You’ve heard of the virtual server. Now get ready for the virtual data center.
Software-defined data centers (SDDCs) extend the benefits of virtualization beyond servers into other IT functions such as networking and storage, creating a virtual IT infrastructure that can be scaled, provisioned and managed simply based on application requirements. In other words, SDDCs promise to do for the entire data center what virtualization did for servers: increase flexibility, availability, provide enhanced automation capabilities, and deliver more bang for the box.
Over the last ten years, machine virtualization and hypervisors have changed the way IT manages hardware; specifically, they’re seeing a lot less of it these days. In the future, as CIOs look to private cloud solutions and hybrid cloud environments, the idea of virtualizing the entire data center with an SDDC approach makes a lot of sense because it puts the emphasis on managing applications by policy rather than managing hardware components and the interaction between them.
For business users, the move to SDDCs can’t come soon enough. Many of them are already feeding their growing appetite for flexible computing with “fast delivery” offerings from vCloud Air, Microsoft Azure, Amazon, and other service providers that promise all the IT you can consume as quickly as you can consume it.
If IT departments want to keep their customers (i.e., business users), they’ll need to cook up the same fast and flexible computing environment, which is what SDDC enables internal IT to do.
More Bang for the Box
Even with an SDDC approach, managing hardware isn’t always easy. Installation, integration and validation of the different server, storage and networking appliances all take time and are usually managed by separate teams, each with their own preferred vendors. When something goes wrong, it usually results in multiple tickets being opened up with multiple vendors and a lot of fingers being pointed in different directions.
Automation of workflows is challenging in organizations with IT silos as infrastructure choices are made in a vacuum which can create additional overhead for cloud automation teams. A much simpler way of managing hardware in the virtual data center is through a converged infrastructure.
Converged infrastructure combines server, storage and networking hardware into a single building block managed as an appliance. Instead of managing three separate boxes from three separate vendors (with all the integration frustration that implies), converged infrastructure provides a pre-integrated, pre-validated appliance that works, as you might expect, right out of the box. VCE, a leader in converged infrastructure, actually offers IT departments the best of both worlds: a single vendor solution built by the leaders in their respective fields: VMware (virtualization), Cisco (networking) and EMC (storage).
VCE’s Vblock appliances provide a strong foundation for an SDDC approach:
- They’re based on industry standards, so they’re easier to implement and integrate with existing equipment and applications;
- They feature hardware and software technologies (Cisco, EMC, VMware) which are built with extensibility and SDDC integration in mind;
- They’re pre-built and pre-validated, allowing your IT team to deploy infrastructure faster and spend less time managing it;
- They’re flexible, being available in a variety of configurations and supporting both the VMware (NSX) and Cisco (ACI) platforms for network virtualization, a key component of the SDDC approach.
While getting the hardware right is important, so is getting the right advice. At Rolta AdvizeX, you’ll find experienced professionals who have helped many organizations develop transformational strategies, and who can help you achieve your business goals from both an IT and an operational perspective. As a trusted partner to Cisco, EMC, VMware and VCE, we can help you with everything from sizing your solution to choosing the right virtualization platform.
Companies are, after all, like snowflakes: no two are alike. ▪