HPE acquires software-defined startup Plexxi in hybrid-cloud push

HPE has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Plexxi, a US-based software-defined data fabric networking provider, as part of its push towards the hybrid IT space.

While the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, HPE says the move is aimed at bolstering its software-defined compute, storage and networking capabilities and expanding its addressable market with an expanded portfolio of solutions for customers and partners.

In a blog post on HPE's website, HPE SVP and GM of the software-defined and cloud group Ric Lewis said, " Our customers live in a hybrid world, running a mix of workloads on traditional IT, as well as private, managed and public clouds.  They need to be able to move at cloud-like speed, regardless of where the data lives.

"...By seamlessly combining Plexxi's next-generation data center fabric with HPE's existing software-defined infrastructure, HPE can deliver a true cloud-like experience in the data center.

Plexxi was founded in 2010 and is focused on enabling data center modernisation and hybrid cloud with its software-defined data fabric.

According to HPE, the acquisition of Plexxi will allow them to deliver hyperconverged and composable solutions with a next-gen data network fabric that can automatically create or re-balance bandwidth to workload needs.

The company says this will increase agility and efficiency, and accelerate how quickly companies deploy applications and draw business value from their data.

As a result of the acquisition, HPE intends to integrate Plexxi technology into its hyperconverged solutions, serving to build on the company's acquisition of SimpliVity last year.

It says it will allow them to forge the industry's only hyperconverged offering that incorporates compute, storage and data fabric networking into a single solution, with a single management interface and support.

Lewis adds, "The combined HPE SimpliVity plus Plexxi solution will provide customers with a highly dynamic workload-based model to better align IT resources to business priorities.

"HPE's hyperconverged business has been growing at four times the market and HPE was recently named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for hyperconverged.  With Plexxi, we'll be able to extend this lead over the competition." HPE says Plexxi's technology will also allow them to extend their composable infrastructure portfolio, called  HPE Synergy.

Built on HPE OneView, it describes its composable offering as a new category of infrastructure that delivers fluid pools of storage and compute resources that can be composed and recomposed as business needs dictate.

The addition of Plexxi will see the enterprise IT giant provide a composable rack solution that will extend its composable fabric to a broader set of use cases across the data center.

HPE says it expects the deal to close during the company's fiscal third quarter, which ends July 31, 2018.