HP Launches Global, Open Network Focused on OpenStack

Last year, HP started banging the drum about its commitment to cloud computing overall, and to the OpenStack platform. In early May, the company announced the HP Helion brand, and pledged to commit $1 billion over the next two years on products and services surrounding OpenStack, under Helion's branded umbrella. In addition to offering its free distribution of OpenStack, HP placed all its other cloud offerings, including tools for workload management and software development, under the Helion brand.

Now, HP is taking its Helion efforts out to partners in a big way, as it assembles the Helion Network, targeted to become an ecosystem of independent software vendors, developers, system integrators and value-added resellers focused on OpenStack and the cloud.

AT&T Business Solutions, the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited, Intel and software provider Synapsis have joined the network. If the early partners seem biased toward the telecom market, that's intentional. The Helion Network will focus on carriers.

According to HP's announcement, the Helion Network will offer enterprise customers:

-- An open, secure and an agile hybrid IT environment with no vendor lock-in, which enables workload portability between on- and off-premises environments.

-- Access to an expanded enterprise-grade cloud services portfolio that includes horizontal and vertical applications, as well as network-enhanced services such as secure cloud networking, enabling customers to meet local and multinational hybrid requirements.

-- The ability to meet country-specific data regulations regarding data sovereignty, retention and protection.

HP has a preview version of Helion OpenStack available, which it bills as "hardened and curated."

"Customer challenges today extend beyond cloud. They include how to manage, control and scale applications in a hybrid environment that spans multiple technology approaches," said Martin Fink, HP's executive vice president and chief technology officer. "HP Helion provides the solutions and expertise customers need to select the right deployment model for their needs and obtain the greatest return for their investment."

HP's OpenStack-based strategy stretches far beyond what Amazon is doing with its cloud services. HP's strategy appears to be a comprehensive attempt to provide end-to-end, flexible cloud tools and services. In that regard, it will join Rackspace, Red Hat, Cisco and IBM in attempting to appeal to large organizations focused on the cloud, including carriers. 

In the end, though, as we've noted numerous times, players in the OpenStack arena are going to be differentiated by what kind of support they can offer, and HP has a lot of experience supporting enterprise users.