Making the case for converged infrastructure

A converged infrastructure (CI) combines computing, networking and storage hardware into a single integrated architecture, with the goal of accelerating deployment time, reducing IT costs, as well as implementation risk. According to a recent report from Future Market Insights, the Middle East & Africa (MEA) storage market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.6%, between 2017-2025, to US$8.4 billion in 2025. A big driver for this surge is the shift from traditional to converged infrastructure solutions.

Convergent infrastructures are considered a means to accelerate implementation and increase the availability of infrastructure. However, while the CI movement has drastically simplified the implementation of computation, most CI solutions rely on bulky, complex and slow disk storage systems that simply cannot be maintained in a modern data center environment.

The fact is that it requires more than just an effective architecture and a comprehensive validation process. The CI must also provide a simpler and lower cost of ownership that allows the IT team to focus less on buying and integrating products from individual suppliers, and more on the workloads that bring commercial benefits and a competitive advantage.

The increase in attention to the cloud and the delivery of services has resulted in the creation of the new generation of converged architecture. These are smarter, simpler, smaller and much more efficient solutions that rely on newer technologies and have direct integration with virtualisation and cloud solutions. As such, they provide four key benefits to organizations, ranging all the way from global service providers that make historical and real-time information available to businesses, to health institutions that provide excellent patient care through faster access to their records and images.

Increase business results

Studies show that reduced latency in applications has a correlation with user satisfaction and commitment. If you want happy customers to buy more goods and services, increase employee productivity or gain greater insight into your data, then start by reducing latency of your business applications. A high-performance infrastructure that combines a powerful primary block for cloud-based, virtualized, and general-purpose data centers, along with 100% flash equipment, reduces latency and delivers powerful metrics around workload performance.

Scale the cloud

How many of your IT initiatives for this year are destined to run on a virtual infrastructure? My guess is that that number is more than 50%. Having a number of “too-demanding” applications to be virtualised without the proper architecture can keep the IT team on their toes and take away from their focus on more business-critical tasks.

On the other hand, with adequate tools, including powerful servers with service profiles, together with stateless storage, you can configure how, where and when workload instances are implemented. Stateless technologies allow administrators to configure MAC, World Wide Name (WWN), unique universal identification (UUID), boot details, firmware and even basic input / output system (BIOS) settings in the software, through simple administration interfaces. Stateless architecture allows the creation of the most agile CI in the industry. Above all, it is important to see how agility translates directly into scalability.

Simplify IT operations

Storage has been the scourge of virtual infrastructures. Much of the current innovation is tactical and focuses on the implementation of silos focused on solutions. To that end, how many solutions do you have to adopt to address VDI, OLTP databases, Big Data analysis or improve the core of the VMware cloud?

The use of a CI architecture reduces the total number of managed devices, simplifies administration and reduces operating expenses (OpEx). In addition, a validated and verified solution architecture, and the results of many use cases are quite useful, which facilitates the implementation and reduces the risks when transforming the data centres.

Reinvent the IT budget

The high rates of data reduction and the small footprint of flash storage, combined with efficient servers, translate into substantial savings in space and energy costs, enormous simplification, easier administration and improved data center economy. In addition, CI solutions from market leading vendors are easily updated, so customers can add the exact storage and/or computing capacity they need, only when required. Customers can buy components that meet current needs, without having to buy equipment years in advance to support hypothetical future growth.

Let’s face it, data centres have grown in terms of space and complexity, but not necessarily in scalability or performance. Perhaps the biggest challenge for most organizations is time, since there is very little left for innovation when most IT resources are meant to keep systems running. In the current digital age, the IT infrastructure is the strategic partner that helps the business transformation. Solutions that combine 100% flash storage with online data reduction, along with powerfully scalable network and server technologies enable 100% flash workload delivery to be affordable, powerful and most importantly, successful.