The application-specific, ready-to-use HEC platform combines pre-engineered, pre-built service catalogs with a dedicated converged platform, software and HDS- and/or partner-delivered services, helping users reduce operational costs and accelerating private and hybrid cloud deployments. Available now, the first instantiation of the HEC family, Hitachi Enterprise Cloud with VMware vRealize?? Suite leverages the VMware vRealize Air?? Cloud Management Platform™ (CMP). The solution is available on or off premises in a traditional acquisition model or a usage and outcome-based managed cloud solution.  

"Hitachi's announcement today is a great example of the VMware vRealize platform accelerating the cloud journey for the enterprise. Hitachi Enterprise Cloud with VMware vRealize Suite is built with first-class server and storage infrastructure. The platform creates a powerful on-ramp for our mutual customers to leverage VMware vRealize Suite as their cloud management platform in order to lower operational costs and increase business agility." - Rob Smoot, vice president, Product Marketing, Cloud Management Business Unit, VMware.  

The new Hitachi Management Automation Strategy delivers modern infrastructure management software that meets the simplification imperative driven by cloud adoption. It also supports the motivation to consume IT as a service (ITaaS), whether applications are traditional or in the next generation. The new strategy is a growing portfolio of automation-focused software that includes UCP Advisor, which delivers simplified, smart converged management for individual and multiple UCP 2000 systems.  

"Intelligence, agility and customer-centricity are the three main business imperatives in the drive toward digital transformation and IT has a pivotal role to play in its success or failure. Driving to greater infrastructure agility to deliver on those imperatives is a challenge for IT teams. The automation and simplified management stipulated in the Hitachi Management Automation Strategy are central to meeting those challenges," Says Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst, 451 Research.  

In addition to the availability of the UCP Advisor software, there are significant new enhancements to Hitachi Unified Compute Platform's (UCP) performance, scale and ecosystem support that create valuable new options for customers. Both UCP 2000 and UCP HC systems support faster Intel Broadwell processors and have optional support for Hitachi Data Ingestor, Hitachi Content Platform and WAN Optimiser to provide unique and customisable solutions. UCP 2000 also sees 8X server scalability, now to 128 nodes, and a number of networking and security enhancements. Furthermore, HDS has extended the system to support OpenStack environments. UCP HC expands with a high capacity 2U/1-node hybrid and all-flash system with up to 26TB of usable flash capacity, extending the ability of the hyperconverged portfolio to deliver high performance and scale for analytics and transaction-oriented applications among other real-world functions.  

Further extending choice and flexibility to customers, HDS also rolled out several new as-a-service managed cloud offerings, including Storage as a Service (STaaS), Compute as a Service solutions, a new as-a-service analytics solution for IT service management and operations, and new choices for remote operations services. The company also announced that its Backup as a Service, Archive as a Service, and Disaster Recovery as a Service now provide complete approaches to data protection.  

Devangi Patel, vice president, cloud go-to-market, Hitachi Data Systems says, "Digital transformation is the catalyst that promotes new types of innovation and creativity, improves customer experience and reinvents the business model and business process. Hitachi Data Systems is committed to providing effective and practical alternatives that can accelerate business transformation and break down the obstacles facing IT. Hitachi Enterprise Cloud provides more options than ever before to help organisations perform their digital transformation."