Infrastructure

What exactly is a hyperconverged infrastructure and what are its benefits?

It is impossible to imagine the IT world today without a hyperconverged infrastructure. The infrastructure was created in response to the shortages of a traditional;- and later converged IT infrastructure. Its features are fully tailored to the needs of modern businesses. In this blog post, we reflect on this evolution and its positive impact on your business. Think: simplicity, scalability, cost savings, etc.

From traditional, to converged and hyperconverged infrastructure

Traditional IT infrastructure

In a traditional IT infrastructure, the three hardware components: compute, storage and network are positioned side by side. As a result, all of them can be managed, adjusted, and controlled on-premises. Stability and availability are therefore keywords that characterise this infrastructure.

Disadvantages

Labor-intensive:
The hardware components are often placed in several different units or silos, each with its own management software. Such a variety of software vendors, results in this IT infrastructure being complex and fragmented. Managing it therefore becomes too labor-intensive to adequately support your company’s day-to-day operations.

High cost & lack of flexibility:
Before purchasing your traditional IT infrastructure, you need to determine how much compute, storage, and network you need today, as well as in the future. This means that you need to purchase hardware that is only likely to be used during peak periods, and that you need to make an estimation of possible long-term growth as well. Obviously, you want to avoid reinvesting in a completely new IT infrastructure, adapted to the needs of your company in the short term.

Converged IT infrastructure

With a converged infrastructure, in fact, compute, network and storage were already incorporated into a single unit. It is an optimised all-in-one solution, often with a single vendor and a single point of contact for questions and problems. The centralised software platform ensures that your converged infrastructure can be managed as a single unit. This provides a lot of simplicity and has a positive effect on compatibility. Your IT team will gain more time and space to focus on other, more business-critical projects.

Hyperconverged IT infrastructure

The hyperconverged infrastructure takes it one step further and adds virtualisation to the converged infrastructure. The hypervisor divides the hardware into virtual servers, switches, and storage. You can think of it as the brain of the system that virtualises and interconnects the various components to increase performance and storage (if desired). This hyperconverged infrastructure offers high availability, reliability, and flexibility. All thanks to its simplicity, centralised management, and the faster and better performance it delivers.

The benefits of a hyperconverged infrastructure summarised

Simplicity

The infrastructure is an all-in-one package. Its purchase and continued support are provided by one single vendor. It offers quick and easy deployment, automated management capabilities, and one central management interface. ‘Hyperconvergence’ therefore takes the complexity out of your IT environment.

Scalability

You only buy what you need at that moment, but you can scale rapidly and flexibly with the needs of your business environment. The infrastructure allows you to easily respond to your dynamic needs without impacting your operational systems.

Affordability

Many different components are combined into one solution, which significantly reduces infrastructure costs. This also dramatically reduces ongoing costs (electricity, cooling, power), which has a positive impact on your digital footprint. In addition, the simplicity and scalability eliminates the need for expensive IT training and certifications. This allows your IT staff to fully focus on innovation and supporting your business.

High availability and disaster recovery

Data backup and disaster recovery are built into the hyperconverged infrastructure. This automation ensures security in addition to simplicity and efficiency. Each node contributes to shared storage. If a node fails, the workload is moved to a functioning node. As a result, there is little or no interruption to business operations.

Conclusion

A hyperconverged infrastructure is the perfect solution for enterprises that need to update their infrastructure, control their costs, and ensure high availability.

Want to know more?

Are you curious to know how Syntory can help you move forward? Or do you still have some questions? Do not hesitate to contact us.