Meg Whitman - CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has bolstered its hybrid IT capabilities through the acquisition of Cloud Technology Partners (CTP), a consultancy firm specialising in migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
With expertise across consulting, design and operational advisory services, the purchase - of which a price tag was revealed - is designed to provide the tech giant with added firepower specific to hybrid IT advisory capabilities.
Operating as a cloud agnostic provider, US-based CTP targets enterprises moving to cloud platforms through AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google and OpenStack.
Specifically however, the consultancy house holds multiple AWS partner accreditations, operating across managed services, migration, DevOps, Internet of Things, security and financial services.
In addition, CTP is a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) premier partner, alongside silver status competencies across Microsoft Azure.
“CTP’s consulting, design and operational advisory services for cloud environments will strengthen our hybrid IT consulting expertise in a fast growing market,” HPE Pointnext senior vice president and general manager Ana Pinczuk wrote via a blog post.
“More and more, customers are seeking a trusted advisor who knows where the market is going, and can shape their long-term roadmap and provide the solutions that will allow them to keep pace in this digital world.
“Together, HPE and CTP will provide our customers with a comprehensive IT strategy that includes private, managed and public clouds, as well as traditional IT.”
Founded in 2010, CTP designs, builds and implements IT solutions for Fortune 500 organisations, completing almost 500 enterprise cloud transformation projects in under seven years.
“Together with CTP, we will provide customers with the ability to more quickly build new innovative digital experiences, simply manage and forecast IT costs and ensure the applications running their business stay secure,” Pinczuk added.
“All while optimising their environment so they can free up resources to grow, innovate and stay ahead of the competition.”
Built to service an expanding hybrid IT market, HPE Pointnext is a services organisation designed to deliver strategic guidance for businesses specific to cloud migration.
Pinczuk said the vendor plans to tap into CTP’s experience across IoT, big data and machine learning, alongside leveraging the company’s next-generation suite of managed services.
“Businesses today live in a hybrid IT world,” Pinczuk said. “Achieving business outcomes requires putting each workload in the appropriate environment, whether it’s in an on-premises data centre, in a private cloud, on public clouds or offered as a SaaS application.
“And, this environment is different for every organisation, dynamically changing with their business needs and workload requirements. We believe most enterprises will operate in this hybrid IT environment for the foreseeable future.”
From cloud start-up to HPE
Since starting out in 2010, CTP has actively sought to expand the business through rounds of investment.
After initially planning to follow up a Series C round of venture capital in August 2016 with a Series D round of funding, the business become engaged in discussions with HPE about a potential acquisition.
“Uniquely, HPE provided us the opportunity to maintain our industry-recognised brand and rapidly scale through new revenue streams, new markets, larger and more diverse enterprise accounts, and additional human capital,” CTP chairman and CEO Chris Greendale said.
“Looking forward, we are excited to embark on this next phase to help shape HPE’s cloud strategy as they continue to focus on delivering the promise of the hybrid IT strategy and digital transformation.”
In co-founding the business seven years ago - with Jon Rounds and Erik Sebesta - Greendale said CTP started out with five employees and two customers, before expanding to capture hundreds of clients across the US.
Going forward, Greendale said plans are in place to expand capabilities through HPE Pointnext.
“Together, we will accelerate the growth of HPE Pointnext by providing our clients with a comprehensive IT strategy that includes private, managed and public clouds, as well as traditional IT services,” he explained.
From a HPE perspective, the acquisition will help the vendor tap into deep IT and expertise across the cloud, aiding the execution of hybrid IT strategies as a result.
“At HPE, our strategy is based on three core pillars,” added HPE CEO Meg Whitman, via an internal letter to CTP employees.
“First, we make hybrid IT simple through secure, software-defined infrastructure offerings. Second, we power the intelligent edge that runs campus, branch and IoT applications.
“Third, we provide world-class expertise and flexible consumption models to help customers transform their IT environments.”
The deal represents the fifth acquisition for HPE in 2017, following the purchases of SimpliVity, Cloud Cruiser, Niara and Nimble Storage.
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