HPE unveils GreenLake upgrades for AI & private cloud

HPE has introduced new GreenLake products for private cloud, storage and data protection, aimed at organisations modernising infrastructure for AI and cloud-native computing.

The update spans HPE Private Cloud, HPE Alletra storage systems, HPE Zerto software and HPE Data Fabric software. It is designed to give customers a single operating model across virtual machines, containers, private cloud and data platforms, as organisations reassess older virtualisation estates and tighten data controls.

In Australia and New Zealand, HPE framed the launch around pressure on businesses to reduce complexity while dealing with higher virtualisation costs and stricter requirements for where data is stored and managed. The move reflects a broader market shift as companies try to support AI workloads without rebuilding their entire infrastructure stack.

One of the main changes is to HPE Private Cloud, now in its fourth generation. The platform will support Kubernetes management alongside virtual machines, allowing customers to manage containers and traditional workloads on the same system. Existing HPE Private Cloud Business Edition users will be able to upgrade software on current infrastructure to manage both environments.

The system runs on the latest HPE ProLiant Compute Gen12 hardware, which HPE says delivers gains in performance per watt, higher workload consolidation and additional security features through HPE Integrated Lights-Out.

Private cloud

HPE is also trying to make migrations away from VMware-based estates less disruptive. HPE Zerto software now supports live workload migration from VMware environments to HPE virtual machines while maintaining continuous data protection, according to the company.

The private cloud offering also now integrates more closely with backup and recovery tools. Support for the Veeam Data Platform adds agentless, host-level, image-based backup, while HPE StoreOnce integration is intended to provide backup and replication with rapid recovery targets.

For edge and distributed environments, HPE SimpliVity now supports HPE Morpheus VM Essentials and adds backup resilience through HPE StoreOnce Gen5 systems. HPE says this should help customers standardise operations and data protection for virtualised workloads in smaller or dispersed locations.

The other major part of the announcement centres on data storage for AI and analytics. HPE is extending its unified data layer with file storage, additional scale-out block storage and AI-driven management tools.

HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 will now provide native file storage alongside object storage on one platform. HPE says the system can scale to 16 nodes and 23PB of raw capacity. The platform also includes a 100% data availability guarantee and will support remote direct memory access for file storage, in addition to existing support for S3 over RDMA.

That matters for companies building AI data pipelines, where training, inference and cache-heavy workloads often require different ways to access the same underlying data. HPE says combining file and object storage on a single platform is meant to simplify that process.

The X10000 is also being positioned for backup and cyber resilience use cases. HPE says the system can reach backup ingest performance of up to 2.5PB an hour through its Data Protection Accelerator Node.

Data layer

HPE also updated the Alletra Storage MP B10000 for mission-critical workloads. The system now includes real-time automated support that can detect, analyse and resolve storage issues, along with a 5:1 data reduction guarantee. It also expands scale from four to six controller nodes, which HPE says increases performance by 50% and adds dual-node fault tolerance.

In data management, HPE Data Fabric Software now includes policy-based data placement and movement across hybrid environments. The update also adds a conversational interface and AI assistant for access to the global namespace, alongside metadata tools intended to improve data visibility, classification and lineage.

Support for open standards including Apache Polaris is part of the same push, intended to help customers maintain governance and compliance across platforms as data sets spread across cloud, on-premise and edge systems.

Security and recovery remain central themes in the launch. HPE says Zerto now includes an AI assistant for data protection and has been integrated with Microsoft Defender to improve real-time threat visibility and speed recovery after attacks or outages.

Chris Weber, Vice President and Managing Director, HPE South Pacific, set out the regional case for the launch. "Across Australia and New Zealand, organisations are under pressure to modernise quickly while managing rising virtualisation costs, stricter data requirements, and the growing demands of AI," Weber said.

He said customers wanted a more consistent way to run mixed environments. "What we're seeing locally is a need for a simpler, unified operating model that can span private cloud, edge and data platforms without adding complexity. These latest innovations are designed to help ANZ customers move off legacy environments, strengthen resilience, and get their data ready for AI, all while maintaining control over where that data lives and how it's managed," Weber said.

Fidelma Russo, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Hybrid Cloud & Chief Technology Officer, HPE, said the company sees the changes as a response to operational strain created by AI and cloud-native adoption. "Enterprises are rapidly modernising for AI and cloud-native runtimes and this transformation is placing new demands on how environments are managed, protected, and scaled," Russo said. "With these innovations, we're helping organisations adopt a unified operating model that brings together private cloud, data, and protection, simplifies migration from legacy platforms, strengthens resilience, and delivers superior TCO to operate at scale," she said.