HPE steps up VDI response to coronavirus

HPE has taken steps to provide customers with more remote working flexibility and has provided channel partners with more as-a-service options.

The vendor has announced it is reacting to coronavirus with a series of initiatives that will provide more support for those users struggling with the need to work from home.

The approach includes the release of a more powerful virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution, the offer of flexible financing terms and new preconfigured solutions to increase flexibility and accelerate delivery for customers.

HPE’s financial services arm is giving customers the chance to take short-term rentals and 90-day payment deferrals on VDI offerings.

Channel partners that have already been operating with the vendor’s Greenlake services will be able to add VDI to the mix.

HPE is also making some specific SME-targeted VDI preconfigured packages available, built on ProLiant or Synergy servers designed for Citrix and VMware environments, to meet the needs of businesses with 80 to 2,000 staff.

For those that like to stress speeds and feeds, the vendor has also made its Moonshot VDI solution available, which can deliver a 70% improvement in performance with 25% less power consumption.

“The urgent global response to Covid-19 has pressured our customers to rapidly implement and expand secure, remote work options for their organisations,” said Gerald Kleyn, vice-president and general manager of Moonshot, edge and IoT systems at HPE. “I am proud that our team at HPE is delivering a breadth of solutions, services and expertise to help our customers support their employees and operations during this critical time.

“Our infrastructure solutions, which provide industry-leading remote management, security, and automation capabilities, help businesses quickly deliver virtual workspaces to their remote staff.”

Virtual desktops have been one area that has seen a surge in demand since the spread of coronavirus started to become a major concern for employers.

One of the major attractions is the ability to have staff up and running quickly in a secure environment, easing headaches over security.

For many customers, though, the shift to a VDI model will be a new challenge and HPE offers a range of services to help users design, deploy and manage their remote working plans.

“We are doing everything we can to address the needs and concerns of our customers and partners,” stated HPE CEO Antonio Neri in a recent blog post. “We are actively working to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on our operations.”

Citrix, one of the main players in the remote working sphere, has been advising businesses to prepare for more home working for weeks as it became clearer that more countries were entering lockdown.

The firm is encouraging users to view the current move towards remote working as a chance to turn the crisis into a positive.

“Few things in business are certain, except change,” said David Henshall, president and CEO at Citrix. “And the pace with which it is happening is faster than ever before. Companies that adopt digital workspace solutions and create flexible environments that provide employees with everything they need to perform at their best, can not only keep pace, but quickly move ahead.”