By Lee Prior
So far 2017 has been a pretty interesting year for
HPE. We’re only half way through March and already we’ve seen them extend their
portfolio through the acquisition of enterprises like Simplivity, Niara and now most recently Nimble, with each of these additions
being met with the slow head nod of general approval by the wider technology
sector. That in itself is an achievement some would say, but when you consider
the pace of change we are seeing, with Hybrid IT finally releasing the long promised potential of the
Cloud and the reality of the Internet of Things cresting the horizon, to be
able to navigate the turbulent waters of such rapid progress with a steady
course, speaks volumes about the crew at the helm of the good ship HPE.
Once upon a time a story about a large IT
company consuming one of their smaller rivals wasn’t really “Big News”, and had
more to do with Darwinian natural selection, stock market roulette, Sabre
Rattling or just plain good old fashioned billionaire vs billionaire ego than
it did with a clear strategic vision or a drive for innovation - but things
have changed.
As a lowly Marketing Manager, albeit for the
biggest HPE Distributor in the UK, this type of corporate manoeuvring was an
interesting side note that held my attention for as long as I was able to read
without interruption, but ultimately news of a buyout had very little bearing
on my day to day life. That is most decidedly not the case now, and rather than
acquisition for acquisition’s sake these additions have the whiff of strategy
about them, with each bringing their own particular part of the answer to a far
larger question.
