Modernizing Hybrid Cloud Management with Morpheus Data CPO

In this episode of Channel Insider Partner POV— your source for untapped opportunities and unfiltered opinions in the IT channel — host Katie Bavoso speaks with Brad Parks, chief product and go-to-market officer of Morpheus Data, an independent software vendor.

The discussion revolves around how Morpheus simplifies the management of diverse and disparate cloud environments, presenting managed service providers (MSPs) with a viable VMware alternative and offering significant business opportunities.

This recap highlights key takeaways from the conversation, providing insights for the IT channel industry.

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The purpose and evolution of Morpheus

Morpheus was founded by a team of top developers from a $4 billion private equity firm. It was initially created to modernize and accelerate technology integration within the firm’s diverse portfolio of companies. This proprietary technology eventually evolved into Morpheus, a platform to streamline cloud operations.

“Morpheus helps development teams, project teams, and data analysts inside large organizations get instant access to the resources they need,” Parks explains. By enabling the rapid provisioning of databases, web services, virtual machines, and containers across both on-premises and public cloud environments, Morpheus addresses a critical need for flexibility and speed in IT operations.

Target audience and industry focus

Morpheus primarily serves large enterprises in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and the public sector. These industries often have substantial on-premises workloads and require stringent compliance measures, making them ideal candidates for Morpheus’s hybrid cloud management capabilities.

“Our bread and butter is bringing that public cloud environment into the on-premises landscape,” said Parks. This approach allows organizations to enjoy the benefits of both worlds: the control and security of on-premises systems and the agility of public cloud services.

Addressing the complexity of hybrid cloud

“Cloud has been around for a decade, but at this point, it has reached a maturity benchmark. And that means more complexities. What are the challenges of customers and partners shifting with those complexities?” Bavoso asks.

Parks explains that Morpheus often hears from customers struggling with the complexity of cloud management. Morpheus’s platform simplifies these challenges, offering a streamline solution for integrating and managing multiple cloud services.

“IT by nature is complex and it is only getting more complex over time…our job is to take that complexity and make it simple,” Parks says.

Morpheus allows on-prem technologies like VMware and Red Hat to act seamlessly with public clouds like AWS, Azure, and GCP.

Enterprises require flexible and comprehensive control mechanisms to manage several applications across multiple environments. Extending traditional on-premises systems into the public cloud environment allows businesses to leverage both platforms’ advantages, optimizing resource utilization and maintaining consistency in governance.

Partnering with AWS

Morpheus’s relationship with AWS has been a significant enabler, allowing customers to leverage their committed AWS spend to accelerate projects. Parks notes, “Our special relationship with AWS really accelerated in 2023 with several large deals where AWS was integral to the transaction.”

This partnership enables Morpheus to organize and accelerate provisioning across various on-prem and public workloads, making it easier for customers to manage hybrid cloud environments.

Navigating the VMware landscape

VMware traditionally dominates the market as a hypervisor solution, with many organizations building their infrastructure around VMware technologies. However, Broadcom’s acquisition prompts businesses to reassess their reliance on VMware and explore alternatives.

“Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has really thrown the tech industry through a loop, as we know,” says Bavoso.

Parks notes that this is leading many service providers to seek alternatives, and Morpheus is well-positioned to fill this gap. “We’re very bullish in helping tech providers, service providers to navigate this massive shift,” he explains.

Morpheus acts as a facilitator, helping businesses explore and adopt alternative solutions that best align with their needs and objectives. This conversation underscores the critical business opportunities that arise from Morpheus’s approach. Morpheus’s capabilities let MSPs position themselves as strategic advisors, guiding their clients through evaluating and selecting the most suitable VMware alternatives.

Morpheus’s role as a facilitator of VMware alternatives not only addresses immediate challenges businesses face but also opens up new avenues for MSPs to drive growth and profitability.

Real-world success: AstraZeneca case study

AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceutical company, faces significant challenges in managing its IT resources efficiently. Before adopting Morpheus, provisioning new resources was time-consuming, often taking weeks to fulfill requests. This delay hinders the agility of their research and development efforts.

“Morpheus was able to reduce that time window dramatically by automating many of the necessary handoffs,” Parks recounts. After implementing Morpheus, AstraZeneca can provision resources in a fraction of the time, allowing their teams to focus on critical research without unnecessary delays.

Implementing Morpheus at AstraZeneca leads to significant operational improvements and cost savings. Within 80 days, AstraZeneca integrates Morpheus across eight data centers, managing approximately 20,000 virtual machines and saving around $6.5 million.

Investing in channel partners

Morpheus deeply invests in its partner ecosystem, providing extensive training, certifications, and resources to help partners become proficient in hybrid cloud management. Parks states, “We invest in training, we have a lot of online training, we run instructor-led training, we have certifications from admin to administrator to engineer, and we have hands-on labs.” This investment helps partners better serve their customers.

Wrapping up

Morpheus helps service providers navigate industry shifts and unlock new opportunities. Parks invites those interested in learning more about Morpheus to explore further through their website and partner programs.

Watch the video or listen to the podcast above for more insights from Katie Bavoso and Morpheus Data’s Brad Parks. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future interviews with industry experts and exclusive episodes!

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