News

HP Updates Helion Enterprise Cloud Tools

• By David Ramel
• 03/13/2015

Hewlett Packard updated its Helion cloud tools consisting of hardware, software and services that enterprises can host in private, public and hybrid clouds.

The updates include the addition of the HP Helion Eucalyptus solution for creating private clouds compatible with Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS).

In addition to the AWS tool enhancements, HP updated its Helion OpenStack product for the popular open source cloud computing platform and its Helion Development Platform, featuring tools for creating, deploying and delivering native cloud apps.

Being added to this portfolio for the first time is HP Helion Eucalyptus 4.1, leveraging open source technology emanating from HP's acquisition of cloud vendor Eucalyptus Systems Inc. last September.

"By acquiring Eucalyptus, HP gains a tool sanctioned by Amazon to enable AWS-enabled workloads in its private cloud service," this site reported at the time. "Eucalyptus signed a compatibility pact with Amazon in March 2012 that enables it to use Amazon APIs including Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for its open source private cloud OS software."

HP, in an announcement last week, listed the following updates to the Eucalyptus tool:

• AWS Cloud Formation compatible service -- Application deployment templates that streamline service delivery and reduce errors of complex configurations. By reusing existing AWS Cloud Formation templates, customers can benefit from the new service on their own HP Helion Eucalyptus private cloud.
• HP Helion Eucalyptus Cloud Manager -- Web-based tool now with a simple interface for managing S3-compatible object storage. Users no longer require separate tools to create, modify and delete buckets, or to upload and download. All features are available within the browser and can be used on both HP Helion Eucalyptus and AWS clouds.

"The addition of Eucalyptus to the HP Helion portfolio gives customers the flexibility to deploy existing AWS workloads onto cloud environments they control (private or managed), addressing demand for cost-effective alternatives to public cloud vendor lock-in," HP said in a statement. "HP Helion Eucalyptus is available as a private, managed or hybrid cloud solution to meet a broad range of customer needs."

Meanwhile, HP Helion OpenStack 1.1 received security automation, configuration, deployment capability, software-defined storage and lifecycle management enhancements.

The Helion Development Platform received administration updates concerning user management, logging, dashboards and more, along with the ability to quickly roll back apps to previous versions during development.

"The continued expansion of HP Helion solutions reflects the significant momentum we've had since launching our Helion portfolio of cloud products and services last spring," said HP exec Bill Hilf. "The updates to the HP Helion OpenStack and HP Helion Development Platform, in addition to the first Eucalyptus product release under Helion, reflect HP's commitment to today's most important cloud ecosystems and work to create a hybrid cloud environment that can easily integrate into enterprises' existing IT environments."

The three updated products are available now, with varied pricing.