How HPE Helps
HPE brings to the table two fundamental technologies in support of federal virtualization: Morpheus Enterprise and the Linux-based hypervisor VME, or Virtual Machine Essentials.
“VME is based on Ubuntu Canonical Pro, and that’s important in federal, because it is the only Ubuntu edition that has a published Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) from the Defense Information Systems Agency,” he says. “That means DISA has determined this solution is hardened to provide security in the government environment.”
With VME as the hypervisor, Morpheus Enterprise can then provide added capabilities as needed, including automation, self-service provisioning, and auto-scaling. VME can be licensed on its own, while a Morpheus Enterprise license includes VME. Packaged together, they provide all of the basic virtualization features common in government at nearly 90% less cost than the market leader, Ceccola says.
“HPE ultimately is looking to solve the virtualization problem for the federal customer with the right price and performance for the mission at hand,” he says.
“Agencies’ budgets are being scrutinized every day by leadership in this administration, and they have to ensure that they’re getting the best value out of their solution,” he says. “With HPE, they’re not having to pay for something that they don’t need. We’re actually freeing up dollars that they can put toward the mission.”
HPE’s approach to virtualization already is being validated in high-security government use cases: DISA recently awarded HPE a 10-year, $931 million contract to support data center modernization.
LEARN MORE: Why virtualization is the foundation of modern hybrid infrastructure.
Next Steps Agencies Can Take
As agencies begin to re-evaluate their strategies and move toward more cost-effective virtualization, it’s worth taking time to consider not just the products but the vendors themselves. “Look at their reputation in the market and the trust that you have in your current OEM vendor,” Ceccola says. If trust is low, it may be time think about making a change.
From there, a proof of concept can help organizations demonstrate the effectiveness of a new approach. “Whatever product you think might meet your needs, bring it into your walls. Load it on a set of servers, migrate some of your environments over to it in a nonproduction environment and test it out,” he says.
HPE will help federal agencies to do that. “We can support them in our lab in Reston, Va., or, if they want to do it within their walls — which they might, for security reasons — we strongly support that as well. And those proofs of concept are no-obligation,” Ceccola says.
If a new solution meets 90% of the need, and an agency wants to keep running its current solution for the rest, “Morpheus Enterprise can manage those too, so you get a unified management across HPE VME and your current solution,” he says.
Overall, a new approach to virtualization can drive new operational efficiencies while also freeing up funds and personnel in support of mission-critical needs.
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