HPE: News from the very top …

There was a lot of criticism before the company split in two that was directed at HP over some of the acquisitions HP had made. There were substantial losses incurred by HP and in many ways, these miscues ultimately led to the spin-merge of non-core software with MicroFocus. The new-look, trimmed-down HPE has been the subject of much speculation about what next will cross its radar screen and although new CEO, Antonio Neri, has only been at the helm for two months, it is clear that he has a vision and he has a strategy and consequently, growing inorganically is very much something he is willing to consider.

And so it came as little surprise to anyone who follows HPE that the first acquisition under Neri’s oversight has been announced – the acquisition of Cape Networks. The press release that HPE made public can be viewed at:
https://news.hpe.com/hpe-to-acquire-cape-networks/

However, it was in a separate post by Neri where we saw a little more explanation given about the reasons for the acquisition as well as where it will fit in the overall strategy HPE is pursuing. In so doing, it further confirms that HPE is committed to not only the much-discussed hybrid IT and the journey to simplifying transformations to hybrid IT, but the all-important role AI will play in the infrastructure of tomorrow.

While the home for Cape Networks will be within the Aruba group and be a part of the team working to empower the Edge / IoT, it’s also confirmation that the more complex our networks become, the more we cannot rely solely on the experience of human operators. This has already been recognized by some members of the NonStop community, where the work done to improve predictive operations management has been under way for some time.

What follows here are excerpts from Neri’s post to the HPE web site in which he begins with messages about the vision and the strategy of HPE under his watch (all highlighting of phrases below has been done by me for emphasis purposes):

CEO Antonio Neri shares his perspective on
the newest company to join the HPE family — Cape Networks

At HPE, we have a vision to deliver autonomous infrastructure driven by artificial intelligence (AI).  The current approach to managing and supporting IT systems is increasingly problematic in today’s complex and hyper-competitive market.  IT teams often only find out about problems after they occur and must spend tremendous effort troubleshooting those often-critical issues. 

We see a future where systems anticipate and prevent problems across an organization’s entire infrastructure. Systems that solve problems before they exist so IT professionals move away from manual and repetitive tasks and focus on innovating and delivering new services that drive business outcomes.

Over the past few years, we’ve taken steps towards realizing our vision for autonomous IT systems that improve performance, reduce disruptions, and significantly simplify IT management for our customers. 

For example, early last year we acquired Niara, which provides behavioral analytics software that automates the detection of network attacks and risky behaviors inside an organization and dramatically reduces the time and skill needed for security teams to investigate and respond to security events.  Then in March 2017, we acquired Nimble Storage and gained the AI-powered predictive analytics platform called Infosight, which we have since integrated across our 3Par storage portfolio and are currently working to pull across our server portfolio.   

And today, we are taking another step forward with the acquisition of Cape Networks.  Cape Networks expands Aruba’s AI-powered networking capabilities with a sensor-based network assurance solution that proactively tests the availability and performance of services and applications, alerting IT professionals of issues before they impact the user or the business.  It delivers a client-centric view with easy-to-use insights with a simple and intuitive dashboard that eliminates the guesswork for IT. When the deal closes in the coming days or weeks, Cape Networks’s highly complementary solutions will be integrated into Aruba’s existing market-leading portfolio. 

Promoted on LinkedIn, March 27, 2018