infrastructure, last week. The US$650 million cash acquisition will allow HPE and its partner ecosystem to deliver what it says is the industry’s only “built-for-enterprise” hyperconverged offering.

HPE 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.


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-infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform, powered by automation software and composable infrastructure. 

“This transaction expands HPE’s software-defined capability and fits squarely within our strategy to make Hybrid IT simple for customers,” said Meg Whitman, President and CEO, HPE. “More and more customers are looking for solutions that bring them secure, highly resilient, on-premises infrastructure at cloud economics. That’s exactly where we’re focused.”

Many enterprises have legacy IT environments that are not well suited for today’s cloud-based services and on-demand applications. Modern data management platforms need simple, user-friendly interfaces that give developers the tools they need to easily develop, scale and protect data. A hyperconverged system such as Simplivity's integrates compute, storage and networking into a preconfigured system, managed by a user-friendly software platform that doesn’t require extensive IT staff for set up and management.

The combined HPE and SimpliVity portfolio brings together HPE’s infrastructure, automation and cloud management software with SimpliVity’s software-defined data management platform, leading to a rich set of enterprise data services across hyperconverged, storage, composable infrastructure and multi-cloud offerings.

“Over the past eight years we’ve been on an incredible journey and joining HPE is the logical next step for SimpliVity,” said Doron Kempel, Chairman and CEO, SimpliVity. “HPE’s broad sales reach, extensive partner channel, complementary technology and commitment to innovation will accelerate SimpliVity’s journey and significantly strengthen our ability to deliver the best-in-class hybrid IT solutions our customers are looking for.”

Within 60 days of closing the transaction, HPE intends to offer the SimpliVity Omni Stack software qualified for its ProLiant DL380 servers. In 2H17, the company will offer a range of integrated HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged systems based on HPE ProLiant Servers.

"With hyperconverged solutions by HPE SimpliVity, you will have a single-platform of integrated compute, storage, and data protection, with user-friendly software-defined management. You will spend less time on setup and management and focus on what’s really important—innovation and speed-to-market," said Antonio Neri, EVP and GM, HPE, in an eDM to customers.

Benefits, Neri said, will include rapid application deployment, savings of 90% on capacity, and simplified backup and restore.

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 virtualised and containerised 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 utilisation and proactively respond to needs for new resources.

HPE and SimpliVity believe that their complementary product portfolios and by leveraging HPE’s expansive go-to-market capability, partner ecosystem, and consumption model offerings, they will be able to significantly accelerate the financial performance of the combined business. The transaction is expected to close 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.

The hyperconverged market was estimated to be worth approximately US$2.4 billion in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25%, to nearly US$6 billion, by 2020. 

Interested?

The new HPE SimpliVity 380 with OmniStack solution is available to order now and will ship in May 2017.