Converged
Infrastructure
PART THREE
Our goal is to help you understand the associated benefits and concerns of newer technologies while providing you with best use considerations. In previous articles, we have investigated the infrastructure technologies of virtualization and cloud computing.
In the first article of the series, we concluded that while these technologies can certainly help improve functionality, the solutions come with
limitations in meeting IT infrastructure challenges. To work most
effectively, these technologies must be mixed and matched based on your specific organizational needs. Today’s topic is converged infrastructure.
Converged Infrastructure is exactly what its name indicates. It is a single piece of
equipment that comes with compute, storage, networking, and software prefabricated to function almost immediately from the time the machine is plugged in.
Converged
Infrastructure
Consider IT data center equipment with a “no assembly required” tag. This piece of equipment typically comes from a single
vendor, but recently large manufacturers have teamed up to create multivendor units.
Also, recent advances have developed from converged infrastructure such as hyper-converged infrastructure and mini-data centers. Hyper-converged infrastructure is geared for enterprise level uses and usually includes higher levels of software integration. Mini-data centers include cooling and
heating capabilities making it the more complete stand-alone unit.
A family practice doctor is the ultimate bundled package. While the rest of medicine divides itself into specializations, the family practice doctor continues to deliver a broad scope of care that patients need and value. The local practitioner often acts as the pediatrician, OBGYN, or sports medicine doctor depending on the level of need. Similarly, converged infrastructure combines multiple data center components into a single convenient unit to meet the needs required.
Converged
Infrastructure as a Family
Practice Doctor
pediatrics
The single greatest benefit of converged infrastructure is simplicity.
Step 1: Remove machine from box.
Step 2: Plug in machine to correct power source.
Step 3: Power up machine and begin using.
Ok, maybe it is not that simple. But according to a survey conducted by the Enterprise Strategy Group (The Business Case for Converged Infrastructure, 2015), the vast majority of converged infrastructure deployments take only days
compared to weeks for traditional enterprise infrastructure. The quick deployment saves IT department time that can be better used driving the business forward. To keep things
simple, only one level of software controls the many virtualized machines in a piece of converged infrastructure. Updates are less burdensome as only one machine requires service, rather than updating numerous servers.
Benefits of
Converged Infrastructure.
A family practice doctor reduces the need for several specialized doctors within a community. Likewise, an IT department
embracing converged infrastructure no longer needs separate teams for servers, storage, networking, and software. The decreased demand for infrastructure management leads to immediate savings and more time for IT staff to focus on value-driving IT programs.
Converged infrastructure improves the use of space through its emphasis on virtual machine systems. Hyper-converged infrastructure and mini-data centers go even further into space saving benefits. As with virtualization, efforts such as this lead to considerable savings in terms of data center real estate and energy costs. With nearly 50% of operating expenses devoted to energy consumption, the reduction in energy costs can be significant (Industry Perspectives, 2015).
Reduce or Reinvest
Staffing Costs
Smaller Data Center
Footprint and Energy
Efficiency
Benefits of
You may have already concluded that although the family practice doctor is an excellent health care provider for many situations, she cannot possibly be the best resource for all situations. For instance, a family practice physician may be less versed in pediatrics or unable to perform the duties of internal medicine. Converged infrastructure can limit organizations by maxing out the capacity of one component without utilizing the full capacity of its other components.
While component upgrades are available, they do not provide an efficient solution, especially for a strategy
founded on simplicity. In turn, though it is more agile in the
short term due to the reduced deployment time, the inefficient use of components impacts the ability to scale a converged infrastructure data center in the long term.
In terms of the IT team within a converged infrastructure system, the demand for a certain component’s resources may create unhealthy resource-starved cultures. Fearing that another group’s applications may starve resources for their own applications, teams may resort to the posturing and fighting that creates a divisive work environment.
Concerns about
Converged Infrastructure.
Lack of Resource
Ah, security. We meet yet again! Security concerns are a given with any enterprise IT infrastructure technology. Converged infrastructure creates a risk unique unto itself. In order to unify the systems, converged
infrastructure collapses the data plane with the control plane. This makes it nearly impossible to implement the variety of security measures created using partitions, a fundamental modern data center security strategy.
Security
Concerns about
Within a modern enterprise data center, you must employ different strategies to take full advantage of the benefits offered by specific infrastructure models, while
understanding or accounting for the impact of the associated limitations. Even as converged infrastructure’s simplicity creates a tempting trade off of Capex (Capital Expenditure) with IT staff costs, the lack of resource efficiency and long-term scalability makes it challenging to realize the benefits.
If you are part of a small or mid-sized company, you should explore how converged infrastructure’s simplicity can increase your IT team’s effectiveness. Without the need for a robust IT hardware team, costs are reduced and IT time is freed up, allowing you to refocus your budget and IT talent into value-driving IT programs.
For larger organizations, you may be better served by choosing long-term efficiency powered by dedicated teams who are able to scale-out siloed hardware components. Enterprise organizations can find use for converged infrastructure in remote
locations and branches where IT staff are not readily available to deploy onsite
hardware resources. As long as someone is available for the few days of deployment, the rest can be managed remotely which makes converged infrastructure a useful tool situationally.
Is Converged
Infrastructure Right for You?
Enterprise
• Utilize the benefits offered by specific infrastructure models. • Account for impact of
associated limitations.
It depends on your size, your IT staff and your data center goals.
Small / Mid-Size
• Simplicity can increase IT team’s effectiveness.
Large
• Choose long-term efficiency.
• Use in remote locations.
As with the other technologies we have explored, a critical key to using converged infrastructure successfully is to carefully consider your unique situation and strategically plan to maximize the benefits of the technology. The effective use of converged infrastructure in your business may be enough to push your IT team to the next level.
Read the other articles in this series: Virtualization and Cloud Strategy
Is Converged
Industry Perspectives. (2015, January 29). How Data Center Operators Can Avoid Energy Price Hikes This Winter.
Retrieved from Data Center Knowledge: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/01/29/data-center-operators-can-avoid-energy-price-hikes-winter/
The Business Case for Converged Infrastructure. (2015).
Retrieved from FCW: http://fcw.com/microsites/2015/snapshot-vmware-converged-infrastructure/04-the-business-case-for-converged-infrastructure.aspx References
