Hitachi Vantara Federal launches broad as-a-service offering

In another sign of how the federal market is rapidly shifting to more commercial-like ways of buying, Hitachi Vantara Federal has launched as-a-service offerings for every product and service they sell.

The move mimics what the parent company has done in the commercial markets for several years, but the big difference is the size requirements.

Gary Hix, director of engineering for Hitachi Vantara Federal, said that in the commercial world, the parent company has size requirements that won’t be required in the federal market.

Hitachi Vantara Federal will take on just about any size in the federal market. “Our solutions are very scalable,” Hix said.

The as-a-service offerings include traditional infrastructure, data technology solutions and REAN cloud services. Hitachi Vantara acquired REAN last year.

The move is a continuation of Hitachi Vantara Federal’s evolution from being known as data storage hardware provider to more end-to-end data solutions, Hix said.

The offering aims to address the government’s need to modernize their systems and bring on solutions that can help them manage the ever-growing deluge of data.

“As the quantity of data our federal customers must tackle continues to escalate so does the need for them to have faster, easier access to proven data services and data management solutions,” said Dave Turner, president and CEO of Hitachi Vantara Federal.

“This is a game-changer for any federal agencies in need of modernization tools and may not have the larger budgets for capital infrastructure expenditures,” Hix said.

It should be a boon to Hitachi Vantara Federal partners as well.

“We sell 99.9 percent through partners," Hix said. And with this as-a-service offering, Hitachi Vantara carries the financial burden. The partners don’t have to buy and install equipment as Hitachi Vantara does that, he said.

In addition to hardware and software as-a-service, Hitachi Vantara also will people as a service.

“Let’s say you need a data scientist for a three-month project,” Hix said. “We can provide you with that person without you having to go through a whole ramp up process.”

All of REAN’s cloud migration and other services also are available as-a-service, he said.

Thanks to the acquisition of REAN and the deal for Brocade’s government services business, Hitachi Vantara Federal has been pursuing a strategy where it can help agencies develop a data management strategy as well how it can be implement and maintained

Hix said that the company will continue to sell hardware, software and services the traditional way but the market is headed in the as-as-service direction because of initiatives such as Cloud First and Cloud Smart.

“For us to be relevant in the market, we have to offer our products and services this way,” he said.