Hitachi Announces Slew of New Private Cloud Services and Portfolio Enhancements

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS) recently announced new private cloud services geared toward helping customers get more from the cloud. The company, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., also announced portfolio enhancements designed to give clients faster access to applications, more control over their data and greater flexibility.

New private cloud offerings include cloud transformation consulting and transition services that support the HDS cloud enablement methodology. A new cloud automation suite enables access to the Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) as well as reference architectures with Cisco for UCP Select and new data security capabilities for Hitachi Unified Storage.

All private cloud offerings are designed to offer complete virtualization, a more open environment and better data security. The solutions feature an open architecture with storage, compute and network infrastructure layers as well as APIs, open interfaces and protocols required to work with management and orchestration frameworks. This allows customers to avoid vendor lock-in and build the best overall cloud environment that provides the features they specifically require.

The global private cloud market is forecast to reach $46.8 billion this year, according to MarketsandMarkets, a 40.2-percent increase from 2012’s revenue of $5.6 billion. This has created massive opportunities for infrastructure and service providers working to help their customers migrate in an efficient and cost-effective fashion.

"Cloud best fulfills its promises when customers' data centers are transformed and modernized to deliver what their stakeholders need via a service-centric model," said Wayne Pauley, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "IT can then provide services when and where users need them, based on committed service levels.”

HDS has also announced its new Hitachi Services Framework, featuring consulting, transition and management services in support of the entire lifecycle of private cloud deployments. A number of portfolio enhancements have also been rolled out, including the Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) and Hitachi Unified Storage 150 controller-based encryption solution. The offerings combine with the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform in support of managed encrypted storage.