On August 15, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced an agreement to acquire Morpheus Data, a multicloud management solution, “to make HPE GreenLake cloud the de facto platform for innovating across hybrid IT.” The deal is expected to close in early Q4 of HPE’s fiscal year. Morpheus follows a string of HPE acquisitions in recent years (OpsRamp [2023], Ampool [2021], and Zerto [2021]) meant to aggressively strengthen GreenLake’s software portfolio.

Why Morpheus?

For HPE, this news is unsurprising. Its GreenLake solution is heavily dependent on and already white-labels Morpheus’ product as its own hybrid cloud management offering. Morpheus, a leader in hybrid cloud management, adds massive credibility to HPE’s GreenLake product, which positions itself as a hybrid cloud solution but lacks true native management capabilities. Its plans to leverage Morpheus’ full portfolio suite, including its new cloud cost management product, underscores the company’s intention to insert itself firmly into the cloud management space.

For Morpheus, the acquisition agreement is surprising and concerning. A rising star in the hybrid cloud management space, Morpheus fills a much-needed niche: Its lighterweight capabilities, lower price point, and public cloud-focused solution is a welcome contrast to the complex, high-priced traditional hybrid cloud management offerings. But with the acquisition moving it into the HPE ecosystem, long-term success is no guarantee.

HPE’s Acquisition History Has A Checkered Past

Many of HPE’s cloud acquisitions have struggled. Its 2014 Eucalyptus acquisition, which was the basis of its public cloud offering, HPE Helion, was shut down two years later and shipped off to DXC Technology (an HP Enterprise services merge with Computer Sciences Corporation). A year later, DXC stopped all support and development for Eucalyptus. HPE’s 2017 acquisition of Cloud Cruiser’s cloud cost management capabilities were quickly subsumed into GreenLake as a pay-per-use metering functionality. While the cloud world was lit on fire for FinOps and a gold rush ensued to offer cloud cost management solutions, HPE made no moves to extend Cloud Cruiser to meet those needs. Little to no movement has happened with OpsRamp since its acquisition in 2023. On the other hand, its 2017 Cloud Technology Partners (CTP) acquisition was a talent acquisition that filled out the very necessary GreenLake services offering.

In networking, HP and HPE have acquired 10 or so networking companies, like Riverstone and 3Com, to try to fill in the areas ProCurve didn’t have. While some of the acquisitions have been successful, such as Aruba Networks, many weren’t. The ones that flourished (e.g., ProCurve growing to a billion-dollar business and Aruba Networks doubling in size) were run with some independence from HP and HPE. 3Com, Colubris, and others have either been sold back off or disappeared when networking was under the server and storage divisions. HPE is now integrating Aruba and the recent acquisitions (Silver Peak and Axis) into the server and storage groups.

What Does This Mean For HPE GreenLake Customers?

For its customers, not much will change — for now. Morpheus is the underpinning to GreenLake’s hybrid cloud management capabilities. For Morpheus customers not currently using GreenLake, get ready for the upsell to adopting the larger GreenLake portfolio. If you have the budget to adopt GreenLake, it would be a good move toward a more unified, seamless hybrid cloud. For those who don’t have the budget, consider other lightweight options in cloud cost management and optimization (CCMO) solutions that are expanding to on-premises visibility or multicloud container platforms and augment with infrastructure automation products.

As for Morpheus’ future roadmap and innovation, the question hangs in the balance. HPE has struggled with cloud acquisitions but has succeeded in other spaces, particularly in networking and private cloud. Depending on the appetite, leadership support, and the knowledge to navigate the HPE climate, Morpheus could, in theory, effect change — or at the very least, it could continue on its same path of innovation before it comes under the HPE umbrella.