How HPE plans to redefine hybrid cloud in 2026 — virtualisation, AI and security take centre stage

At HPE Discover Barcelona 2025, Hewlett Packard Enterprise expanded its GreenLake cloud portfolio with a series of advances aimed at enterprises modernising virtualisation, strengthening cybersecurity and accelerating AI adoption. As more than 80 percent of organisations reassess how and where workloads should run amid rising infrastructure costs and shifting licensing models, HPE positions GreenLake as a flexible operating fabric designed for hybrid environments that are becoming more complex, distributed and data-intensive.

Fidelma Russo, executive vice president of hybrid cloud and CTO at HPE, framed this multiplicity of needs succinctly: enterprises pursuing cloud and AI modernisation “take different paths”, whether driven by speed, compliance or cost discipline. HPE’s strategy, she noted, is to offer a cloud architecture that helps organisations move quickly while maintaining operational confidence.

Morpheus evolves into a full-spectrum virtualisation layer

The evolving virtualisation market is pushing enterprises to explore alternatives that offer predictability, cost control and wider platform support. To address this, HPE expanded capabilities across HPE Morpheus Software, which now functions as a unified abstraction layer for virtualised, cloud-native and AI workloads.

HPE Morpheus VM Essentials is designed to reduce virtual machine licensing costs by up to 90 per cent while allowing multi-hypervisor adoption and self-service cloud provisioning. New enhancements strengthen performance, resilience and security across hybrid deployments.

HPE introduced zero-trust security with software-defined networking, drawing on HPE Juniper Networking technologies. This brings micro-segmentation and improved agility to virtual environments running on the HVM hypervisor. For operational consistency, Apstra Data Centre Director will integrate with Morpheus to automate switch configuration and enforce uniform networking policies, reducing error-prone manual interventions.

Resilience has also been elevated with stretched cluster technology supporting synchronous replication across metro regions. When combined with HPE Alletra Peer Persistence, critical workloads can fail over automatically between geographically separated sites, enabling continuity even during data centre outages.

For modern applications, HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software now offers full Kubernetes and container support atop the HVM hypervisor, allowing cloud-native and VM workloads to operate under a single management model. Data protection is similarly strengthened through integration with HPE Zerto Software for continuous protection and through seamless compatibility with Veeam Data Platform v13 for hypervisor-level backup.

AIOps Across the Stack

The updates are complemented by progress in HPE OpsRamp Software, supporting full-stack AIOps across compute and networking. Morpheus, OpsRamp and Zerto can function independently or as part of the HPE CloudOps Software suite, providing a consistent operational surface for hybrid cloud environments.

Data, Security and AI: A Unified Operating Model

HPE and NVIDIA Deepen AI Infrastructure Collaboration

HPE announced further integration with NVIDIA to help organisations adopt AI more securely. The new HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 Data Intelligence Nodes, built on the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design, act as an active, real-time data layer that enriches information for AI pipelines.

HPE Private Cloud AI now incorporates NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs across all configurations, and includes STIG-hardened, FIPS-enabled NVIDIA AI Enterprise software for highly regulated, air-gapped environments. New tools simplify AI lifecycle operations while enhancing governance.

Fast, Resilient Data Protection for AI Workloads

HPE introduced the next generation of StoreOnce backup appliances, the hybrid StoreOnce 5720 and the all-flash StoreOnce 7700. The latter delivers ingest speeds of up to 300 TB per hour, enabling faster recovery for mission-critical workloads and helping avoid significant downtime-related losses. Both models integrate with HPE Alletra Storage MP and HPE SimpliVity, allowing customers to mount protected data directly for testing, analysis or forensic workflows.

For sensitive and highly regulated workloads, HPE is advancing confidential computing through partnerships with AMD, Intel and NVIDIA. These developments ensure data, models and operations remain encrypted end-to-end, bolstering defences against insider threats and supporting regulatory compliance across AI and hybrid environments.

Accelerating Hybrid Cloud Adoption Through Simplified Operations

New GreenLake Services and Financial Models

HPE introduced updates to strengthen GreenLake’s position as a hybrid cloud operating platform. CloudPhysics Plus, Cloud Commit and an enhanced GreenLake Marketplace expand transparency and streamline procurement, planning and governance for enterprises and partners.

To lower the cost barriers associated with transformation, HPE Financial Services is extending financing programmes across CloudOps Software, Morpheus, OpsRamp, Zerto and Alletra Storage. Customers can spread costs over three years, at no additional cost for CloudOps, and benefit from deferred payment options for Alletra platforms.

Availability Timeline

• HPE Alletra Storage MP X10000 Data Intelligence Node: January 2026

• HPE StoreOnce 5720 and 7700: Spring 2026

• HPE Morpheus Software:
  

  • Kubernetes and container support: Available now

  • Zerto integration: January 2026

  • Veeam backup (beta): Available now; GA early 2026

  • SDN and stretched clusters: Q2 2026

  • Apstra Data Centre Director integration: Q2 2026

• CloudPhysics Plus: Mid-2026

• Cloud Commit: Available now

GreenLake Marketplace: Available now on HPE.com; platform integration in January 2026

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