IT Infrastructure Modernization for Business Agility with Hitachi EverFlex

IT leaders everywhere are increasingly seeking ways to modernize their hybrid cloud environments and data estates to drive greater business agility and responsiveness, with infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings like storage as a service (STaaS), containers as a service (CaaS) and data protection as a service (DPaaS) high on many lists.

Whether they’re grappling with the financial challenge of adding new GPUs for business-critical data centers or reaching their corporate and/or IT sustainability goals within ever-shrinking IT budgets, more flexible, cost-effective approaches are needed. Wherever you look, the search is on for infrastructure modernization solutions that don’t require fully committing to the public cloud, incorporating the control and security of private cloud infrastructure without the headaches or unexpected costs.

Transform Enterprise Hybrid Cloud with Hitachi EverFlex IaaS

Hitachi Vantara’s newly expanded EverFlex IaaS portfolio emerges as a comprehensive answer to the problem, with a catalog of service offerings catering to the dynamic needs of the modern enterprise. Providing IT organizations managing mission-critical resources with the ability to balance escalating cloud costs and increased operational complexity with the requirement to maintain on premises IT infrastructure to assure governance, performance and control.

Achieving this balance was no easy feat, requiring an innovative combination of infrastructure services, advanced observability, automation, management and reduction in TCO across your entire technology stack, regardless of vendor.

Hitachi EverFlex IaaS is available in three levels matched to your specific requirements. Whether you prefer to be hands-on or hands-free, EverFlex is designed to fill in the gaps to keep your operations running at peak performance, providing you with the ability to step back from the intensity of day-to-day administration and operations and focus on driving innovation and growth. Feel secure knowing you can count on the most reliable, flexible hybrid cloud infrastructure as a service portfolio in the industry. EverFlex level options include:

1. Consumption Level: Provides value above a lease where users can flex up and down within a predefined capacity range, with consumption and billing reporting, matching costs with business use.
   
   
2. Foundation Level: Adds the basis for hybrid cloud management with self-service hyperautomation via EverFlex Control intelligent alert management, advanced observability, monitoring, reporting and AIOps.
   
   
3. Managed Level: Extends the above to include expert 24/7 management, specifically aligned to your business and IT operation’s needs, with the highest-level SLAs to match.

Hitachi EverFlex Puts You in Control

At the heart of EverFlex IaaS lies EverFlex Control, the SaaS-based common control plane with heterogeneous integration of infrastructure observability, automation, orchestration, AI and machine learning. This combination not only streamlines operations but also mitigates risks while curtailing the potential for human error.

For many customers, seamless integration with existing resources underscores the adaptability of EverFlex’s design. “Its flexibility allows for seamless integration with our entire product portfolio and OEM solutions,” said Michael Staude, Head of IT Procurement at German insurance provider HUK-COBURG VVaG. “This comprehensive approach has significantly enhanced our operational agility and financial control.”

EverFlex also delivers on the promise of cloud-like sustainability, without compromising the control you require. With flexible capacity and pay-per-use elastic consumption and subscriptions. All delivered and managed your way, providing businesses and partner affiliates adaptable storage and compute options tailored to their needs.

To give you even greater control of costs, EverFlex offers enhanced visualization with FinOps across on-prem and multicloud estates. Enabling you to optimize spending by aligning infrastructure data with business data to measure true IT costs of business processes and enable effective chargeback and show-back with guardrails.

Partner Ecosystem and Managed Services

To maximize value to our customers, Hitachi EverFlex leverages an ecosystem of partner relationships and solutions. Most notably, EverFlex with Cisco Powered Hybrid Cloud, which provides combined compute, data storage and networking infrastructure as a service. EverFlex Managed Services adds another layer of value to our overall hybrid cloud solutions by offering end-to-end operational integrated solution management.

EverFlex also empowers our partner community – including GSIs, MSPs, CSPs and reseller/VARs – with the ability to grow into an expanded infrastructure consumption services model at a pace that suits them best. The EverFlex with Partners extension to the Hitachi Vantara Partner Program leverages flexible terms, enablement and subscription licensing to provide an easily integrated services portfolio. EverFlex’s sliding scale of choice provides an ever-flexible framework of partner managed offerings, starting from base custom services to fully Hitachi managed, and extending to shared management between the partner and Hitachi Vantara.

Scale to Meet Evolving Hybrid Cloud Needs

Among the primary benefits of IaaS are simplicity and scalability, and here, EverFlex excels. This is a testament to its agility, enabling businesses to easily adjust resources in tandem with fluctuating demands. This flexibility negates the need for hefty initial investments, paving the way for growth and innovation.

“We have greatly benefited from integrating Hitachi EverFlex into our IT operations,” Michael Staude of HUK-COBURG VVaG added. “The streamlined procurement process allows us to quickly launch new projects with ease. The predictable cost structure simplifies budgeting and financial planning, while Hitachi EverFlex’s buffer capacity effectively manages unexpected demands.

EverFlex IaaS’ flexible consumption model dramatically improves efficiency, as organizations pay only for the resources they use, ensuring judicious budgeting and resource management. While its support for hybrid cloud environments is a nod to the future of computing, where the boundaries between on-premises and cloud resources blur, fostering an IT and data ecosystem that leverages the best of both worlds.

EverFlex is also at the forefront of operational efficiency, providing extensive automation capabilities across the entire hybrid cloud landscape. Customers can select from a range of options, starting with self-managed setups that include fundamental reporting functionality, progressing to advanced hyperautomation tools for IT operations management. And even opting for a co-managed solution that incorporates residency services to augment their in-house teams to tightly integrate EverFlex Control, ensuring smooth operational workflows. Customers also have the option for full operational oversight to be handled by Hitachi Vantara or an authorized partner.

Sustainable, Future Friendly IaaS

Sustainability is also a core principle of EverFlex IaaS. The service portfolio champions eco-friendly infrastructure and data platforms, such as STaaS using the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One data platform (VSP One), significantly reducing energy consumption and minimizing carbon footprints. This commitment to sustainability dovetails with the assurance of business continuity, as EverFlex IaaS offers comprehensive data protection coverage that safeguards operations against disasters.

Beyond sustainability, EverFlex encapsulates the essence of future friendly functionality, offering business and IT agility to empower organizations to be more nimble, proactive and competitive in unpredictable markets and times.

With EverFlex IaaS, the future of business is not just bright; it's sustainable, resilient and infinitely adaptable. Over the coming month, we’ll delve deeper into these features and benefits as part of a continuing series on the redefined Hitachi EverFlex portfolio. Be sure to check back to hear the rest of the story.

Read more

• Brochure: IT Infrastructure Modernization for Business Agility with Hitachi EverFlex
• Webinar: A More Flexible Approach to Hybrid Cloud Modernization and Management
• POV: Balance Your Digital Infrastructure to Meet Your Employee, Customer and Budget Goals with Hitachi Vantara Managed Services
• The Total Economic Impact of Managed Services from Hitachi Vantara – Forrester Research
• STaaS from Hitachi Vantara