Organizations, particularly large and mid-sized companies, find themselves generating more data than ever before as employees use a multitude of connected devices at the edge of their networks. Before any business insight can be extracted, that data must first be collected, stored, and processed. As the need for real-time data-driven decision-making – particularly at the edge – grows, the need for edge-to-cloud platforms such as HPE GreenLake is increasing.

HPE GreenLake is a hybrid cloud computing platform that provides a single view to manage and monitor all of your organization’s distributed data.

GreenLake is subscription-based, rather than a lease or an outright capital expenditure. That makes it more accessible to more businesses. It differs from traditional cloud computing in the way it enables thorough analysis of data that’s collected at the edge, without requiring the IT infrastructure of a traditional data center. Advisory and consulting services – including those we offer from Melillo – can be easily added for a more robust experience.

One such service is HPE Proactive Care, which integrates services to help improve how a converged infrastructure functions. In a complex, converged and virtualized environment, components need to work together efficiently. If a serious incident occurs, HPE Proactive Care connects customers with advanced technical solution specialists trained to help reduce downtime.

Another is extended management, which takes over the IT responsibilities from customers to lighten their loads and to help them focus on applications instead of infrastructure. That’s an ideal solution for a company with no or limited technical staff. They can leave the technical management to our IT professionals while focusing on growing their core business.

One of the big draws to a solution such as GreenLake is the financial structure. Instead of making a large capital expenditure outlay, organizations can spread out that cost over time and based on need. Customers with tight budgets may more easily find funds for an opex rather than a capex purchase.

Ideally, GreenLake is suited for a company that is steadily growing, because it will start with a certain percentage of capability. For example, 100% of the infrastructure is on the floor, but the customer only pays for 80%. That’s a 20% buffer, which is a good fit for a rapidly growing company. That spend can be reasonably managed to provide a fully scalable solution, with the Greenlake Management Services (GMS) team on the IT staff completing the package.

The One Thing to Know

Companies purchasing HPE GreenLake must understand and forecast their needs very well, so they can accurately estimate the size of the solution they’ll need, as well as what they’ll grow into. A good estimate may be difficult to establish, but it’s key to a successful implementation.

It’s important not to over-estimate, because it’s better to ramp up than to later learn you’ve duplicated a process, requiring you to decrease scope, for example. Starting off using 80% of the solution, ramping up and then scaling it is a far better plan than using 100% of capacity on Day One.

Customers know that when they work with the Melillo Consulting team, they can trust that we’re building their solution with these factors in mind. We’re coming in and running the project, in partnership with GMS, which handles maintenance and running the infrastructure. We’re lining up the whole GMS solution, and then we’re providing Professional Services: including transition services, data migrations infrastructure, technology refresh, disaster recovery, backup solutions and data protection

With data becoming an integral part of our daily business life, it’s critical for companies to be able to harness that data and turn it into useful information – right from the edge where data is collected. GreenLake securely connects data wherever it lives and turns it into intelligence.