By Rich Ptak
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| Figure 1 IBM CS822 (Photo courtesy of IBM, Inc.) |
Congratulations to IBM[1] and Nutanix[2] on their July 11th announcement of the industry’sfirst hyperconverged system that combines Nutanix software with POWER8-based systems (IBM CS821, IBM CS822). They are delivering two significant innovations:
- Immediate access to a fully-configured, full stack workload-optimized system with servers designed for data and high-performance workloads, e.g. high-volume transaction and cognitive analytics. This includes scale-out Linux workloads like IBM WebSphere® Application Server, NGINIX, IBM Big Insights/Hadoop, etc.
- Vastly simplified, automated implementation of on-premise cloud-like operation. Nutanix’s world-class Enterprise Cloud Platform[3] makes cloud creation transparent as it simplifies operations and management with one-click access, operation, and management in an on-premise cloud-like environment.
Configuring the optimal combination of compute infrastructure elements (processor, storage, network, operating software, etc.) for a workload has been a challenge forever. The perennial trade-off has been between the heavy burden and expertise required to design a system for optimal workload performance; and the alternative of adapting the workload to an off-the-shelf system. Custom configurations involve a resource intensive, manual process requiring significant expertise with the significant downsides of cost, time and the need for specialized support. The standard alternative sacrifices performance, capacity, scalability or other features, for a lower cost, immediate availability and standard support. In today’s rapidly evolving, highly competitive market, such compromising may yield short-term advantage, but will more likely result in long-term problems.
A cloud-based solution would be an alternative, for those with the necessary expertise in cloud infrastructure design, configuration, management, etc. Or, a willingness to depend upon cloud provider expertise. Not to worry. Just last May, IBM and Nutanix announced plans to attack the problem head-on with a multi-year initiative to provide an integrated solution that combines Nutanix’s Enterprise Cloud Platform software with IBM’s Hyperconverged Systems optimized for specific enterprise workloads.
The first results are seen in these turn-key hyperconverged fully-scalable, on-premise cloud systems. They are impressive. There’s a lot more to the announcement. So, talk to IBM to get the full details. We expect customers will agree.
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