Dive Brief:
- Dell EMC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) both announced closer collaborations with Microsoft this week, focused around new integrated systems and services for Microsoft's Azure Stack software.
- Dell EMC said it will expand support of Microsoft environments with new Microsoft Azure Services, Validated Systems for Microsoft Exchange and SQL. The newly merged company also announced availability of a new suite of Azure Cloud Services.
- Meanwhile, HPE unveiled details of its upcoming HPE Microsoft Azure Stack solution, and new HPE Consulting for Azure Hybrid Cloud services to help enterprises and service providers implement the Azure Stack.
Dive Insight:
Recent studies indicate businesses are more commonly choosing to work with more than one cloud provider to meet multiple needs, and tech companies are responding by putting more effort behind their hybrid cloud offerings. Both HPE and Dell EMC likely see collaborations with Microsoft as a way to push forward in the growing hybrid cloud market.
Because Microsoft is one of the two dominant IaaS providers, collaboration is lucrative as it offers vast market potential.
Dell EMC and HPE may also be looking to compete more effectively with VMware and IBM. Those two companies announced a hybrid cloud partnership last month. In working together, VMware and IBM will have access to each other’s market shares, potentially giving them a leg up in the lucrative hybrid cloud market.
