HP today has announced a comprehensive private/hybrid cloud system running on HP Moonshot hyperscale servers and unified by the newly announced HP CloudOS. The HP Public Cloud runs on CloudOS, meaning that this OpenStack-based operating platform is enterprise ready and that hybrid clouds built on HP’s technology can be tightly integrated with the HP Cloud not just through an interface but through a common architecture. As part of the announcement HP is promising comprehensive security, allowing business & government users the assurance that sensitive data will remain in-house while they can support mobile, remote users with the functionality they need worldwide and can burst applications into the public cloud to handle seasonal or unexpected demand spikes seamlessly.

HP can deliver its private cloud solution preloaded on HP Moonshot hardware sized for the customer’s need. This gives customers an architecture similar to the hyperscale infrastructures the big Internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, with a fully virtualized operating environment running on lowest cost bare bones hardware. That saves large amounts of CapEx, enough to make moving as much as possible to that infrastructure a business strategy on cost alone. And HP offers a managed cloud service option in which it or one of its channel partners will run the private cloud for the customer. This brings private/hybrid cloud within the range of SMBs, which may not have the skills in house to configure and run a hybrid cloud.

HP’s new converged cloud

All of this sits on the HP CloudOS, which is based on OpenStack. This provides a common architecture for what HP is calling its “Converged Cloud”.  For some time, Wikibon.org has been saying that HP has “bet the farm” on OpenStack, and this set of announcements, on the third day of HP Discover 2013 in the Venetian in Las Vegas, have made that official. The advantage of OpenStack for users is that it is completely open, accepted by the Open Software Foundation, so lock-in is minimized, although HP has built its own services on top of that base. The disadvantage is that while Amazon AWS and the new Google Compute Engine announce upgrades and new features almost weekly, the Open Stack group has recently announced that it has changed its upgrade release schedule from quarterly to semi-annually. This raises questions as to whether Open Stack can keep up with the pace of development.

On the other hand, HP is offering specific, guaranteed 99.9 percent SLAs for its private and hybrid clouds. This contrasts with the AWS attitude of “Hey, we do the best we can”, which is a major reason that enterprises use AWS as a cheap dev and test environment but are hesitant to move mission-critical applications to it. This guarantee shows that HP is serious about attracting exactly that mission-critical business to both its public cloud and private/hybrid offerings.

• Open[source] for business

“HP CloudOS is an open and expandable cloud technology platform that leverages the power of Open Stack technology to enable workload portability, simplified installation, and enhance the life cycle management across hybrid clouds,” says Wendy Carry VP of Marketing for HP Converged Cloud.

To encourage customers to try the HP Cloud, the company announced the HP Cloud System Enterprise Starter Suite, designed to provide “a rapid, cost effective way for enterprises to get started with rich application and cloud and be able to reduce their upfront costs by up to 20 percent,” says Carry. It also announced the Converged Cloud Professional Services Suite, a streamlined version of its Converged Cloud services designed to provide the guidance and assistance HP customers need to transform their infrastructures and realize the full advantages of cloud infrastructure. This includes several new services also announced at Discover, including HP Converged Cloud support, HP Cloud design service, HP Cloud-ready networking services, HP Proactive Care for Cloud Systems, HP Cloud security risks and controls, and advisory services and enhancements to application transformation.