HP Extends Helion Cloud Solution With OpenStack Integration, AWS Compatibility

Hewlett-Packard is expanding its HP Helion cloud solution portfolio with the introduction of Amazon Web Services compatibility and embedded OpenStack capabilities.

HP Tuesday introduced the HP Helion CloudSystem 9.0 solution at the HP Discover conference in Las Vegas, which is aimed at making it easier for customers to take advantage of the cloud and for partners to help them do so, said Bobby Patrick, chief of cloud marketing at the Palo, Alto, Calif.-based vendor.

"We make it easy for the channel to go to a customer and say, 'We can start you on your journey to the cloud, help you manage many clouds, and build native cloud applications,' " Patrick told CRN. "Helion CloudSystem lets customers move applications to the cloud and free up resources so they can focus on their business."

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New with HP Helion CloudSystem 9.0 is AWS compatibility, which allows customers to do development on an AWS-compatible public cloud and then move the application to another public or private cloud for production, Patrick said.

HP is including technology from the Eucalyptus project to handle the management. "Someone can have an app built on AWS, and if security is an issue, can repatriate it to Helion without needing to rewrite the app," he said.

HP is also integrating OpenStack technology with HP Helion CloudSystem in version 9.0, Patrick said.

"Helion was compatible with OpenStack before," he said. "Now it's fully integrated. This marries the OpenStack development project with Helion CloudSystem. OpenStack is complex. But now HP has moved it out of the science lab into Class-A-type enterprises."

Also new is support for Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors, Patrick said. Previously, HP Helion CloudSystem supported VMware, Red Hat and KVM hypervisors as well as bare-metal solutions, he said.

HP Helion CloudSystem has proven to be an open, hybrid solution that relies on existing tools and not on proprietary tools, said Mike Vencel, senior vice president at Comport Technology Solutions, a Ramsey, N.J.-based solution provider and HP channel partner.

"Our clients are moving into the hybrid world," Vencel told CRN. "We're building in automation and orchestration to reduce cost and increase availability, and so we're all-in with HP Helion CloudSystem."

HP Helion CloudSystem 9.0 lets customers quickly spin up a cloud based on open standards, Comport Technology Solutions' Vencel said. "It builds on all he features HP has added over the last couple years," he said.

The most exciting part of the CloudSystem 9.0 news is the OpenStack integration, Vencel said.

"HP had an open architecture before," he said. "But with 9.0, think of the CloudSystem relation to OpenStack as you would Red Hat to Linux. This is HP's release of OpenStack. A lot of projects within OpenStack can help build the cloud out. And it's hypervisor-agnostic, so it prevents customers from being locked into proprietary environments over time."

The enhancements to HP Helion CloudSystem 9.0 are slated to be released later this year.

PUBLISHED JUNE 2, 2015