The big announcement of HPE’s May 4th event was that of Unified DataOps through the HPE Data Services Cloud Console (DSCC).

DSCC is a true cloud-native control plane which delivers unified data operations through a suite of cloud services. DSCC automates data services and orchestrates infrastructure workflows for cloud operational agility and a simplified data management experience regardless of storage system location.

It’s important to clarify that this is aimed at both the CAPEX and OPEX customer bases, unlike certain competitor offerings.

DSCC is primarily a way to improve management, operation and orchestration, even for complex deployments, via Unified DataOps.

Why Build This?

Most organizations are looking for better ways to improve their time to market (increased agility) while at the same time reducing their risk and keeping costs under control.

In other words, people want the “easy button” – and that button isn’t just “easy to buy” but also “easy to do stuff after you buy”.

As data sizes explode, and things like IoT create a mass proliferation of devices, even better ways for deployment, management and orchestration at geo-distributed scale are necessary. But let’s not assume this only applies to large enterprises with tons of devices.

The reality is that even with recent easier to use technologies, many enterprises don’t consume several kinds of data services because they don’t have the expertise, or time.

I’ve repeatedly seen many customers not implement a better way to do data protection and DR for instance. Or struggle to get to the cloud. Or struggle to properly maintain their systems. Or not deploy a certain application optimally.

What if there was an easier, safer way to consume data services, automation and orchestration?

And not just to handle storage but for servers and switches as well? And software? And lots more stuff? 🙂

How did HPE Build DSCC?

HPE didn’t start from scratch. We based this on the existing HPE Aruba Cloud Platform. You see, we already had a proven, scalable framework for dealing with huge numbers of devices. “All” we had to do was expand that framework to do a lot more than networking. Storage was a logical next thing to add, and many more are to come.

What Benefits does DSCC Provide?

Aside from the more mundane but necessary things like provisioning, DSCC delivers Unified DataOps with much more complex and exciting tasks such as orchestration, data protection, intent-based provisioning, security, auditing, overall intelligence and analytics.

On the “intelligence and analytics” front, HPE is already far ahead of anyone else with InfoSight (and lots more coming on that front).

We will keep using intelligence to help customers out in new and exciting ways.

For instance, let’s say someone has multiple storage systems in various locations and wants to deploy a SQL workload, and protect it locally and remotely.

Would it not be nice if something could automatically figure out the best place to deploy this workload, ensure best practices are followed, SLAs enforced, and also take care of copy data management and DR?

Apart from this streamlining, there are numerous other benefits to utilizing this approach. For instance:

• The user experience is consistent, even between disparate products. This means less training time and less risk due to fewer mistakes
• It’s always up to date – we maintain it for you
• New features are delivered more frequently, as is compatibility with more products (even third party)
• No need to upgrade the end user devices in order to update the user experience – this means lower risk since there’s less of a need to touch the hardware
• Easier to add and consume additional new features (even major ones) without customer effort
• Leaner overall – less effort and less infrastructure needed to accomplish things
• Very nice reporting, monitoring and auditing at scale

The Path to Unified DataOps and Everything as a Service

The combination of InfoSight, DSCC and the newly announced Alletra 6000 and 9000 storage systems marks the new chapter of HPE’s bold vision.

HPE’s CEO, Antonio Neri, announced in 2019 that by 2022 HPE would allow everything to be consumed as a service.

Together with GreenLake Central, these offerings help make this vision a reality and will further differentiate HPE in the industry.

It’s not about pushing boxes – it’s about enabling a better business outcome.

D