Modern data tools and analytics workloads may be the key focus for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s Ezmeral software platform, but the primary driver is customer choice.

By building a software portfolio of open-source solutions to help organizations capitalize on an edge-to-cloud strategy, HPE believes it is providing options that enterprises value in today’s data-driven world.

“It really comes down to giving our customers the choice for the solutions that they want to build,” said Mohan Rajagopalan (pictured, right), vice president and general manager of HPE Ezmeral software at HPE. “Historically we were not known as the stewards of software, especially in the cloud and cloud-native spaces. But we are taking a very interesting stance here today, where we have an opportunity to use the HP brand and presence to bring together the best of breed open-source technologies with open interfaces and open standards such that our customers get the best range of choices in terms of how they want to stage the data.”

Rajagopalan spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Dave Vellante and Rob Strechay at HPE Discover, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. He was joined by Bryan Thompson (left), vice president of GreenLake cloud product management at HPE, and they discussed Ezmeral’s integration with GreenLake and as-a-service delivery. (* Disclosure below.)

Tightly integrated solution

HPE introduced Ezmeral in mid-2020 and built its portfolio through acquisitions and as-a-service offerings under the GreenLake umbrella. More recently, HPE enhanced its Ezmeral Data Fabric Software to provide a federated view across hybrid and multicloud deployments. Ezmeral’s data fabric capabilities for hybrid models have provided a useful integration point for customers of GreenLake’s expanding array of services, according to Thompson.

“With things like HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise, it’s that natural extension,” he said. “How do I have this as the substrate that I land those data services on, that fabric that can now extend into the same hybrid experience? We’re seeing a lot of traction in delivering this as a tightly integrated solution together.”

As part of the integration with GreenLake, Ezmeral can now be delivered to customers using a SaaS delivery mode. This approach is in keeping with HPE’s previous commitment to offer its entire portfolio as-a-service.

“Let’s take away the complexity of hand rolling these clusters and managing it myself,” Thompson said. “How do I consume it as-a-fabric-service within that private cloud? It’s been an enabler for customers on various points along the spectrum. It’s been an integral component of every [customer] conversation because whether they are there now; it’s where they are going.”

The two HPE executives described the company’s journey in shaping Ezmeral based on feedback from customers who were leveraging its tools to make rapid advances. One example could be found in the HPE Discover keynote from a BMW executive whose firm used a combination of GreenLake and Ezmeral.

“They’re talking about doing things like autonomous driving but also looking at security systems where, in real time, they’re monitoring and they’re able to do predictive analytics on when failures could happen in a car,” Rajagopalan said. “It’s not about how we help our customers build the future. They are already building the future, and we are learning about it as we speak today.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover:

(* Disclosure: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Intel Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither HPE and Intel nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE