Is it worth shifting to Hyper-Converged Infrastructure? Yes Indeed!

Shibu Paul Nov 20, 2018

With data center architecture evolution is at a high pace, many IT managers are turning to hyper-converged infrastructure. From the streamlined management of scalable storage to modernize application deployment and cloud service delivery, hyper-convergence is appealing to many organizations.

Why go hyper-convergence way? Should companies go hyper-converged? The big question, and there are a million different answers as to why you should or shouldn’t join the hyper-converged bandwagon.

HCI the future of IT in Digital Era

HCI is the fastest-growing segment of the overall market to address the cost and complexity of legacy infrastructure. It’s enabling IT departments to improve efficiency, reduce operational complexity, and quickly scale to meet growing requirements.

Companies are increasingly embracing hyper-converged infrastructure as a go-to technology platform to address security, productivity and other concerns. HCI not only delivers the performance companies are looking for, but also brings a lot of other benefits, including less networking, storage or physical equipment.

Gartner analyst mentioned in its recent study that HCI will reach almost $5 billion, which is 24 percent of the market, by 2019. Even according to Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Market research report, “the HCI market is expected to reach USD 12,607.4 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 43.59% between 2016 and 2022.”

Hyperconvergence surpasses Storage, Server and Networking strain

Hyperconvergence is gaining popularity with the simplicity of all-in-one data center offerings. It can be seen as a true successor of converged infrastructure (CI). As soon as organizations have started realizing the limitations of hardware-centric infrastructures, they’re shifting to HCI— software-centric, which allows them to keep up with the rapid pace of digital transformation. With software-based solutions, companies can improve performance in production environments cost-effectively and can address the capacity and performance challenges of business.

Unlike CI, HCI is not a merely a packaging/bundling of servers and storage, but also helps in solving complex data center infrastructure challenges like storage, downtime etc. A few more benefits that make HCI distinctive are listed below:

No downtime with software-centric approach – In a hyper-converged environment, software-defined approach is being used. All nodes act as a single highly-reliable and redundant pool of storage, which means all other nodes will remain unaffected if anyone node goes down.
Manage and maintain workload with ease – As the entire workload falls under the same administrative umbrella in a hyper converged infrastructure, shifting workloads from one location to another is easier irrespective of the location.
Better ROI with optimized cost – It is one amongst the key advantages of HCI. Companies can reduce total cost as less equipment are involved, making the maintenance and support much easier. Lower IT costs accelerates speed to market and reduce complexity related to the IT environment and the business as a whole.
Great performance and capacity with scalability – Definitely, hyper-convergence has emerged as a crucial part of architecture for organizations of all sizes. With HCI, companies can scale up data center based on the specific resource demands/requirements.
Protect data without complexity – Hyper convergence gives an organization the ability to easily restore data without letting them face complex issues.
Manage complex infrastructure - By delivering virtualization, storage, compute, network, management and data protection in an easy to manage but scalable application, an organization has the ability to seamlessly manage their complex infrastructure.

Hyper-converged Infrastructure Spearheading Success of Digital Transformation

A lot of initiatives have been started by the Indian government towards making a “Path to Innovative India”. From “Make in India”, to “Skill India”, “Digital India” and what not. With technological advancements at the helm, Indian organizations are rehashing their core businesses to align themselves with disruptive technologies. We live in a digital era and enterprises will definitely look for custom applications at the speed of ideas. When it comes to digital transformation journey, it doesn’t belong to the hardware industry alone.

In the coming years, we will witness more and more companies embracing hyper-converged infrastructure. To stay ahead in the competition, lowering operational costs and enhancing customer experience is the core of digital transformation—which can be achieved with hyper-converged systems.