HPE Unveils Its Alternative to VMware

At its recent Discover event, HPE introduced a range of new data center hardware, emphasizing its collaboration with Nvidia. The company is progressively expanding its software offerings, positioning itself as a competitor in the data center software market.

During the event, HPE showcased its enhanced Nvidia portfolio, which now includes Blackwell graphics processors. These additions complement HPE's existing solutions in Nvidia Accelerated Computing, Spectrum-X Ethernet networks, BlueField-3 DPUs, and Nvidia's AI-Enterprise software. A new AI Factory was also unveiled, tailored for large enterprises, service providers, and model developers. A specialized version is being offered for public sector organizations, emphasizing stringent data protection and security features.

To support the creation of Private AI Clouds, HPE is now offering Nvidia Blackwell Accelerated Computing integrated with its ProLiant Compute Gen12 servers. This solution enables seamless scalability from one GPU generation to the next, incorporating Nvidia's H200 NVL and the recently introduced RTX PRO 6000 Server Edition. A novel architecture has been implemented to unify resource pooling, making new GPUs and resources readily available for various AI workloads. The Compute XD690 has been added to HPE's Nvidia portfolio, supporting eight Blackwell Ultra GPUs.

The new Alletra Storage MP X10000 is designed to support Model-Context-Protocol servers, aimed at accelerating AI data pipelines and processing unstructured data. This storage solution is compatible with Nvidia's AI Data Platform reference design and comes with an SDK for optimizing unstructured data pipelines, enhancing data acquisition, inference, training, and continuous learning. Additionally, integration with GreenLake Intelligence via MCP servers will simplify data management orchestration for developers and administrators.

HPE also introduced AI-driven advancements in networking. Utilizing the GreenLake Intelligence Framework, the new Agentic Mesh technique has been integrated into Aruba Networking Central, facilitating precise root cause analysis and automated troubleshooting for complex network and security issues through network-specific reasoning agents.

Significantly, HPE is transitioning towards becoming an Independent Software Vendor (ISV). This shift is exemplified by the acquisition of the Morpheus Business Suite last year, which now underpins new products such as Morpheus Enterprise, Morpheus VM Essentials, and the accompanying VM Essentials Manager, strategically positioning HPE against VMware. Notably, this software will be made available for non-HPE hardware, with validations for Dell PowerEdge and NetApp AFF already in place. While additional manufacturers like Lenovo, Inspur, and Pure Storage remain unvalidated, HPE's path towards becoming a prominent software provider is evident.

Moreover, HPE OpsRamp is explicitly designed for heterogeneous environments. The new Operations Copilot allows for agent-based automation of IT operations across the entire infrastructure, extending beyond HPE's own systems. Similarly, the Performance Cluster Manager is tailored to provide fully integrated system management, along with enhanced monitoring and alerting capabilities for large-scale, complex AI environments consisting of thousands of nodes.

Further software announcements include the new CloudOps Software Suite, which consolidates OpsRamp, Morpheus Enterprise, and Zerto Software. These offerings provide automation, orchestration, governance, data mobility, data protection, and cyber resilience across a multi-vendor, multi-cloud, and multi-workload infrastructure. The software packages are available both as a complete suite and as standalone solutions.

In addition, GreenLake has introduced new software: GreenLake Intelligence, an agent-based AI framework designed to optimize the use of storage, networking, computing, and virtualized resources in real-time. This framework is integrated into the hybrid cloud stack and is delivered via the Copilot. The software offerings also include new applications within the Unleash-AI partner ecosystem, featuring over 75 solutions for AI, smart cities, industrial and manufacturing applications, data management, data protection, video analysis, and security.

Regarding availability, the ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 servers are now available for order with Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. The next generation of HPE Private Cloud AI featuring Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs is expected to launch in the second half of 2025. The new AI Factory solutions are already accessible, while the HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 with MCP support is slated for the second half of 2025. HPE Compute XD690 is anticipated to be available from October 2025, with HPE Aruba Networking Central with Agentic Mesh expected to be released in Q3 2025. The beta version of GreenLake Copilot is set for Q3 2025, and enhancements to the OpsRamp software are scheduled for Q4 2025, along with the Cloud-Ops software.

For more details on the Discover announcements, visit HPE's official website.