It seems wherever you look in tech these days, there’s some reference to artificial intelligence.

So it goes with hybrid multicloud — what SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, theCUBE, calls supercloud — and what theCUBE industry analyst Dave Vellante referred to as the AI-powered hybrid-multi-supercloud in a recent edition of his Breaking Analysis series.

“AI will now add superpowers to every triggering buzzword,” he wrote.

Contained within the hybrid/cross-cloud players is Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., which launched its own version of the cloud with GreenLake Hybrid Cloud in 2018. Five years in, what comes next with GreenLake is certain to be a significant subject of discussion during this year’s HPE Discover event. What started out as a services-led financial construct has become the backbone of HPE’s strategy. Every product it creates, every partner discussion and the vast majority of its R&D is focused on creating as-a-service experiences for customers.

Last year’s event largely revolved around GreenLake, with several new cloud features rolling out. Expect this year’s event to feature much of the same, with a greater focus on AI, as recent comments from HPE’s Chief Executive Officer Antonio Neri indicate. Moreover, observers should expect HPE to flex its high-performance computing muscles and make that a cornerstone of its AI strategies. The big question will be how to fit that into an as-a-service GreenLake model.

“AI has the potential to disrupt every industry, and it’s an important inflection point because it intersects very well with our innovation,” Neri told CNBC’s David Faber.

During this year’s HPE Discover event, Vellante and fellow analyst analysts John Furrier and Lisa Martin will discuss how AI could fit into HPE’s strategy while they talk with various guests about everything edge-to-cloud. (* Disclosure below.)

Going all-in on as-a-service

At the time of GreenLake’s launch in 2018, analyst Patrick Moorhead called it a “real moonshot as it is the Holy Grail for enterprises looking for multicloud solutions.”

Last year, Neri declared victory in the cloud, even as industry analysts agreed that though HPE’s long-term cloud strategy was sound, the company’s short-term cloud operating model needed to evolve more quickly with new services and ecosystem partners. In the past 12 months, that has been the focus of HPE’s announcements, where virtually every innovation fits into a GreenLake framework.

“[Their] cloud-to-edge operating model is the number one thing that they need to nail,” Furrier said during last year’s HPE Discover conference. “If they nail that right, they will have a pole position that they could accelerate on.”

It’s expected that this year’s conference will also revolve around end-to-end cloud services for edge computing, network-as-a-service storage and security, which will bring forth partner announcements from the HPE ecosystem, something the company has emphasized as priorities.

That’s vital for the company to build value, ensuring the relationship between the ecosystem and the marketplace is symbiotic.

“The ecosystem is the key for them, because that’s how they’re going to fill any gaps and accelerate time to market,” Vellante said last year.

Out to a lead

HPE reported a fiscal second-quarter revenue of approximately $7 billion, up 4% from the prior-year period, but falling just short of its $7.1 to $7.5 billion prediction set during its first quarter. 

“Building on a great start to the fiscal year, HPE grew revenue, increased the contribution of recurring revenue through the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform and delivered exceptional profitability to generate a strong second-quarter performance,” Neri said in discussing the results.

The company also said it was buying cybersecurity startup Axis Security Ltd. for an undisclosed amount through HPE’s Aruba unit. Axis had raised a total of $100 million, including a $50 million Series C round in 2021.

In his recent Breaking Analysis, Vellante compared the strategy of HPE and GreenLake with Dell Technologies Inc., which has also launched its own version of the cloud with APEX. From survey data, the companies have not yet gained the prominence that the marketing would lead people to believe, but they’re now on the radar of customers and are showing up in the Enterprise Technology Research data, according to Vellante.

“The overall spending velocity is still not there when compared to public clouds, but these platforms are growing fast from smaller bases. Over time they’re both poised to be meaningful businesses,” Vellante wrote. “HPE has said GreenLake surpassed a $1 billion run rate, and it continues to put all the wood behind that arrow.”

HPE with GreenLake got out to a lead, and Dell is working to catch up. HPE’s strategy is different in that Neri “burned the boats” in the past and removed “all uncertainty” about where the company’s focus lies, according to Vellante. “They are all-in with GreenLake, whereas Dell is taking a more balanced approach to how customers consume.”

The reality is that HPE provides optionality for customers but the marketing is all GreenLake, all the time.

“Dell’s position is more balanced. They’re moving with the market and letting customers tell them how they want to consume. And Dell is mapping to that customer demand model, whatever it is,” Vellante wrote. “In reality, HPE will do the same, but it definitely leads heavily with GreenLake, more so than Dell does with APEX in our view.”

The next steps

Now that GreenLake is established, what comes next is how HPE innovates on the platform and if it will can keep up with the pace customers are demanding, according to Neri during last year’s conference. The big question to be answered during this year’s event is whether or not this is GreenLake’s moment and what will come next for the company’s broader strategy of going all-in on cloud services.

At its recent Storage Day event, HPE announced a series of products and partnerships, the most prominent with VAST Data, designed to strengthen the company’s storage offerings and map to GreenLake services.

Analysts will also be watching to learn more about how HPE is working with companies to modernize in ways that are sustainable, data-first and hybrid in design. All of this will take place amid an environment being completely revolutionized by AI, something Neri has said he is cognizant of.

“Our view is we can offer cloud supercomputing to enterprises of all sizes so they can develop and train these large language models that require that level of capabilities and just pay as you go,” Neri told CNBC. “That’s part of our strategy, and it will be integrated into our HPE GreenLake platform.”

TheCUBE event livestream

Don’t miss theCUBE’s coverage of the HPE Discover 2023 event on June 20-22. Plus, you can watch theCUBE’s event coverage on-demand after the live event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover 2023, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

SiliconANGLE also has analyst deep dives in our Breaking Analysis podcast, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

Guests

Stay tuned for theCUBE’s complete guest list during the HPE Discover 2023 event here.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for HPE Discover 2023. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and other sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE