Hitachi Vantara, the data storage, infrastructure, and hybrid cloud management subsidiary of Hitachi, has launched important relationships with the two most significant hyperscalers in Canada, Microsoft Azure and Google. Microsoft Azure and Google customers worldwide now gain access to Hitachi Vantara Virtual Storage Platform One.
“Both the Azure and Google announcements are similar,” said Marcel Escorcio, Vice President & General Manager, Canada at Hitachi Vantara. “What’s exciting about them is around our software-defined content as we continue to build out our vision.”
Escorcio said that the fundamental issue with the Google cloud will be the same.
“It’s about bringing capabilities from VSP One off-prem to the Google cloud,” he said. “As things hand off to the hyperscalers,we want to be able to offer customers a single pane of glass. This Google launch brings VSP One to Google Cloud Marketplace, making it easier for customers to deploy enterprise-class storage capabilities in the public cloud. It includes new features that support more flexible data protection, help reduce cloud storage costs and provide seamless management across cloud and on-premises environments.” Bringing VSP One to Google Cloud Marketplace, makes it easier for customers to deploy enterprise-class storage capabilities in the public cloud. It includes new features that support more flexible data protection, help reduce cloud storage costs and provide seamless management across cloud and on-premises environments.
Escorcio said that both Azure and Google have the same level of resiliency,
“In Canada though, Azure has a bigger footprint so it’s a priority for us,” he noted. “From a competitive perspective, we have tools. That’s why we are pretty excited about this. It lets partners offer their services around this, and lets them help customers with some of their services.”
So why does this matter for hybrid cloud environments? Escorcio said that while hybrid cloud is becoming the standard, it’s also introducing complexity. In fact, IDC found that 82% of cloud buyers say their environments require modernization, with challenges like staffing shortages, skills gaps and multi-cloud complexity driving up costs. VSP One gives customers a single platform to manage data across private and public clouds without needing to re-architect workloads. It helps simplify operations while maintaining control and consistency.
Features like two-way asynchronous replication are particularly important. “They differentiate us versus some providers who may not offer that,” Escorcio said. “We are bringing all these feature functions to the hyperscalers, whereas some competitors limit them. Others have relations but may not have asynchronous replication. We have one management layer for all platforms, while some others are per hyperscaler.”
Escorcio also emphasized that VSP One can help reduce cloud storage costs, often by a significant amount.
“With built-in thin provisioning and advanced compression, customers can reduce the amount of cloud storage they use,” he stated. “Depending on the workload, these efficiencies can cut storage costs by up to 40%.
“Advanced compression and thin provisioning we are already offering on-prem,” Escorcio stated. “We are now bringing them off-prem. We just simplified all that. With VSP 360, they can see and manage all their data whether it is on-prem, off-prem or multicloud.”
What does being listed on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace or the Google Cloud Marketplace mean for customers?
“It means things are more accessible,” Escorcio said. “It streamlines the buying process. Customers can now deploy VSP One directly through the Azure or Google Cloud Marketplaces, making it faster and easier to get up and running on their trusted global infrastructures. They are also similar to AWS in that they can bring their own licenses.”
“Both hyperscalers are customized towards speaking their own language,” Escorcio said. “Their value is similar, however. It’s just that Azure has their own way of doing things and so does Google.”
Both platforms are designed for flexibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
“While this announcement highlights our work with Google Cloud and Azure, VSP One also supports other leading public clouds, including AWS,” Escorcio stated. “It’s about bringing our software to their clouds. The marketplaces are where a customer uses a tool that launches into our tool.”
What kind of availability and performance can customers expect? · VSP One is built for enterprise-grade reliability, with a design target of 99.999% uptime. That level of availability supports always-on operations and helps organizations avoid the business risks that come with outages or downtime.
How does this support channel partners?
“It opens up new opportunities for partners to help customers modernize their data strategies,” Escorcio indicated. “As such, it’s an enabler to help them deliver hyperscaler services. With a more flexible, software-defined approach and deep integration with Microsoft Azure or Google, partners can support key priorities like resiliency, security and sustainability while delivering more value from existing infrastructure.”
Things here have changed rapidly, Escorcio stated.
“Now it’s all about delivering high value services like data management,” he said. “These are things customers need help with in order to protect and enrich data and eventually monetize it. So it just enables them to offer more services around it. A lot of partners are already dealing with hyperscalers.”
So how does this fit into Hitachi Vantara’s broader strategy?
“This is a bigger part, a stepping stone to bringing what we have on-prem to off-prem,” Escorcio said. “With our VSP One, we are empowering Canadian customers to simplify hybrid cloud costs and unlock the full potential of their data. We aren’t at the finish line yet, but we make it simple and resilient with our ecosystem of partners playing a key part. This is an especially big deal in the Canadian marketplace, with two very strong players. It works out really well for Hitachi in protecting from a resilient perspective. We are already talking to many customers about it.”