Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, has announced a number of updates for its cloud computing platform.

The company has launched a new Compute-as-a-Service (CaaS) offering and made changes to its Unified Compute Platform (UCP) to improve compatibility with virtualized environments from VMware and Microsoft.

It has also introduced the Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program, which will unite IT infrastructure suppliers “powered by Hitachi Data Systems”.

“Business-Defined IT”
Hitachi Cloud CaaS is a new managed private cloud solution that the company says combines the agility of the public cloud and pay-as-you-go pricing with security and service levels of on premise infrastructure.

The product allows businesses to switch from upfront CAPEX costs to a more flexible model, able to scale up or down instantly, while keeping their data behind the corporate firewall.

Hitachi Cloud CaaS relies on UCP framework for compute, network, storage and hypervisor functions. It can be customized to include off-premises capabilities through the partnership with data center operator Equinix, announced earlier today.

UCP itself has added new features that streamline the building process and management of the cloud, and improve compatibility with VMware vCloud Air and Microsoft Azure.

The updated Hitachi UCP Director software can now control physical and virtual infrastructure for Microsoft or VMware environments through a single ‘plane of glass’. UCP has also been natively integrated with both Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 and VMware vCenter Server.

“Today's announcement represents a new level of collaboration between Hitachi and Microsoft, underscoring our commitment to ongoing innovation that simplifies IT for our customers," said Brian Hillger, senior director of cloud platform product marketing at Microsoft. “Hitachi provides solutions that deliver key Microsoft technologies allowing customers to accelerate their deployment timelines and increase business agility.”

Meanwhile, the Cloud Service Provider Program hopes to improve customer trust and help partners deliver a better quality of service. “The program establishes a ‘shared risk, shared reward’ model to ensure predictable economics and business success for partners,” explained Dave Kosman, director of the program at Hitachi.

“Hitachi will help CSPs design and package differentiated and profitable cloud services, and will also co-market and co-sell partners’ cloud services that are ‘Powered by Hitachi Data Systems’.”