Hitachi Vantara announced the next
evolution of its collaboration with Microsoft to launch Hitachi Unified
Compute Platform (UCP)
for Azure Stack HCI. The powerful and streamlined
hybrid cloud solution
increases business agility and delivers enhanced cloud management
across multiple environments including data centers, branch offices and
edge computing, providing businesses with greater visibility and control
over how their data is stored, managed and utilized.
A 2022 report
found that more than four in five organizations were deploying a hybrid
cloud model, an increase over the previous year, due to the flexibility
provided by balancing data between public cloud, private cloud and
on-premises. However, as the volume of data continues to grow
exponentially, the complexity of managing multiple environments can lead
to a lack of integration across data sources that limits a company's
ability to extract business value, and it can drive up management costs.
The new joint solution combines the power of Azure cloud services
with the scalability and flexibility benefits provided by the Hitachi
UCP cloud infrastructure. As a result, customers can run workloads
consistently and seamlessly within on-premises data centers, cloud
environments, or edge locations while leveraging the flexibility to
scale capacity up or down based on business needs. Additionally, the
solution utilizes intelligent automation, advanced analytics, and
provides ‘single pane of glass' viewing to increase data visibility and
make management of hybrid cloud infrastructure easier.
"Our customers have enormous volumes
of distributed data at the edge, core and cloud requiring easy and
resilient access to analyze in real-time to make informed decisions,
custom tailored to meet dynamic business demands," said Dan McConnell, senior vice president, Product Management-Storage, Hitachi Vantara.
"Through our collaboration with Microsoft, and our end-to-end
engineered systems approach, we help optimize our customers' cloud
architecture to better harness their data, lower operating costs and
improve application and user experiences."
Hitachi Vantara's new hybrid cloud solution
is now generally available, and supports organizations utilizing a mix
of traditional and newer container-based applications. Key customer
benefits include:
- Flexibility and choice:
Hitachi's UCP for Azure Stack HCI supports multiple validated
configurations, which enhances the hybrid cloud portfolio and extends
modern application infrastructure possibilities, including architecture
powered by Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP). Customers also have the option to purchase the Azure solution with the Hitachi EverFlex
infrastructure-as-a-service subscription model for greater scalability
and pay-per-use pricing to align IT costs with business needs.
- Scalability: Customers can
deploy the new UCP hybrid cloud solution starting with just one Hitachi
server and scale up to 16 nodes, allowing them to leverage a range of
configurations and optimized data management for specific analytics and
requirements.
- Vertical solutions, global reach:
Customers in vertical industries such as manufacturing, financial,
retail, telecommunications, health care, media, and entertainment
benefit from Hitachi's Vantara's deep domain experience to meet these
industry-specific business needs and compliance requirements.
Additionally, Hitachi has a leading supply chain and installation
services worldwide to deliver a robust and comprehensive Azure hybrid
cloud experience across the globe.