What does 2017 hold for HPE?

Two activities dominated the calendar for Pyalla Technologies, LLC. – the ATMIA US Conference and the upcoming HPE NonStop Partner Symposium. Both represent opportunity to better understand two major stakeholders within the NonStop community – HPE and Solutions Vendors. When it comes to understanding where NonStop is headed and what the future holds for NonStop it’s important to know what is on the minds of such important stakeholders. And of course, while we will not be participating at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona (Feb 27 – Mar 2, 2017), if last year was any indication there could be more information coming from this event too as HPE is committed to further demonstrating Virtualized NonStop supporting CMS Mobility Management to the global community of mobile phone operators.

ATM conferences! Mobile Phone conferences! Each with strong participation by NonStop vendors including HPE – this is very encouraging to see. At times when the very data center itself is under threat, solutions that run on NonStop being able to run on traditional, physical NonStop systems as well as on virtual machines is very important as enterprises considering all-cloud engagement need to know that they can take NonStop with them on their journeys no matter where their paths ultimately wind up. In years past there was nervousness about committing to virtual machines, but no longer. As Bergholz himself continues to implore – if it runs on NonStop X it will run on Virtualized NonStop!

For Pyalla this is good news as it means our small consulting and media company will be around for quite a long time. Mission critical solutions, whether running on NonStop X or on Virtualized NonStop, have options open to them and if the messages coming from OmniPayments are any indication of what to expect on this journey to the clouds, then there will be payments solutions joining mobile solutions that can run in the clouds. And I expect to see even more product offerings from solutions to middleware to tools and utilities, all with the potential to be licensed on the basis of Software-as-a-Service! Who would have anticipated this development just a couple of years ago …

But here is something more to consider. March sees the deal between HPE Enterprise Services and CSC wrap up with the new company, DXC Technology, opening for business April 3, 2017. The deal between HPE Software and Micro Focus is further out, finalizing September / October 2017 timeframe, but I suspect the Micro Focus name will be retained. Then again, when it comes to HPE and its machinations of late, it’s not something I would take to the bank just yet. However, the rub here for me and one that has the financial community scratching its heads – what’s left of HPE to drive ever upwards the new HPE? Just the Enterprise Group (EG), with its three groups; Data Center Infrastructure, Software-Defined and Cloud Technologies, Edge and the IoT. There will still be the Technology Services group to round out EG – but it’s now barely a $30billion operation. So should we be concerned in any way?

Technology is an ever-changing discipline and technology companies operate somewhat organically in that, like amoebas, they grow and then divide and continue to do so to better accommodate changes at the most basic of levels. Out with the old and in with the new remains the mantra of many of these technology companies and for good reason – there’s no second prize. Yes there truly is only a first and then everyone else is last. Coming second or third with no plan to displace the incumbent holding down first isn’t what technology is all about. Hence so much emphasis today is placed on inorganic growth – only a fortunate few ever come up with the second successful innovative product that captures the mindshare of global markets.

For HPE, the path forward isn’t in hardware. Leave that to HPQ and its PC and Printer business. It’s all software and now HPE has the best software platform on the planet – NonStop. And in all likelihood, when you look at the groups within EG, strong arguments could be made for NonStop to be a part of all three groups. Data Center, the Cloud and out on the Edge – just give me more x86 architecture and NonStop will be fine. It may not be enough for HPE in the longer term but within the time frames we all operate, expectations for NonStop run strong and for the NonStop community this is the real story for the community and for HPE. So, yes, there is enough support of the continued growth at HPE and yes, the future looks particularly bright for NonStop – onwards to the NonStop Partner Symposium as I am sure in a few weeks there will be one more chapter written for NonStop. Stay tuned!

Richard Buckle
Cofounder and CEO
Pyalla Technologies, LLC