A converged infrastructure for your datacenter

As IT organisations increasingly shift from owning and managing hardware to adopting flexible, self-service models, converged infrastructure is gaining traction. This approach enables resources to be consumed on demand, streamlining operations and enhancing agility.
 

Rather than relying on disparate IT components housed in isolated silos, a converged infrastructure integrates hardware with management software, allowing resources to be administered and accessed as a single, unified system. It sounds promising, but is it the right fit for your organisation? In this blog, we delve into the key considerations involved in choosing a converged infrastructure, helping you determine whether this modern solution aligns with your operational needs and strategic goals.

What is a converged infrastructure?

A converged infrastructure is a modern approach to data centre management, in which compute, networking, server, and storage components are packaged into a ready-to-deploy system. These systems also include a comprehensive tool kit of management software. By combining technologies into a single, integrated architecture, organisations can accelerate time-to-deployment, reduce overall IT costs, and minimise implementation risks. The components are pre-tested, certified, and optimised to work seamlessly together, significantly reducing compatibility issues between storage systems, servers, and network devices. In a converged environment, management is centralised, allowing you to define policies for compute and storage from a single interface.

The benefits of converged infrastructure.

• A converged infrastructure is performance-driven without compromising on efficiency, resulting in improved overall data centre performance.
   
• You benefit from a validated design, with components specifically aligned to one another. This ensures optimal interoperability and reliable application deployment.
   
• Management overheads are significantly reduced. Your IT specialists no longer need to perform as many repetitive tasks to keep systems running. This translates into savings on support and maintenance, as staff spend less time managing and configuring hardware, freeing up your IT team to focus on innovation and driving the business forward.
   
• And while you hope it never happens, should an issue arise, you’ll have the advantage of vendors collaborating to resolve it with problems addressed swiftly and professionally. 

When is a converged infrastructure right for you?

A converged infrastructure is a good fit if you:

• Want the best performance for specific workloads.
• Need the flexibility to deploy hardware components—such as storage and servers—separately.
• Aim to tackle data sprawl and reduce the complexity of your data centre environment.
• Prefer to manage system components centrally.
• Don’t want to compromise when it comes to scalability.