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HP to invest $1 Billion in open-source cloud computing

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The story broke late Tuesday that HP will be investing $1 billion in open cloud products and services over the next two years. HP will also be investing in community-driven, open-source cloud technologies. A similar move to what IBM did last month, Hewlett-Packard is unifying it's cloud portfolio under a single architecture and brand name called "HP Helion." Both HP and IBM have been working profusely over the past years to get their cloud portfolios going and now HP is finally getting its wheels off of the ground.

“Just as the community spread the adoption of Linux in the enterprise, we believe OpenStack will do the same for the cloud,” said HP CEO and President Meg Whitman in a webcast announcing Helion on Tuesday. She added on to the information by saying, "Customers have been asking for open-source-based cloud technologies. Harnessing the collective effort around open-source projects such as OpenStack, the result is something that is more flexible, secure and affordable than any one company could do alone.”

The company's plan is to integrate Helion OpenStack with existing HP network, storage and server products. Helion will be configured to work with HP 3Par storage servers, HP StoreVirtual storage appliances and the company's SDN (software defined networking) controller. It will also work closely with HP's Cloud Service Automation (CSA) software. Beyond OpenStack, the Helion portfolio will consist of several other HP offerings, such as the company's cloud management and automation software, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and managed services. This being said by Martin Fink, HP chief technology officer and GM of HP's cloud business unit.

At this time, the company is also creating a developer platform based on Cloud Foundry. Cloud Foundry is a package that is developed and open sourced by VMware and managed by VVMware spinoff, Pivotal, software. "Under Helion, the company will continue its hybrid cloud strategy, which allows enterprise customers to extend on-premise infrastructure to the cloud,” Fink said. This $1 billion investment will be used to spruce up everything about HP's cloud services. There will be improvement on data centers, training for consultants and operation teams, as well as research into advancing core cloud technologies. According to Forrester principal analyst, Bill Martorelli, the brand and architecture unification is a good move for HP. “The idea of a unifying brand is a step forward,” he said. HP has seriously invested in serving the cloud market for well over two years now, he noted. The company has expertise in serving the private and enterprise cloud markets, which could give it an advantage in that space over commodity services such as Amazon’s. “There’s still opportunities in the private cloud,” Martorelli said. So, all things considered, be on the lookout within the next few months to see what HP has brought to the table with Helion.

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Brandon
My name is Brandon and I'm currently studying Journalism at San Diego State University. I first came onto writing as a dream of mine in 2008 when I started a blog dedicated to the San Diego Chargers. Now I write for a couple of SBNation blogs and am interning at the OC Press.

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