Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s new CEO, Antonio Neri used today’s HPE Discover event to put a pinky to his lips and announce it plans to invest a whopping $1 billion – that’s billion with a “B” – in Intelligent Edge technologies and services per year for the next four years. This investment is focused on helping customers†turn all of their data – from every edge to any cloud – into intelligence that drives seamless interactions between people and things, delivers personalized user experiences, and employs AI and machine learning to continuously adapt to changes in real time.†† †
“Data is the new intellectual property, and companies that can distill intelligence from their data —whether in a smart hospital or an autonomous car—will be the ones to lead,” said Antonio Neri, president and chief executive officer, HPE. “HPE has been at the forefront of developing technologies and services for the Intelligent Edge, and with this investment, we are accelerating our ability to drive this growing category for the future.”
According to Gartner, by 2022, as a result of digital business projects, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the traditional, centralized data center or cloud, up from less than 10% in 2018. Instead, it will be created at what they call “the edge” like an oil rig, a retail store floor, or a medical device. Turning that data into intelligence requires data to be analyzed at the edge, seamlessly and instantaneously, with zero tolerance for friction or latency.
“The next evolution in enterprise technology will be in edge-to-cloud architecture,” continued Neri.† “Enterprises will require millions of distributed clouds that enable real-time insights and personalized experiences exactly where the action is happening.”†††
HP Enterprise sees the need for Intelligent Edge capabilities as driving a very large, fast-growing market opportunity. With Aruba, another Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is already a leader in Intelligent Edge technology, including wireless LAN, campus switching, security, location-based services, edge computing, and analytics and assurance.
Where does 4 billion in intelligent edge spending go?
Specifically, HPE will invest in research and development to advance and innovate new products, services and consumption models across a number of technology domains such as security, AI and machine learning, automation and edge computing.
An example, given the increasing customer demand for consumption-based service models, HPE intends to build out its portfolio of transformational advisory and professional services for the edge.† HPE will continues to be a large contributer to the Gen Z Consortium, which is working toward advancing Memory-Driven Computing in an effort to dramatically accelerate the speed, accuracy and efficiency of localized computing at the edge.
