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Following the launch of HPE GreenLake cloud services, Siliconrepublic.com found out why Ireland is the perfect testbed for the pilot programme.
Prior to Covid-19, companies were discussing their digital transformation plans, experimenting with the adoption of new technologies and exploring their options about moving to cloud services.
But the pandemic has sped up all of those plans and now, as the dust has settled and organisations are looking at more long-term strategies in regard to their IT infrastructure and data, cloud computing seems to be the answer for many.
However, in reality, it may not necessarily be in a company’s best interest to simply move everything to the cloud. Each business needs to consider which workloads can and should move, what the cost implications are, and what security and connectivity requirements are important.
While many discussions focus on how workloads can be moved to the cloud, the truth is that – much like remote working – the future will likely be nuanced and hybrid.
With these challenges in mind, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced a new cloud experience for the European market with Interxion Ireland in July of this year.
HPE’s GreenLake cloud services will bring Irish customers the benefits of a managed cloud experience while maintaining ownership and control of their data. Its aim is to provide a private cloud economic model with the connectivity and network options to make hybrid and multi-cloud a reality.
Speaking to Siliconrepublic.com, Interxion Ireland’s managing director, Séamus Dunne, said being able to test-drive HPE GreenLake in a production colocation data centre facility takes the risk out of the move. “You can try it and see if it works for you,” he said.
Ireland as ‘a gateway to Europe’
The new HPE offering is being piloted with Interxion in Ireland, with intentions to expand to the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
HPE Ireland’s managing director, Maeve Culloty, said one of the reasons Ireland was chosen for the pilot programme is because of the level of R&D happening in the country for HPE GreenLake.
“Software development for a large portion of HPE GreenLake is actually done out of our Galway office and, on the other side of the island, we’ve also got Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s European bank, which is based in Ireland and that underpins the economics portion of GreenLake. So we really are at the cutting edge of what HPE is delivering,” she said.
Dunne added that Ireland’s market size means things can be trialled in a way that couldn’t be done in larger markets. “I’ve often seen South Korea used as a test to see if they can deploy bigger in Asia. Ireland is a perfect place to do that for Europe,” he said. “It’s a tech hub and a gateway to Europe.”
