Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquires Morpheus Data to simplify hybrid and multi-cloud management; the technology will be integrated into HPE’s GreenLake as the vendor pursues AI workloads.
Morpheus Data, spun out of Bertram Labs in 2015, provides a multi-tenant hybrid cloud management platform with self-service provisioning, automation and FinOps capabilities. Bertram Labs is a wholly owned subsidiary of private equity firm Bertram Capital Management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition is expected to close by the end of October.
HPE has partnered with Morpheus for years to address hybrid cloud management issues such as complexity, skills gaps and cloud sprawl. HPE will integrate Morpheus Data management and automation capabilities into its hybrid cloud platform, GreenLake. This is HPE’s second hybrid IT management acquisition in the past 17 months. In March 2023, it acquired OpsRamp, which monitors and manages hybrid IT infrastructure.
IDC analyst Matthew Eastwood said there’s a strategic fit between Morpheus’ work and what HPE is trying to do with GreenLake.
“There’s a real battle for relevance right now when it comes to AI workloads,” he said. “Most people, including me, see hybrid as the operating model for AI workloads.”
As AI workloads become more commonplace for enterprises, vendors such as HPE will need to differentiate their offerings and seek out opportunities, Eastwood said. For HPE, that means focusing on storage, data management and networking capabilities in hybrid IT environments, he said.
Green Lake Enhancement
Alongside the OpsRamp acquisition, Morpheus Data will provide complementary enhancements to HPE’s hybrid IT infrastructure management and monitoring stack, according to Han Tan, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Hybrid Cloud at HPE.
“Morpheus sits above the OS and management, and OpsRamp sits below the OS and management,” he said. Tan added that OpsRamp can monitor and automate infrastructure, while Morpheus can do the same for a variety of hybrid services and spending options.
HPE can leverage the IP from both solutions to build a leading infrastructure, operations/AIOps and cloud management platform.
Matt KimballAnalyst, Moore Insight & Strategy
Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Matt Kimball also said he believes the Morpheus acquisition will bring simplicity to GreenLake users by providing a point-and-click experience for self-service, consumption, management and spending in a single console.
“As someone who has worked in IT management for several years, I can tell you that complexity is the enemy of IT,” Kimball said.
While there is some overlap between the two acquisitions, Kimball said Morpheus also brings additional capabilities to OpsRamp.
“HPE can leverage the IP from both solutions to build a leading infrastructure, operations/AIOps and cloud management platform,” he said.
Morpheus Customers and Employees
HPE said it plans to make employment offers to most of Morpheus’ employees.
Morpheus will continue to be offered as a standalone product, separate from GreenLake. Pricing for the standalone product and GreenLake pricing have not yet been determined.
Eastwood said the downstream impact on Morpheus customers, which competes with HPE, remains to be seen. Dell, for example, has also partnered with Morpheus to offer its customers multi-cloud management with Morpheus.
“[Competitors] “Companies will increasingly be looking for their own technology or their partners’ technology that they can use to take future customers in a different direction,” he said.
There could be potential downsides if HPE were to end support for Morpheus for non-HPE customers, but Kimball said that’s unlikely. Morpheus offers support across platforms and clouds, which aligns with HPE’s goal of supporting hybrid and multicloud infrastructure, he said.
“Apps and data are everywhere, moving from on-premise to off-premise and cloud to cloud,” Kimball says. “GreenLake enables this, the HPE software stack supports this, and acquisitions like Morpheus give us the ability to seamlessly integrate and manage that environment.”
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget Editorial news writer covering file and block storage hardware and private cloud. He previously worked at StorageReview.
