Hitachi Vantara & Virtana team up to boost cloud services

Hitachi Vantara has announced a strategic partnership with Virtana to integrate AI-powered monitoring and observability into its EverFlex infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) portfolio to enhance hybrid cloud operations.

As organisations increasingly move towards hybrid cloud architectures, issues such as rising costs and operational inefficiencies have become more pronounced.

According to the Enterprise Strategy Group, 45% of organisations are ramping up their adoption of IT automation and AIOps to streamline operations, with another 45% increasing their IT workforce to meet growing demands. Traditional management systems often fall short in offering the necessary visibility and automation, thus exacerbating these challenges.

The collaboration between Hitachi Vantara and Virtana seeks to address these pain points by leveraging AI-driven insights in tandem with IaaS capabilities. This partnership is designed to help businesses enhance their cloud efficiency and agility, optimise resource utilisation, and mitigate inefficiencies.

The next generation of the Hitachi EverFlex IaaS portfolio includes a range of scalable and cost-efficient hybrid cloud solutions.

A standout feature of the updated portfolio is EverFlex Control, a SaaS integration and management portal that offers real-time data visibility and automates scaling. This integration with the Virtana Platform's AI-powered insights allows businesses to better manage their hybrid infrastructure, offering adaptable scaling and automation to ease the complexities of hybrid cloud environments.

Jeb Horton, Senior Vice President of Global Services at Hitachi Vantara, commented, "The Virtana Platform is a perfect complement to our EverFlex Control offering. Their intelligent capabilities and deep infrastructure expertise provide the insights required to enhance and automate IT infrastructure, delivering exceptional value to our clients and partners."

Paul Appleby, CEO at Virtana, added, "We are thrilled to partner with Hitachi Vantara, a company that shares our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that help customers achieve their business objectives. This partnership delivers a compelling solution with the expertise to optimise hybrid cloud environments and accelerate digital transformation journeys."

The partnership offers several benefits to Hitachi Vantara customers, including improved IT infrastructure efficiency and cost optimisation by identifying inefficiencies with AI-enabled data. Clients also gain enhanced observability across diverse infrastructure types, greater operational efficiency by automating standard tasks, and increased agility to quickly adapt to changing business needs. The collaboration simplifies hybrid cloud management, facilitating a faster time-to-market for new applications and services.

Scott Sinclair, Practice Director for Cloud, Infrastructure and DevOps at ESG, highlighted the transformative potential of AI in managing hybrid cloud infrastructures.

"AI is changing the game for how companies manage their hybrid cloud infrastructures. As organisations face increasing complexity in optimising, migrating, and monitoring application workloads across various cloud environments, leveraging AI-powered insights becomes essential. This relationship empowers businesses to tackle these challenges more effectively and improve their overall operational efficiency," he explained.

The collaboration with Virtana marks a significant enhancement of the Hitachi EverFlex portfolio, which was launched earlier this year as a new generation of advanced IaaS solutions.

These solutions focus on simplifying IT operations and reducing costs through AI-driven automation. To further augment its capabilities, Hitachi Vantara has also partnered with Cisco, thereby ensuring seamless integration, optimisation, and security of hybrid cloud environments using robust networking and compute solutions.