C. Drake
Summary Bullets:
• HPE’s IoT strategy focuses on converged systems at the network edge, along with security, analytics and partnerships with key industry players.
• The latest initiatives, solutions and solution enhancements announced by HPE at its London Discovery event add significant momentum to this multi-faceted IoT strategy.
At its Discovery Event in London, November 2016, HPE announced a number of new innovations that are intended to advance the vendor’s IoT infrastructure strategy and help enterprises tap opportunities in, what HPE refers to as, the “industrial internet.” Innovations announced in London include several enhancements to the HPE Universal IoT Platform – including support for a wider range of LoR gateways, as well as the ability to manage both subscriber identify module (SIM) and non-SIM devices, and a new portal for simplifying IoT device management. Other solutions announced in London include new switches and device profiling tools from HPE business Aruba, to help enterprises identify, secure and manage IoT devices at the edge of their network, and the HPE Mobile Virtual Network Enabler, which is aimed at fostering the emergence of new, specialized IoT mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).
These latest initiatives, solutions and solution enhancements add significant momentum to the company’s multi-faceted IoT strategy, which was unveiled at its June Discovery event in Las Vegas. Although HPE had previously expressed a commitment to IoT, it was in June that the vendor elaborated on its plan for achieving IoT success. HPE’s latest announcements are therefore timely and will help to further clarify the company’s strategy and build both market awareness and confidence in HPE as a serious contender in the IoT infrastructure space.
HPE is in a strong position to shape the development of industrial IoT (IIoT) applications and solutions and capture market share. This is partly due to the way it pulls together several key technological and strategic components, but it also reflects the company’s accelerated efforts to articulate its strategy. HPE’s strategy focuses on converged systems at the network edge, along with security, analytics and partnerships with key industry players, including GE Digital, PTC and Nokia. HPE has also put a strong emphasis on R&D, announced the launch of four IoT Innovations Labs to help customers can build and test applications, collaborate on solutions development.
HPE should continue building on the momentum created by its June and November announcements, demonstrating how it is working with its partners to help enterprises unlock IoT opportunities in real use case scenarios. HPE competitors such as Cisco, IBM and Dell EMC should be equally clear and forthcoming about their approach to IoT, emphasizing their technological and strategic capabilities and their work with ecosystem partners.
Enterprises considering HPE as a data center infrastructure partner for their IoT strategy should take time to understand the products, solutions and initiatives that are central to HPE’s offering. These include the HPE Universal IoT Platform, its IoT Innovations Labs and the company’s Edgeline 1000 and Edgeline 4000 converged systems for IoT; these allow users to collect, process and analyze data at the edge of their networks. Ultimately users should consider how HPE’s solutions compare against alternative offerings from Cisco, Dell EMC and others.
