HPE eyes global domination with Cloud28+
"Cloud of clouds" now available across the world, thanks to initial EMEA success
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has said its decision to roll out its Cloud28+ "cloud of clouds" globally is a testament to how excited partners are about cloud computing in general.
Cloud28+ was set up in EMEA at the end of 2015 and is a community of cloud firms, such as resellers, ISVs and service provides, aiming to accelerate cloud adoption among customers. The self-styled ‘cloud of clouds' has 355 members and 1,300 cloud services listed on its cloud marketplace.
At HPE's Discover event in London last month, the vendor announced the programme would be made available globally thanks to the success it has had so far.
Speaking to CRN after the event - which was described as a "soft launch" for the global rollout, HPE's global vice president of indirect digital services Xavier Poisson said that EMEA was a natural starting place for Cloud28+ because it was thought up by the EMEA team and it fit into Europe's Digital Single Market vision.
But now, he said, partners are so enthusiastic about the technology, the company is ready to take it global.
"We saw a really big shift last year in the partner community - service providers but also value-added resellers and software vendors," he said. "They are really understanding the market is moving to hybrid - not only to cloud, but to hybrid - with a mix of public and private cloud. What is interesting is that, for instance, if you look inside Cloud28+ at the catalogue… you need partners who are certified on the cloud products of HPE to advise, implement and integrate some projects with their customers. Also what we see is systems integrators moving very quickly. All in all, our partners are understanding this move to cloud computing - they are excited about that and they know they can partner together. One of the reasons behind Cloud28+ is that content matters and that it's not just to offer IaaS, but to find the right value-add for the customers. So we are attracting more and more ISVs to join and to make them meet with other service providers and VARs to create a value offering to the market. This is working nicely."