HP Introduces Helion Network for Secure IT Environments

During Day 2 of the Discover 2014 conference in Las Vegas, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) revealed the first details on the HP Helion Network, the company’s new global, open network designed to help customers create a secure hybrid IT environment for their local and global needs. HP expects Helion to deliver a new commercial and operating model for service providers that simultaneously gives them access to its entire portfolio of services.

According to HP, the fact that the Helion Network is grounded in its OpenStack-based distributed cloud computing will allow it to provide users with the power to capture and hold a powerful ecosystem of ISVs, developers, system integrators and VARs to accelerate innovation and deliver the company’s open standards-based hybrid cloud services. Existing service providers within the Helion Network will provide a foundation for what HP hopes to be a growing expanse of services for users, which will build upon the HP CloudAgile Service Provider Program. If the network is successful, HP says Helion’s design will allow companies such as AT&T, HKT, Intel (INTC) and Synapsis to work with them to develop and enhance the network over time.

“Global enterprises grapple with a daunting array of cloud products and services across locations, which creates challenges that include security, data sovereignty, interoperability and quality of service,” said Martin Fink, executive vice president and chief technology officer at HP, in a prepared statement. “The HP Helion Network leverages HP’s expertise gained from running OpenStack technology at scale and our ability to unite service providers and technology partners. Together, we’re building a federated ecosystem that enables organizations to deploy services on the right platform at the right time and at the right cost.”

As a hardware-agnostic platform, the Helion Network is set to deliver an open, secure hybrid IT environment without vendor lock-in, enabling users to bounce back and forth between on-and off-premise work environments. Users will also have access to HP’s enterprise cloud services portfolio, including horizontal and vertical applications and network-enhanced services such as secure cloud networking, according to the press release.

With Helion, HP expects its partners and service providers to be able to accommodate customers in the so-called “New Style of IT” while growing their influence within the cloud marketplace. Helion Network partners will be able to offer differentiated cloud offerings to drive new revenue streams and lower overall costs, while giving them access to an expanded portfolio of cloud services. HP plans to support its partners and service providers with collaborative sales and marketing efforts while creating flexible payment structures to help partners balance their investments with their overall revenue stream.

The Helion Network will become a part of HP’s Helion portfolio of products and services once it is released sometime in Q4 2014. Several new additions to the portfolio, including HP Helion OpenStack and HP Helion Development Platform will also release within the same window. Helion OpenStack will give users a scaled-out, curated commercial-grade deployment of the company’s OpenStack technology, while the Helion Development Platform will allow enterprise developers to design, deploy and scale native cloud operations with an interoperable platform.