OnX Enterprise Solutions: Putting Synergy Front And Center

HPE's Synergy Composable Infrastructure is not even shipping yet but it's already catching the eye of customers looking to simplify complex IT environments. The U.S. division of OnX Enterprise Solutions, No. 46 on CRN's Solution Provider 500 list, recently closed a multimillion-dollar hyperconverged deal with a future phase that includes a $3 million Synergy Composable component, said OnX U.S. President Mark Kelly.

Mark Kelly, OnX, U.S.

The deal, which included a dozen HPE HyperConverged (HC) 380 systems, four 3Par arrays and two StoreOnce systems, came after OnX brought the customer to HPE's recent Discover conference where Synergy was front and center, said Kelly.

"The customer had the opportunity to spend a couple of days at Discover to listen to the HPE vision, and it really cemented the story that we built with HPE," said Kelly. "It was a great closing tool."

HPE CEO Meg Whitman has touted the new Synergy platform, originally code-named Thunderbird, as one of the biggest breakthroughs from the company in the past decade. At the heart of the Synergy infrastructure, slated to be available in HPE's fourth fiscal quarter, which ends Oct. 31, is a set of open APIs that bring software intelligence to deploy workloads seamlessly in complex hybrid IT environments.

That kind of unified architecture is compelling for large enterprises grappling with far-flung IT environments. The OnX customer betting on Synergy has more than 500 locations across 48 states and in Canada.

The blockbuster OnX deal came after multiple briefings with the customer at HPE's Houston and Palo Alto, Calif., briefing centers, said Kelly. "We really make sure we use the briefing centers and sales tools HPE has," he said.

HPE partners are benefiting from a hefty investment the company has made in innovative new products under Whitman's leadership, said Kelly. "The investment in innovation has just created a fantastic product portfolio," he said.

One sign of that innovation is the HPE HC 380, which is driving new sales opportunities focused on business outcomes with line-of-business customers, said Kelly.

"When you have a product portfolio like HPE has, it's not about speeds and feeds anymore; it's about solving business problems," he said. "You can go in and have a discussion about what HC 380 means to a line of business versus just chatting with the folks in IT and procurement about how many spindles they need."

Kelly got a kick out of seeing Whitman demonstrate the HC 380 at a recent partner roundtable. "It was pretty cool to see the kind of grasp she had on what the technology means to customers and HPE long term. It was extremely encouraging. If HPE's CEO has that much passion around a product line, we should make sure our sales reps are focused on it as well."

In addition to what he calls the best product portfolio the company has ever had, Kelly says HPE is at the top of the list for field engagement and working to solve any and all customer issues in the field.

In fact, Whitman and HPE Enterprise Group Executive Vice President Antonio Neri have "personally" reached out to make sure the company is resolving any issues for customers, said Kelly.