Converged Infrastructure

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Converged Storage...It's about time

by teri.shiozaki on 06-06-2011 11:28 PM - last edited on 06-06-2011 11:28 PM

Converged Storage… It’s about time

~ By Brad Parks

 

Remember when you first fired up a web browser?  How about when cell phones were almost as big as your head? How about your first dedicated storage array? 

 

What do these 3 things have in common you may ask… they all happened about 20 years ago.  And while we are now on 4G smart cell phones I’m afraid the storage in your datacenter has not evolved nearly as much.

 

20 years ago the datacenter looked quite a bit different.  Infrastructure was deployed uniquely for each application and you were able to tune hardware for each and every application.  Those application deployments often took many months… much of this delay was because management was highly fragmented with a dedicated server, application, networking, and storage administrator each of whom had unique knowledge and tools for their silo.  Workloads were highly predictable as was the rate of growth.  And data storage was primarily geared around structured data for enterprise applications.  

 

Today’s enterprise needs are substantially different.  Virtualization and Cloud computing have introduced new levels of efficiency and now thousands of virtual machines often run on the same consolidated infrastructure which in turn drives unpredictability into the system.  These technologies are also changing the dynamic between servers, storage, and networks… virtual network ports, Ethernet based storage, and storage managed by virtualization administrators are all realities that point to the convergence of the IT stack.

 

Lastly is the shift from moderate growth and structured data to  the explosive growth of unstructured content… this has been classified by some as big data but it’s really big ‘everything’…   capacity, object count, performance, distance, analytics… everything at Massive Scale.

 

HP has been on the leading edge of transforming the IT stack to help improve agility and adjust to these new realities.  With COMPUTE we pioneered the design of bladed server infrastructure and sell one server every 11 seconds.  In NETWORKING over the last 18 months we’ve changed the rules and customers are moving from Cisco to HP in droves.  With today’s announcement we highlighting that it’s time to do the same thing in STORAGE.   

 

The era of the storage silo is over… There are several basic issues with legacy architectures but they all point to the fact that storage developed in a vacuum simply cannot be optimized for a world where the IT stack is collapsing.

 

  • First, large monolithic arrays and dual-controller storage systems are disruptive to scale, they are expensive, and the lack the multi-tenant features required for cloud services. 

 

  • Second, unified storage falls short of many of the promises it makes…. It is complicated to manage at scale and it’s rigid multi-protocol implementation restricts the ability to deal with unpredictable requirements.  On the entry side of the house it’s not unified enough… why manage a separate storage device if you can co-locate storage with your physical and virtual machines.

 

  • Lastly, all of these storage-centric architectures have a shared fatal flaw.  They are isolated solutions that lack vertical integration into the complete IT stack.  The whole point of IT as a Service is to improve efficiency and speed application time to value… two things that are incompatible with technology silos. 

 

THE ANSWER?

 

Today, HP is announcing Converged Storage… a modern design and portfolio built from the ground up for the needs of virtualization, cloud, and unstructured content pools

 

  • It builds on the world’s leading x86 hardware platform to boost efficiency and reduce expense, the utilization of ProLiant and BladeSystem also enables common device instrumentation and leverage of technologies like Virtual Connect Flex-10 and the Power Efficiency that comes from the HP Data Center Smart Grid.

 

  • Next, we layer on scale-out storage software for more agile and efficient use of capacity.  With our scale-out approach we are able to non-disruptively dial-up and down all of the knobs required to respond to unpredictable workloads… we can independently adjust performance and capacity across NAS, SAN, or Deduplication capabilities.  We are also able to deploy storage as either a physical appliance or a virtual machine… both of which can be co-located alongside applications.

 

  • Lastly, we are bridging the gap to rapid IT service delivery with converged management.  HP Converged Storage solutions have autonomic capabilities so they are self-managed, they are vertically integrated into solutions like CloudSystem Matrix to automate provisioning, and they are open to support management by partner tools like vCenter or System Center.

 

With Converged Storage, organizations can deploy and scale 41% faster, reduce IT service delivery time to minutes, spend up to 90% less time managing storage, and consume just half the power, cooling and floor space versus unified and monolithic storage.

 

HP is the only tier 1 storage vendor to have intellectual property that spans all 3 of these design points and if you look at the acquisitions and internal innovations we’ve rolled out over the last 2 years, we have a substantial head start on this direction vs. the competition.  3PAR, LeftHand, IBRIX, and StoreOnce Deduplication all share these common design points and we’ve spent a considerable amount of resources bringing together these separate elements (including driving to a common operating system and file system layer) so we can accelerate innovation across the portfolio.

 

To learn more about Converged Storage, view the introduction of Converged Storage by David Scott, SVP and GM of HP Storage.

 

 

With Converged Storage, we are removing the boundaries between storage, servers, networks, IT service delivery, and IT efficiency.  Storage is no longer a complicated silo.  Know no boundaries for storage!

 

 

More information:

Learn more about the new HP Storage

Press release - June 6, 2011

wikibon_org.jpg   Storage Directions in an Era of Cloud Computing & Big Data

 

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About the Author
  • More than 30 years in Sales and Marketing in IT services business. Currently managing a program on services for x86 based environments.
  • Chary Chigurala is HP’s Global Leader for IT Strategy, Transformation and M&A with 25 years experience in Strategic and transformational projects
  • David is a Fellow in Service Management, co-author of the ITIL Service Operation book and author of the update to ITIL Service Strategy. He is also chairman of the IT Service Management Forum International Board
  • Jan De Clercq is a solution architect working for the worldwide HP Technology Consulting IT assurance portfolio team. He focuses on cloud security, identity and access management, mobility security, and security for Microsoft platforms and solutions. Jan is based in Belgium.
  • Don has held roles with the business and marketing of consulting for HP. Currently he supports HP's Client and Microsoft Solutions and the emerging Mobility Consulting services. He holds a MBA from UCLA's Anderson School.
  • Duncan Campbell is the Geo Focal Executive for Converged Infrastructure in the Enterprise Storage, Servers, and Networking (ESSN) Worldwide Marketing Organization at Hewlett-Packard. He is also at the helm for Converged Infrastructure for the Small and Midmarket Business for HP’s Enterprise Business Group. Campbell brings more than 25 years of enterprise and midmarket industry marketing experience to this leadership team, with a proven track record spanning software, networking, services, PCs and systems, as well as deep channel and regional expertise. Campbell’s prior appointments were vice president of marketing for Adaptive Infrastructure and prior to that, the vice president of marketing for HP StorageWorks. He was responsible for advancing the market position of HP’s storage area network, network-attached storage, information life cycle management, near-line and storage management software offerings through both direct and indirect channels for small, midsize and enterprise customers. Prior to joining the HP StorageWorks team, Campbell was vice president of marketing and business development for First Virtual Communications, a world leader in providing easy-to-use, integrated rich media communications solutions. Before that, he was the principal and a founding member of Adjunct Consulting, where he helped incubate a SAN-management-over-IP startup and developed transformational business strategies for his other client companies. Campbell was formerly with HP from 1986 to 2001 in various marketing director roles spanning workstations, software, networking, PC servers and Intel servers. He also served as worldwide director of marketing for channels, alliances and partners. Campbell holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of California at San Diego. © 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
  • Hande has been with HP for over 10 years and held key consulting business and marketing roles based in New York and Boston US. Currently, she is the WW marketing lead for Cloud and Converged Infrastructure Consulting Services for HP Technology Consulting and living In Istanbul with her family. Hande enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, skiing and reading. Hande holds a M.B.A degree from Bentley College, MA.
  • More than 25 years in the IT industry, managing ITSM, service development and delivery projects in Technology Services. Specialized in end2end support for ISV based business solutions. Certified ITIL and project management expert.
  • Having joined HP in 2003 Ian Jagger is the world-wide marketing and program manager for HP Technology Consulting's Strategic Consulting Services, Critical Facilities Services and Energy and Sustainability Management Services, as well as emerging IT services Prior to his current role, he served as the HP Services Marketing Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, having joined HP in a similar role in the Middle East. Prior to HP Jagger had a 15 year international sales career, culminating in being Sales and Marketing Director for Steelcase Inc addressing Northern Europe before focusing more specifically on marketing. His initial focus was consultancy and interim marketing management, primarily for small to mid-sized customers based or looking to expand in the Middle Eastern region. Immediately prior to joining HP he was a strategic marketing consultant addressing investment targets for a technology fund. Born in Rochdale, United Kingdom, Jagger holds an honors bachelor of science degree in economics and a degree in social psychology from Loughborough University, England. He also holds a Masters Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer. He has one daughter and lives in Cary, North Carolina.
  • Greetings! I am in the HP Converged Infrastructure team focused on Server, Storage & Networking group at HP and will be sharing news & info as it crosses my path.
  • Liz Roche is a Strategist with Strategic IT Advisory Services and global leader of portfolio management for HP Technology Consulting. In this role, she is responsible for creating, bringing to market and managing the portfolio of strategic IT advisory services. She is also an industry-recognized CRM expert and was instrumental in evolving the customer relationship management (CRM) category and best practices. A leading authority on IT strategy and business transformation with 25 years of IT and business experience, she is a frequent industry keynote speaker. Roche has been with HP since 2006. Her services experience has run the gamut of HP units, beginning in the Field with Enterprise Services, consulting with CIO- clients in the automotive financial services and public sectors to portfolio management and business development. In 2010, Roche joined HP Technology Consulting where she is responsible for managing the Strategic IT Advisory Services portfolio of services. Prior to joining HP, Roche held positions with META Group, where she was a vice president of CRM and sell-side commerce, a technology research and advisory firm, acquired by Gartner in 2005. Roche received a Bachelor of Arts from the George Washington University and an MBA from the University of Missouri.
  • Broad mix of experiences developed in more than 20 years of technology-driven innovation. Fascinated by changes triggered by social networks and cloud. Bachelor in Theoretical Physics.
  • Mark joined HP in January 2007 as a Business Consultant for the Data Center Transformation team. His role is to assist HP customers in determining the best solutions to their problems and that HP services and experiences are shared and understood. Mark has 25 years of experience in technical project and program management, customer service, and Information Technology including 15+ years international experience. A proven track record in increasing productivity, improving service, cost management, vendor management, and contract negotiations as well as a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. In 2011 Mark was recognized as a HP Brand Ambassador for his ongoing commitment to Service, Quality, and Customer Satisfaction and Engagement.
  • Moira is a strategist who has done marketing for the technology industry for over a decade. She enjoys cycling and has ridden across America, down the Pacific Coast and along the Danube.
  • Steve Grumann has been in technology consulting for 18 years, nearly 13 of that with HP. He is currently a Strategy Consultant, focusing on Cloud and Service related IT delivery models.
  • I work with HP customers to help them create business value with strategic service management. I am a senior ITIL examiner and I have written many ITIL books and pocket guides. Find out more at www.hp.com/go/stuartrance or Follow me on Twitter @StuartRance
  • Greetings! I am on the HP Converged Infrastructure marketing team focused on Business Critical Systems. Topics I am interested in include mission-critical computing, scale up x86, and Converged Infrastructure
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