VSPEX: Blue - Enterprise Grade Hyper Converged Infrastructure Appliance

 Today EMC released our Hyper Converged Infrastructure Appliance (HCIA) based on VMware EVO: Rail. In a previous post I described the different Converged Infrastructure models that I saw emerging in the market to support different application workloads here. Fundamentally I believe different application architectures are best supported by infrastructures optimized for those workloads. I continue to see more customers leveraging converged infrastructure. CI solutions are faster to deploy, simpler to manage, and provide predictable scalability compared to a build it yourself infrastructure approach. EMC is embracing this trend with the acquisition and integration of VCE, and our VSPEX Blue launch today.

The EMC VSPEX Blue solution is leveraging the VMware EVO: Rail program including the specified hardware architecture and software. VSPEX Blue is based on a software defined infrastructure supported by industry standard hardware. The EMC VSPEX Blue includes additional value including industry leading EMC Support including real time chat with technical support, and on site break fix support. In addition, EMC is including a VSPEX Blue manager to support software upgrades of appliance and to provide a single management interface to the entire appliance. EMC single support features for the entire appliance will it to support mission critical workloads.

In addition VSPEX Blue includes enterprise data protection. Snapshot, remote replication, and backup functionality can be installed and managed using EMC VSPEX Blue. For scale the integrated VMware Data Protection Advanced software can target an EMC DataDomain backup storage appliance. Most of the hyper converged infrastructure appliance (HCIA) offerings do not include the EMC enterprise support or integrated data protection functionality offered by VSPEX Blue. These capabilities are critical for supporting enterprise applications and for large remote office (100+ employee's), and enterprise departmental use cases where minimal IT staff is on site.

One of the most interesting features included in VSPEX Blue is the integration of EMC CloudArray functionality. EMC CloudArray will allow customers to extend the storage capacity practically infinitely. An EVO: Rail appliance supports 13TB of usable capacity per appliance. The EMC CloudArray is a new EMC product based on the technology acquired from the TwinStrata acquisition. As the amount of digital data an organization manages today grows at an accelerating pace the ability to leverage an archive store that is both on and off premise is critical. The EMC CloudArray is a gateway technology allows customer to create a software defined storage array that can be interfaced by applications via tradition iSCSI or file protocols. The EMC CloudArray software caches a configurable amount of data locally and then transparent to your application ships the remaining data to an archive store which can be a storage service provider. This provides VSPEX Blue uses with practically limitless storage capacity. The EMC CloudArray software includes enterprise security capabilities such as 256-bit AES encryption of data inflight and at rest. This capability will be valuable for large virtual desktop deployments where infrequently accessed user data can be archived to a cost effective on premise or cloud based storage solution provider. I think this is one of the most interesting features of VSPEX Blue and expands the application use cases beyond the storage capacity limits of the appliance.

The announcement of the EMC VSPEX Blue hyper converged infrastructure appliance was the next logical product offering for EMC customers supporting small and medium enterprise, large ROBO, and departmental IT use cases. The familiar VMware EVO: Rail and EMC enterprise software functionality makes it simple and easy to deploy and manage. Comprehensive support by EMC provides the trust mission critical applications require. I think the inclusion of the EMC CloudArray software is a great example of the value EMC brings to this market and provides a glimpse of future possibilities…

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