What is Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) combines common datacenter hardware using locally attached storage resources with intelligent software to create flexible building blocks that replace legacy infrastructure consisting of separate servers, storage networks, and storage arrays. Benefits include lower TCO (total cost of ownership), increased performance, and greater productivity within IT teams.
The birth of hyper-Converged infrastructure
With the web explosion of the 90’s, infrastructure with server-SAN and storage networks was introduced, featuring independent modules that could be updated or changed without affecting other layers. This infrastructure revolutionised IT departments and has been used ever since. But now, in the era of hybrid cloud, 3-tier can no longer keep up with IT needs. It’s complex, unwieldy, doesn’t provide a firm foundation for DevOps, and can’t scale with the magnitude it used to. Today, HCI is the infrastructure of choice for companies that want to stay competitive and ensure their datacentres are cloud-ready. Not all HCI solutions are equal…
How does hyper-converged infrastructure work?
HCI converges the entire datacentre stack, including compute, storage, storage networking, and virtualisation. Complex and expensive legacy infrastructure is replaced by a platform running on turnkey, industry-standard servers that enable enterprises to start small and scale one node at a time. Software running on each server node distributes all operating functions across the cluster for superior performance and resilience.
The link between hyper-converged infrastructure and cloud
Enterprise IT teams today are looking for ways to deliver on-premises IT services with the speed and operational efficiency of public cloud services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. A comprehensive enterprise cloud platform bridges the gap between traditional infrastructure and public cloud services—and hyper-convergence is at the core of an enterprise or hybrid cloud. The simplicity and flexibility of hyper-converged infrastructure is also driving many companies to repatriate their workloads from the public cloud back on-premises.