Rethink your hypervisor
Rising renewal costs and forced bundling are pushing organizations to rethink virtualization. HPE Morpheus VM Essentials is the open, KVM-based platform — with software-defined storage built in — that lets you cut the cost of running VMs, and GDS Africa delivers the migration end to end.
Why now
The economics of virtualization just changed
Subscription-only licensing and consolidation across the virtualization market have left many organizations facing renewal terms they didn’t plan for. Doing nothing has a cost — and so does waiting.
Renewal shock
Subscription-only bundles and steep price increases have turned hypervisor renewals into a budget problem with no easy answer.
Forced bundling
Fewer SKUs and rigid bundles mean paying for capabilities you may never use — with less room to right-size.
Lock-in risk
A proprietary stack that gets costlier to stay on — and harder to leave the longer the decision is deferred.
Why HPE Morpheus VM Essentials
Modern virtualization, without the lock-in or the bill
A streamlined, software-defined platform that delivers what your workloads need — at a fraction of the cost of staying put.
Lower, predictable cost
Simple per-socket licensing and a markedly lower total cost of ownership than today’s incumbent renewal terms — no surprise bundling.
Open, KVM-based
Built on the open KVM hypervisor — modern, proven virtualization without proprietary lock-in or punitive upgrade paths.
Software-defined storage built in
Integrated software-defined storage out of the box — pool and protect storage across your hosts with no separate SAN or third-party SDS licence to buy.
Run both during migration
Manage your existing hypervisor estate and new VM Essentials hosts from one console, so you migrate at your own pace with no big-bang risk.
Enterprise-grade by default
Live migration, high availability and integrated data protection — the capabilities your production workloads already rely on.
Runs on your hardware
Deploy on industry-standard x86 and HPE ProLiant servers, with HPE Alletra storage and HPE GreenLake subscription options.
Built for hybrid
A consistent control plane for virtual machines on-premises and across clouds as your environment evolves.
At a glance
Other hypervisors vs. HPE Morpheus VM Essentials
How GDS delivers it
A low-risk path off your current hypervisor
We don’t hand you software — we plan and run the whole migration, and can operate the environment afterwards.
Assess
We inventory your current virtual estate, map workloads and licensing exposure, and build the business case for the move.
Pilot
We stand up HPE Morpheus VM Essentials and migrate a low-risk workload set to prove the model in your environment.
Migrate
Workloads move in controlled waves, managing both platforms from a single pane until cutover — no downtime drama.
Optimize
You get a tuned, supported environment — with GDS Africa managed services to run it for you if you choose.
HPE Gold Solution & Service Provider
GDS Africa holds HPE Gold partner status as both a Solution and Service Provider — with HPE Service Delivery accreditation to design, deploy and support HPE infrastructure end to end.
FAQ
Common questions
Do I have to migrate everything at once? +
No. VM Essentials manages your existing hypervisor alongside new KVM hosts, so you migrate in waves at your own pace — with no big-bang cutover.
Will my workloads run on KVM? +
The large majority of standard x86 virtual machines migrate cleanly to KVM. We validate any edge cases up front during the assessment.
Do I need a separate storage array? +
No. VM Essentials includes software-defined storage out of the box, so you can pool and protect storage across your hosts without buying a separate SAN or a third-party SDS licence.
Is it really lower cost? +
Licensing is simpler and typically far lower than current renewal terms. We quantify your specific savings against your real estate in the assessment.
Can I consume it as a service? +
Yes — it runs on-premises and is available through HPE GreenLake subscription, so you can align spend to consumption.
Who supports it? +
HPE backs the platform. GDS Africa — an HPE Gold Solution & Service Provider — plans, migrates and (optionally) operates it for you.
Plan your virtualization move with GDS Africa
Talk to our team about cloud, security, networking or managed services for your business.