The Cloud Battle Heats Up – HP/DELL and 3PAR

The cloud is really no joke and it is here to stay.  Unlike the first run towards the cloud in 2000/2001, today’s cloud computing is stable, reliable and robust enough to catch the eye of HP and DELL.

Today I started to follow the ongoing bidding war between HP and DELL to buy 3PAR Utility Storage.  Bloomberg has been all over this news and the impact it will have in the overall business community and the stock markets.   The funny thing about this story is this is not the only cloud computing story making news on Bloomberg this week.  Bloomberg is covering “cloud computing” and informing investors and businesses everywhere on how to discuss the Internet and the cloud.

The cloud is making news outside our MSP world.

So who is 3 Par and why is 3PAR seen as a strategic play for either HP or DELL?

I grabbed this text from their website.

The 3PAR Utility Storage platform is purpose-built to power enterprise-class services via the cloud—whether that cloud is private or public. 3PAR customers using 3PAR Utility Storage to power their utility infrastructures include enterprises with IT departments looking to deliver internal cloud-based services as well as cloud-based hosting and SaaS providers.

3PAR Utility Storage offers unique benefits for cloud computing deployments that make any organization more agile and efficient and deliver a level of security that many traditional storage solutions simply can’t match. Whether you’re a large enterprise looking to build a private cloud, a hosting provider looking to improve your time to revenue, or a small- or medium-sized business looking to reduce CAPEX, there is a cloud computing solution powered by 3PAR technology purpose-built for your specific needs.

HP and DELL are in a serious and very important bidding war with each other and don’t discount the overall importance of this throughout the industry.  The last number I heard on Bloomberg was $30.00 per share from HP.  This is a strategy play for both organizations and can have the potential for cloud dominance in the marketplace.

At the end of the day, the loser of this bidding war will be playing catch up in the cloud space.  I believe we are at a strategic and very important crossroads in the Information Technology market.

The cloud is here to stay and this most recent bidding war by some of the big firms to look for new ways to replace slumping PC sales is a great indicator of how important the cloud is and how it will impact business and the market we serve.

Click here to follow the bidding war between HP/DELL for 3PAR.