Hewlett Packard Enterprise
HPE (US) split from HP in 2015. ProLiant servers come with iLO for remote management; storage runs from the entry-level MSA to Alletra Storage MP (the older Alletra 6000 and 9000 ended in late 2025), and backup is StoreOnce. HPE Morpheus VM Essentials is HPE's own hypervisor for customers leaving VMware. HPE owns Aruba and, since July 2025, Juniper.
- Headquarters
- United States
- Positioning
- Mid-marketEnterprise
- Official website
- www.hpe.com
Who it suits
Organizations refreshing servers while looking for a way off new VMware licensing, who want server, storage and hypervisor from one vendor.
Overview
Who HPE is
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) split from HP in 2015 and is headquartered in Texas. HP, which sells laptops and printers, is a different company, so don't mix them up when you claim warranty. HPE makes servers, storage, backup and networking. Since 2 July 2025 HPE has owned Juniper Networks, alongside Aruba, which it already owned.
The product lines
- ProLiant: rack and tower servers. Gen12 arrived in February 2025 with iLO 7, which adds a dedicated security chip (secure enclave); Gen11 uses iLO 6. iLO lets you power-cycle and check hardware remotely, while the full remote screen (Integrated Remote Console) needs an iLO Advanced licence.
- HPE Compute Ops Management: a cloud service to monitor and update many servers.
- MSA: the entry-level SAN; the current generation is MSA Gen7 (for example the MSA 2070), sold since late 2024.
- Alletra Storage MP B10000: midrange to high-end storage. The older Alletra 6000 and 9000 were discontinued at the end of 2025.
- StoreOnce: deduplicating backup appliances.
- SimpliVity: HCI that combines servers and storage.
HPE's own hypervisor
HPE Morpheus VM Essentials is a KVM-based hypervisor with high availability and live migration, licensed per CPU socket rather than per core as Broadcom now licenses VMware. It can manage VMs still on VMware at the same time, which helps you migrate in stages. HPE also sells SimpliVity running VM Essentials.
Who it suits
ProLiant suits organizations of any size that need one server or more. HPE is especially worth a look for organizations refreshing servers while looking for a way out of new VMware licence costs, who want server, storage and hypervisor from one vendor.
Strengths
- iLO 7 on ProLiant Gen12 has a separate security chip that verifies firmware from power-on, guarding against unauthorized firmware changes.
- Morpheus VM Essentials is licensed per socket, which on high-core servers can cost much less than per-core VMware licensing.
- Server, entry MSA SAN, high-end storage and StoreOnce backup all come from one vendor, so there is one party responsible when something breaks.
- ProLiant is widely used in Laos and Thailand, and engineers who know iLO and Smart Array controllers are not hard to find.
Things to know before choosing
- Downloading the Service Pack for ProLiant (the bundled firmware set) requires an active warranty or support contract. Servers out of warranty become harder to keep on current BIOS.
- iLO Advanced is not included on every server. If you want the remote screen, check that the licence is on the quotation.
- Storage names and lines change often (Nimble and Primera became Alletra; Alletra 6000/9000 are now discontinued). Check the end-of-support date of the storage you run.
- VM Essentials is young compared with VMware. Confirm your backup software and other tools support it before moving critical VMs.
Using it in Laos
HPE reaches Laos through distributors in Thailand. Standard ProLiant builds can usually be ordered quickly, but storage and custom-built servers need lead time planned in advance, including customs clearance.
What we recommend:
- Warranty: register every serial number with HPE and link it to your support account so firmware downloads work. Ask where spare parts ship from and how many days they take to reach your province.
- Power: use a UPS that shuts servers down automatically. Servers that lose power repeatedly wear out disks and RAID cache batteries.
- Heat: set iLO to email you on high temperature, because server room air conditioning often goes off over the weekend.
- Moving off VMware: trial VM Essentials with non-critical VMs before moving core systems.
Sectors that fit: banks, state enterprises, hospitals, mines and factories running their own ERP.
Compared with alternatives
Dell PowerEdge sits at the same level, with iDRAC doing the job of iLO; pick Dell if your team knows it or you want Dell Private Cloud with its choice of hypervisors. Lenovo ThinkSystem fits when you already buy Lenovo in volume. If the main goal is leaving VMware without changing hardware, Proxmox or Nutanix are worth comparing with VM Essentials.
Product lines
- HPE ProLiant
- HPE MSA
- HPE Alletra Storage MP
- HPE StoreOnce
- HPE SimpliVity
- HPE GreenLake
- HPE Morpheus VM Essentials
Solutions that use this brand
Server VirtualizationCollapse a room of ageing servers into one cluster on VMware, Proxmox, Nutanix or Hyper-V, so one dead host no longer stops the…
Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)Compute, storage and virtualization in the same nodes; add a node when you need more. Built for 1–3 person IT teams with no SAN…
NAS & SAN StorageCentral storage: NAS for shared files, SAN for VMs and databases, with RAID, snapshots and per-department permissions.
Backup & Disaster Recovery3-2-1 backups with an immutable copy ransomware cannot delete, and restores that are actually tested, not just green job reports.
Server Room Build-outServer rooms built for the Lao climate: racks, N+1 cooling, online UPS, earthing, gas suppression, access control and alerting…
IT Asset ManagementAn IT asset register that keeps itself current: devices, licences, warranties and lifecycle, with patching and remote management.FAQ
Can we still update firmware on an HPE server out of warranty?
iLO, drivers and some firmware can be downloaded without entitlement, but the Service Pack for ProLiant and many BIOS updates need an active contract. For servers running critical systems, renew the contract or plan the replacement.
Can Morpheus VM Essentials really replace VMware?
For ordinary workloads such as file servers, ERP and databases it has the high availability and live migration you need. What to check is backup software support, storage integration and your team's skills. We suggest a trial with a few VMs first.
After HPE bought Juniper, what happens to the Aruba equipment we already run?
Existing equipment stays supported according to each model's end-of-life schedule. What to watch is how HPE combines the two brands' management platforms. Before buying new models, ask the distributor about that line's long-term roadmap.
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