Hewlett Packard Enterprise has made another strategic acquisition, this time in order to bolster its cloud expertise.
There was a time when cloud strategy was governed by cost when compared to in-house and on-premises business service.
But the reality for most businesses is that they are running an increasingly complex hybrid environment which includes their own data centres alongside a mixture of public and private cloud providers.
That’s why HPE’s service arm Pointnext is buying Cloud Technology Partners. CTP specialises in helping enterprises get the very best from their cloud platforms.
CTP services can be separated into three areas.
First it helps organisations shift to the cloud, choosing the right applications to move and whether they would be best served by a public or private provider. CTP also ensures a smooth transition between platforms.
Second its Managed Cloud Controls help enterprises operate cloud platforms. Its automated tools help reconcile actual cloud spending against projected expenditure while also keeping an eye on governance and compliance issues. Haphazard cloud strategies often leave business failing to make expected savings when moving applications to the cloud.
Finally CTP helps companies innovate on the cloud by ensuring that development of new and improved services doesn’t just stop when applications are moved out of the data centre. Big data and internet of things projects can be deployed faster and more efficiently with at least partial cloud infrastructure behind them.
CTP has a portfolio of more than 500 successful large scale cloud projects. The company works with an array of cloud providers and multiple platforms including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google and OpenStack.
The agreement with HPE should allow CTP to accelerate its own growth and the speed with which it can help customers.
The deal illustrates that cloud platforms are no longer a ‘one size fits all’ solution and companies need to think strategically and in the long-term about the deals that they do.
Equally they need help because cloud is an increasingly key part of enterprise infrastructure.
