Why HPE Needed ClearCenter by Its Side

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is working alongside ClearCenter in an exclusive partnership that revolves around the business of selling IT (information technology) solutions to SMBs (small and medium businesses).

ClearCenter is an open source platform provider. In the partnership announced in June, ClearCenter will power HP Enterprise’s ProLiant servers using its ClearOS operating system. ProLiant is a line of servers optimized for SMBs, as they combine multiple functions such as server and networking. HPE promotes its ProLiant servers as simple, secure, and economical SMB IT products.

HP Enterprise stands to benefit a great deal if ClearCenter can help it appeal to more SMBs, as there are billions of dollars in the SMB IT market. According to research firm IDC, SMBs worldwide spent an estimated $564.0 billion on IT products and services in 2016. The SMB IT budget is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 4.2% in the next few years to reach $668.0 billion in 2020 as illustrated in the above chart.

This is a huge revenue pool that HP Enterprise can target as it seeks to impress investors following quarters of lackluster performance.

Targeting SMBs with simple, secure, and affordable IT solutions could bolster HP Enterprise’s competition against the likes of Dell Technologies (DVMT), Amazon (AMZN), Cisco (CSCO), and IBM (IBM) in the enterprise IT market.