Redefining virtualization with HPE SimpliVity and HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software

[StorageExperts]

As rising costs drive virtualization strategy shifts, HPE SimpliVity and VM Essentials offer a self-managed private cloud experience, unified VM management, unmatched data efficiency, and lower TCO.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, data is no longer confined to centralized data centers. It’s being generated and consumed across a sprawling ecosystem—from core to edge to cloud. This shift has opened up new possibilities for innovation and agility, but it has also introduced significant challenges around hybrid cloud management, data resiliency, availability, and protection. Enterprises now face the daunting task of managing complex, distributed environments while maintaining simplicity, performance, and security.

Traditional virtualization platforms, once the backbone of IT infrastructure, are increasingly falling short. Rising licensing costs, rigid architectures, and operational complexity are slowing down digital transformation efforts and straining IT budgets. Businesses need a modern solution—one that is flexible, cost-effective, and built for the hybrid cloud era.

Enter HPE SimpliVity and HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software. HPE SimpliVity has long been recognized for its hyper-efficient, resilient architecture with built-in data protection and easy-to-manage hyperconverged infrastructure. Now, with the integration of VM Essentials—a powerful, KVM-based virtualization platform—HPE is redefining what’s possible. This unified solution empowers organizations to seamlessly manage existing VMware environments while transitioning to an open, scalable, and cloud-ready infrastructure.

Together, HPE SimpliVity and VM Essentials redefine virtualization for the hybrid cloud era—streamlining management, cutting costs, and delivering greater agility.  This unified solution sets a new standard for hyperconverged infrastructure total cost of ownership (TCO), empowering enterprises to simplify operations, strengthen security, and scale confidently across multiple locations and distributed private cloud environments.

What makes this moment special?

Hyper efficiency, data protection, and performance—with lower TCO

HPE SimpliVity is already known for its unrivaled data efficiency with always-on data deduplication and compression, further enabled by built-in protection and simple management. Now, by leveraging VM Essentials as the native hypervisor alternative, we’re introducing a solution that boasts significantly lower cost compared to the competition—without cutting corners on features or reliability.

 Figure 1. The HPE SimpliVity dashboard monitors the overall health of the environment, including cluster-level efficiency and backup status

True cost advantage for modern enterprises

VM Essentials doesn’t just offer basic virtualization; it integrates with VMware and adds enterprise-class features to KVM so you get the best of both worlds:

• Intelligent workload placement that optimizes resource utilization automatically
• Live migration capabilities for seamless maintenance and load balancing
• Advanced storage motion for dynamic resource management
• Comprehensive snapshot functionality for rapid recovery and testing
• Flexible image conversion for easy migration from legacy platforms

The economic advantages are equally compelling. While many vendors license their solutions per core—a model that penalizes organizations for growth—VM Essentials uses per-socket licensing, delivering immediate cost savings that scale with your success.

With VM Essentials, HPE SimpliVity delivers greater value and lower TCO than ever before. Customers get all the features they expect—high availability, efficient backup, and robust data protection—but with a simplified spend. The solution is designed to meet the needs of distributed enterprises operating across multiple remote or branch sites, often with minimal IT staffing on-site.

A game-changer for distributed enterprises

• Multisite simplicity: Manage dozens or hundreds of locations without needing IT staff at each site
• Remote backups you can trust: Reliable, policy-driven protection for all your data, everywhere
• High-availability, always-on: Built-in redundancy and instant recovery keep you running—no matter what

As organizations expand, particularly in industries like retail, banking, healthcare, and manufacturing, this combination empowers them to deploy robust infrastructure quickly and securely—even in sites with limited or no IT resources.

Powered by VM Essentials Manager—with a path to hybrid cloud

Every deployment is run by the VM Essentials Manager, delivering intuitive control and automation out of the box.  And when your business is ready to grow, an easy upgrade path to HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software delivers powerful hybrid cloud management capabilities—including automation, self-service, and deep integration across public and private clouds.

 Figure 2. Managing HPE SimpliVity with VM Essentials Manager

Customers and analysts react to HPE SimpliVity’s latest enhancements

“With more than 60 sites and over eight years of experience leveraging HPE SimpliVity, we have consistently realized tangible benefits. Our experience with HPE SimpliVity and HPE Morpheus VM Essentials demonstrates that the extended capabilities of the platform will enable seamless management of both VMware and HVM clusters through the HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Manager.” – David Vo, CTO, Honeylight Consulting

“HPE has taken the complexity out of building and supporting infrastructure for distributed enterprises. With HPE SimpliVity and HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software fully integrated into a two-node solution that includes built-in high availability, customers get a complete, enterprise-grade virtualization stack that is easy to deploy, manage, and protect. They benefit from a solution that includes virtualization, needs no extra licenses or third-party dependencies, and has everything working together out of the box.” – Brian Beeler, President of StorageReview

The road ahead

For HPE SimpliVity, this is the opportunity to lead the market in distributed enterprise infrastructure. We’re delivering a solution that combines HPE SimpliVity's unmatched efficiency and reliability with VM Essentials’ modern, cost-effective virtualization platform. This isn’t just another product update—it’s a game-changer for organizations looking to scale smarter, optimize virtualization, and reduce TCO.

Related content

Video: HPE SimpliVity now supports HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software

Blog: Break free from lock-in and legacy: How HPE Morpheus Software enables private cloud

Conclusion

Learn more about HPE SimpliVity and discover how to transition existing workloads and licenses at your own pace to HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software with full support for VMware.

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Meet Storage Experts blogger Vinay Jonnakuti, Director, Product Management, HPE Storage

Vinay concentrates on HPE Storage Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and ecosystems. Drawing upon extensive experience in technology and strategic product development, Vinay actively promotes innovation, fosters the expansion of ecosystems, and steers the advancement of pioneering solutions for HPE's storage infrastructure. Before this role, Vinay led teams dedicated to driving solutions, go-to-market, and technical marketing, leveraging insights gathered from field experiences and customer interactions to enhance execution within his current responsibilities. Connect with Vinay at @vinaymohan. Or on LinkedIn.