“Partners can rebrand and resell cloud services immediately, while being associated with a global storage management player ”
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. recently launched new solutions and services that ease transition to cloud computing, secure the mobile workforce and provide a better IT experience to users.
In an exclusive interview with Sujata C for ChannelTimes, Yogesh Sawant, Director, Partner Sales and Field Alliance Organization, India, Hitachi Data Systems speaks about the changes these solutions bring about in the cloudscape and the role of channel partners in helping to sell these solutions.
Hitachi has recently launched new cloud solutions. What are these and how do they benefit enterprises?
Hitachi Data Systems has launched three new solutions for customers that allow enterprises to adopt cloud computing more readily, enable their mobile workforce more securely and reliably, and provide a better IT experience to their end users. With the new offerings, customers can achieve the cost and flexibility benefits of the cloud by reducing capex and opex.
The Hitachi Content Platform Anywhere is the industry’s first integrated file sync and share solution that is built, sold and supported for the enterprise entirely by a single vendor. HCP Anywhere makes it possible for anyone to perform any task, access any data, from anywhere, at any time, but it also puts the power back in the hands of the business and ensures that end-to-end file sharing solutions are deployed safely, securely, and with corporate oversight. Unlike consumer file sharing services, HCP Anywhere is built from the ground up for the enterprise and leapfrogs the competition in security, ease of implementation and keeping IT in control.
Hitachi Data Systems also launched a new version of the Hitachi Content Platform, which includes the most advanced metadata management in the market and sets the foundation for big data and analytics. It is one seamless cloud storage platform for data protection, enterprise mobility and content cloud.
The Hitachi Cloud Services Connection is a public cloud offering built on HDS cloud infrastructure and solutions and managed by Hitachi Data Systems for partners to resell.
In developing the cloud solutions how has Hitachi used its experience as an enterprise solution provider?
Enterprises have a different requirement when it comes to managing data on the cloud. While on one side they require the simplicity of using any device, on the other side they require the security to ensure data does not leak out. With Hitachi’s solutions customers can choose the cloud implementations that best suit their business needs. They can more effectively “do more with less”, stay within their budgets, and free up resources for projects more strategic to the business; shift administrative costs out of the datacenter as storage needs grow, lowering overall cost of operations. They are also able to outsource what they want when they want, allowing integration with mainstream enterprise applications and giving customers multiple paths to push their data to the cloud.
What are the key differentiators of Hitachi cloud solutions?
Customers face a number of key IT and business challenges. The amount of data organizations are amassing – in particular, unstructured data continues to grow at a tremendous rate. The result are challenges relating to storing and managing this data, including how to best utilize existing storage, add additional capacity, and deal with growing backup requirements.
Customers also have a variety of options in terms of where their IT resources reside. IT is challenged to manage this more complex environment while maintaining timely and comprehensive access to the data the business needs.
IT departments continue to be challenged with level or declining budgets and limited resources despite having to deal with growing storage needs and demands for new applications and support for achieving business objectives. More cost effective means must be leveraged to enable IT to support the business with infrastructure and solutions in a more cost-effective manner.
Hitachi helps customers overcome these challenges with its solutions and this is how it differentiates its cloud solutions.
How can SMEs leverage Hitachi Cloud Solutions to boost growth and productivity?
Hitachi Cloud Services Connection is a cloud services partner program with an all-in-one service offering for specific workloads and IT services. Built on proven Hitachi platforms and hosted and managed by HDS, partners can rebrand and resell cloud services immediately while allowing their brand to be associated with a well-known, global storage management player.
HCSC goes well beyond today’s cloud service by offering SMEs the experience, knowledge, solutions and enterprise-class features in one package, using an ITIL-certified, low latency, and local data center architecture with strong support. It also eliminates capex, offers pricing transparency and reduces the need to invest in expertise. All that customers need to do is to pay a simple monthly subscription. The service offerings include infrastructure as a service, content as a service, and software as a service.
Will Hitachi cloud solutions address common business problems like management complexity and strain on resources?
Needless to mention, our cloud solutions will help the customers focus on their core competency in business and leave the complexity of managing data to us. Movement to cloud will ensure that the customers need lesser resources to manage IT. Existing IT resources can then work with the business in actually converting their data to insightful information which can then be fed back to the business.
Do you have any plans for training channel partners in selling cloud solutions?
Enablement of the partner community is one of the key ingredientsto our India growth strategy. We have a detailed execution plan for enabling our partners to sell our cloud solutions and we will conduct regular and frequent enablement sessions through the year.