WIXLIB

The Hyperconvergence Handbook:An innovator’s guide toachieving the hyperpossible

Table of contents0304IntroductionChapter 1Navigating the evolving IT landscape07Chapter 2Enabling an innovative IT environment11Chapter 3Hyperconvergence—anytime, anywhere14ConclusionBecoming an HCI innovator

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionIntroductionIn 2016 Gartner predicted that hyperconverged integratedsystems would be mainstream in five years, with the globalmarket reaching nearly 5 billion by 2019.1 A more recent,extended projection estimates this market will be worth 12.6 billion by 2022.2As organizations across all industries evolve to stay competitive,these market forecasts are proving accurate, with data centermanagement being transformed by hyperconvergence technologyto provide a competitive advantage.Hyperconvergence was forged from the concept of convergedinfrastructure, which sought to simplify data center managementby repackaging traditional systems such as computing and storageinto a single, prebuilt solution.3 Rather than repackaging, however,hyperconvergence represents a paradigm shift in both technologyand philosophy—and its ongoing evolution is redefining what’spossible for organizations of all shapes and sizes.Already, forward-thinking IT and business leaders are applyinghyperconvergence technology to an entirely new set of use casesand boldly pursuing the hyperpossible. We call these individualsHCI Innovators, and they are leading the IT modernization chargefor their respective organizations.Explore this e-Book to discover:How emerging trends are shapingthe IT landscape and driving the evolutionof hyperconvergenceHow hyperconvergence empowersHCI Innovators in any industry to achievepractically anythingHow you too can become an HCI Innovatorand achieve the hyperpossible03

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3Conclusion01Navigating the evolvingIT landscapeIn today’s IT environment, the only thing constantis change.Whether it is increasing customer requirements regardinganytime, anywhere data center reliability or evolving internalneeds as organizations expand to new markets, emergingand maturing trends are piling expectations on existing ITinfrastructure systems.

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionNavigating the evolving IT landscapeTake Edge Computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), for example. The International Data Corporation anticipatesthat nearly 80 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2025—that’s 152,000 devices per minute.4This explosion in connected devicesand the data transfer between themare already dissolving traditional networkboundaries and pushing legacy solutionsbeyond their limits. As more computingpower is required at the edges of networks,even single-cloud environments arehitting snags when it comes to handlingdata volume.5Fortunately for organizations and their ITdepartments, the same trends that arechanging customer and organizationalrequirements are fueling advances inhyperconvergence technology—and HCIInnovators are already taking advantageof these advances to successfullynavigate the current IT landscape.Although hyperconvergence has its rootsin converged infrastructure and storagevirtualization, rapid developments andimprovements have transitioned it into apowerful solution that encompasses thebenefits of both private, on-premises datacenters and cloud scaling capabilities.These developments representa total rethink of how the differentcomponents of a data center cancoexist and unite under a centralpiece of software.In addition to promoting operationalefficiency, reducing infrastructurecosts, and radically improving datacenter reliability and resilience, thelatest advances in hyperconvergencetechnology include: 6,7 Built-in backup and replicationcapabilities that improve dataprotection Easy workload migrationand cloud services deployment Cloudlike scalability toaccommodate fluctuations incompute power and storage needs The ability to process massiveamounts of data at the edge ofyour network infrastructure05

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionA major way hyperconvergence is driving IT innovation is by enablingmulticloud environments. As flexibility and scalability needs increase,more organizations are turning to multiple cloud services providers totackle issues related to networking, security, analytics, and data centermanagement.8 Hyperconvergence technology is designed to supportmultiple hypervisors and offer flexible services for multicloud setups.According to RightScale’s 2017 State of the Cloud Survey,85%of enterprises currently implementa multicloud strategy—up from 82%in 2016.9In the following chapter, we’ll examine how HCI Innovatorsput these hyperconvergence capabilities into practiceto power everything from virtual desktop deploymentsto mission-critical applications.06

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionAcross the globe, HCI Innovators are applyinghyperconvergence to a wide range of new andinnovative cases.These forward-thinking IT and business leaders are drivingmodernization for their organizations and constantly testingthe latest capabilities of hyperconvergence. In many cases,the only limit to what they can achieve is their imagination.02Enabling an innovativeIT environment

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionIn New York City, a nonprofitorganization is using leadinghyperconvergence technologyto rapidly scale operations andpower its hunger relief efforts.10Challenges Prepare for 30% growthCity Harvest was founded in 1982 with a mission to alleviate hunger across thefive boroughs by redistributing surplus food from grocers, farms, restaurants, andmanufacturers to people in need. In 2016, the organization distributed 55 millionpounds of excess food free of charge to 500 community programs in New YorkCity, and it has plans to quickly expand operations by 30 percent.Using a hyperconverged infrastructure to power virtual desktops helps City Harvestsimplify IT and improve efficiency. With secure, anywhere access to files, emails,and data, its 160 employees and 15,000 volunteers spend less time waiting forphysical computers and keep their focus on alleviating hunger. The rapid scalingcapabilities of a hyperconverged infrastructure solution continue to support CityHarvest’s growth and ultimately help the organization redistribute millions morepounds of food each year. Build a virtual desktop infrastructure Increase scalability and performanceSolutions C isco HyperFlex hyperconvergedinfrastructureResults Delivers the seamless scalability requiredto support growth Simplifies desktop and infrastructuremanagement Saves 75% on user endpoints08

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionOver 7,000 miles away, a public university in Nagasaki, Japan, usedthe same technology to create the country’s first informationsecurity department.11The University of Nagasaki is a publicacademic institution founded in 2008that provides both liberal arts andspecialized education to more than3,000 students. As part of its philosophy“to produce graduates with the abilityto respond to rapidly changing trendsin society,” the University of Nagasakirecently restructured its departmentsand established the Information SystemsFaculty Information Security Department.12The goal of this department is to trainthe next generation of information securitytechnicians. To do so, the universityconstructed a highly available and secureIT infrastructure capable of simultaneouslysupporting its new security departmentand the institution as a whole.Deploying a hyperconvergedinfrastructure helps the Universityof Nagasaki provide secure virtualnetworks to each individual student,simplify control and support universitywide, and improve network reliability—all while keeping costs down. With acutting-edge infrastructure solution thatcan be used to power student securitycourses and modernize academicoperations, the University of Nagasakiis able to deliver high-quality educationexperiences and keep pace withchanging societal and academic trends.Challenges I mprove network availability in an areaprone to interruptions Remain cost-effective while advancingeducation experiencesSolutions C isco HyperFlex hyperconvergedinfrastructureResults R educed time required for restarting D eployed a versatile system that benefitsstudents and staff09

IntroductionCh1Ch2Ch3ConclusionThe latest advances in hyperconvergence technology canalso be used to support mission-critical applications.CorpFlex, a Brazilian-based managed IT service provider, uses a hyperconvergedinfrastructure solution to stay ahead of customer expectations and adapt offeringsto stay competitive in the ever-evolving managed services marketplace.13 Today,CorpFlex leverages hyperconvergence to run its mission-critical Microsoft SQLServer and Oracle databases and applications including SAP ERP and Microsoftapps and deliver innovative services to its customers.Challenges Increase the performance and scalabilityof its private cloud platform“HyperFlex’s approach ensures faster delivery ofthe environment, lower costs and managementefforts, more effective management, coupledwith high availability and performance.”Edivaldo Rocha, CEO, CorpFlex Reduce downtime for services offeredto customersSolutions C isco HyperFlex hyperconvergedinfrastructureResults E nabled customers to increase availability Allowed customers to lower the latencyof their critical systems Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO)10

��anytime, anywhereThe concept of hyperconvergence was bornaround two universal ideas.The first was that all IT departments need a simpler andmore cost-effective data center management solution.The second was that all organizations—from Fortune 500companies to small nonprofits—need an infrastructuresolution capable of adapting to match the speed ofchanging trends and business growth.

anytime, anywhereAspirations of improved organizational agility and data efficiencyare not unique to a particular sector, industry, or department. In anincreasingly competitive environment, these are now requirementsfor organizations across all industries that want to stay competitiveand drive modernization.What started out as a natural evolutionof convergence has transformed intoan end-to-end infrastructure solutionthat can be used to address virtuallyany business challenge and applied toany use case. But not all solutions arecreated equal. Leading hyperconvergedinfrastructure providers are constantlymaking additional iterations to theirsolutions based on current IT trendsand ongoing customer feedback.When considering a hyperconvergedinfrastructure solution, ensure that theoffering is capable of reducing complexityand supporting your growing list ofdemands and requirements. To tackleyour toughest challenges, you needa solution that can:14 S upport any application:From traditional enterprise applicationsto big data and analytics applicationsand to virtualized and containerizedsoftware, the right hyperconvergedinfrastructure solution must be ableto support a wide set of applicationdeployment models. Integrate with any cloud:As multicloud environments becomemore common, your solution mustgive you the freedom and flexibilityto support multiple hypervisors anddeploy your applications in the cloudthat makes the most sense. Scale as you grow: The right solutionwill be able to support your IT needstoday and adapt as those needs evolve,providing the simplicity and flexibilityto handle any workload and use case.The right hyperconvergedinfrastructure solution shouldbe able to integrate with youron-premises resources andsupport any application, atany scale, in any cloud.0512