Converged infrastructure (CI) is a hit in the C suite, and not just among CIOs. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) have also become champions of converged infrastructure, although often for different reasons.
In this three-part series, I’ll examine how converged infrastructure solutions like the VCE Vblock appeal to the different sweet spots of the C suite, starting with the perspective of the CIO.
CIOs are in the midst of unprecedented changed, not only in the way that technology is consumed but in how their role is perceived within the enterprise. Once seen as the gatekeepers of technology, CIOs have seen the gates come down as IT as a Service (ITaaS) and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives have allowed business users to exert more control over their own IT consumption. Rather than limiting the role of the CIO, however, these changes have liberated CIOs to focus on driving innovation and revenue rather than managing hardware and software.
Converged infrastructure solutions such as VCE’s Vblock system align with the new role of the CIO by accelerating and simplifying the consumption of IT within the enterprise. Let’s look at some of the reasons why:
1. It’s a pre-integrated, pre-validated solution that works right out of the box.
Converged infrastructure delivers a completely integrated solution that provides storage, servers and networking in a single, standardized appliance. That means there is no need to spend weeks or even months integrating and validating separate components; the solution works correctly and predictably from day one.
2. It simplifies troubleshooting and maintenance.
CIOs have traditionally cobbled together their infrastructure from best-of-breed components, often under the direction of individual storage, networking and server teams. When problems arise, as they invariably do, each team goes back to their respective vendor and the finger-pointing begins. While VCE is comprised of leading vendors (VMware, Cisco and EMC), it is in fact a single company that delivers one point of contact for all technical support issues, which speeds problem resolution and eliminates finger-pointing.
3. It leverages and expands your team’s skill set.
By using industry-leading technology, the VCE Vblock uses skills that most enterprises already have in house. In addition, some CIOs find that the time traditionally spent integrating and deploying infrastructure can now be used to cross-train their team on different aspects of the Vblock, so that the SAN administrator (for example) now becomes a CI administrator who can provide more value to the business.
4. It meets the need for today’s “I need it now” IT consumption.
To stay agile and competitive, business users need IT resources quickly. If they can’t get those resources in house or need to wait months while new infrastructure is deployed, they’ll simply outsource their IT needs to a service provider. With converged infrastructure, CIOs can quickly deliver IT on demand, move it seamlessly from a test/development environment to production, and scale it easily as demand grows.
One of the misconceptions surrounding converged infrastructure is a perceived lack of flexibility because the storage, server and networking functions are bundled together in a single appliance. The Vblock in fact provides exceptional flexibility, with multiple configurations and extensibility that allows CIOs to expand storage, compute or networking capabilities individually as requirements grow. As a leading partner to Cisco, EMC, VMware and VCE, Rolta AdvizeX can help you size and configure the Vblock to your business requirements, deploy it and even manage it to save you additional time.
Next week: “Four Reasons Why CFOs Love CI.” ▪