Boniface Santosh Lasrado, Head of Technology at HPE, shares how enterprises can transform virtualisation strategies through phased, hybrid models and AI-ready infrastructure.
Enterprises are rethinking their virtualisation strategies as rising licensing costs, growing AI demands, and the need to modernise legacy infrastructure reshape business priorities. Organisations are moving away from rigid “rip-and-replace” approaches and instead focusing on flexibility, operational resilience, and long-term cost optimisation.
Boniface Santosh Lasrado, Head of Technology at HPE, spoke to Sandhya D’Mello, Technology Editor, CPI Media Group, on how businesses can navigate this shift through phased modernisation, hybrid architectures, and workload-driven strategies. He also highlights how HPE solutions are helping enterprises reduce vendor lock-in, simplify operations, and build AI-ready infrastructure environments.
Interview Excerpts:
Can you share an example of how HPE helped a cost-conscious, risk-averse customer rethink their virtualisation strategy, and which solution was deployed?
Many customers face rising licensing costs and complex legacy virtualisation environments. In one case, HPE helped a customer move from a costly, locked-in platform to a more flexible, hybrid cloud-ready architecture using HPE VM Essentials and HPE Morpheus Enterprise. HPE VM Essentials enabled unified virtualisation management and a path toward KVM-based environments, while HPE Morpheus Enterprise simplified operations across on-premises and public cloud environments. To reduce migration risk, HPE integrated Zerto for continuous data protection, enabling real-time workload replication, risk-free testing, and low RTO/RPO time.
“The result was lower operational cost, reduced vendor lock-in, a standardised platform, and a future-ready infrastructure capable of supporting DBaaS and containerised workloads.”
Can you outline what business outcomes the customer was trying to achieve, and how you define success from both a business and IT perspective?
Success was defined by financial predictability, operational resilience, and freedom from vendor lock-in. For the business, the key outcomes were lower TCO, a shift from CAPEX to OPEX through GreenLake, and faster provisioning for new projects. For IT, success meant minimal downtime migration using Zerto, simplified management through HPE OpsRamp and Alletra, and strong data availability. Overall, the customer gained a modern, resilient, and cost-efficient platform with greater flexibility and control.
How did a phased or hybrid approach help move the customer forward without a “big bang” transformation?
We shaped the strategy around continuity and risk reduction, avoiding a disruptive “big bang” migration. Using HPE CloudPhysics, we first assessed the environment and identified low-risk workloads for early migration. A hybrid model allowed legacy and new virtualisation environments to coexist, supported by HPE Alletra MP. The migration then followed a crawl-walk-run approach: pilot non-production workloads, use the new environment for disaster recovery with Zerto, and only then move production workloads in controlled waves.
How did you position the value of running VMware and HVM environments in parallel to meet the customer’s business goals?We positioned the solution around workload choice, cost control, and reduced risk. The message was not about moving away from VMware, but about using the right platform for the right workload. Mission-critical workloads could remain on VMware, while lower-risk workloads such as dev/test, web servers, and non-critical applications could move to HVM to reduce licensing costs.
“HPE Alletra MP provided a unified storage for both environments, while HPE OpsRamp simplified management. This parallel model gave the customer flexibility, negotiating leverage, and a safer path to modernisation.”
How does HPE differentiate its approach in a highly competitive market?
HPE differentiates by focusing on execution, not just technology. The approach is built around helping customers modernise without disruption, lock-in, or unnecessary risk. Unlike competitors that may push a fixed stack or “rip and replace” model, HPE enables phased evolution through Alletra MP, Zerto, OpsRamp, and GreenLake.This gives customers platform choice, non-disruptive migration, unified management, and pay-as-you-grow flexibility. The key differentiator is a practical roadmap that lets customers exit high-cost environments at their own pace while keeping the business running.
Why is this the right time for businesses to transform their virtualisation strategy with HPE?
Businesses are facing rising virtualisation costs, vendor lock-in, and growing demands for AI-ready infrastructure. HPE addresses these challenges with a flexible, multi-hypervisor approach that reduces dependency on costly bundled licensing models. Solutions such as HPE VM Essentials, Alletra MP, and ProLiant DL380a and DL384 Gen12 servers provide scalable, GPU-accelerated, AI-ready infrastructure, extended by HPE Private Cloud AI, Cray XD systems, and NVIDIA-certified X10000 storage, while Zerto strengthens cyber resilience and recovery. Combined with GreenLake’s pay-as-you-grow model, the approach gives organisations lower costs, greater flexibility, stronger security, and a future-ready platform for modern workloads.
Source: Tahawul Tech