Hyperconvergence: Downsize to Upgrade.
New infrastructure solutions actually make increasing your network’s capacity simpler and easier to maintain.
When I talk to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) as well as K-12 IT directors, many of them have the same issues. They’re all trying to deal with increasing amounts of data storage and computing capacity, typically with a lean IT staff.
When they do upgrade, it’s usually what we call a “forklift” upgrade – heavy capital spends on equipment as well as software. Then, of course, there’s an increase in complexity. We’re finding that hyperconvergence is a viable solution for many of these clients. Here’s why.
Why Upgrading Isn’t Easy
Imagine you’re upgrading to a new, better house. In the real world, you’d call movers and they’d take care of the whole thing. But what would happen if you had to call multiple companies to get this done? One can only haul your stuff out of the house. Another can transport it. A third will unpack the truck but not put anything in your house, and so on. The worst part is that none of these vendors will coordinate with each other. They might blame each other for mistakes, and if they don’t get the timing right, you could find your move delayed, or all of your stuff sitting on your new lawn in the rain.
That’s how complex modernizing infrastructure is for most businesses and institutions. Each level of infrastructure can involve hardware and software components from various vendors, in addition to multiple management systems. It’s difficult to get everything in sync when you’re upgrading, and like a bad moving company, some vendors will take a hands-off approach, blaming problems on products they’re not responsible for.
An upgrade that’s supposed to be better for your organization turns out to be more costly in terms of capital expenditures as well as increased time monitoring and implementing by your IT administrative team.
The Hyperconverged Approach to Datacenter Architecture
Matrix Integration has been working with a fast-growing, Indianapolis-based firm that’s come up with an SMB solution to reduce complexity and costs at the same time. Scale Computing was founded by former IT administrators who wanted to reinvent infrastructure, and they’ve done it. Their technology combines multiple layers of traditional infrastructure hardware and software into a single, scalable platform. The IT industry is calling this elimination of complexity “hyperconvergence“.
Scale Computing’s hyperconvergence product – the HC3 virtualization platform – does the work of several devices at once, with server, storage and virtualization in a single unit. It easily integrates into existing systems, and eliminates the need to coordinate with multiple vendors. The HC3 hardware is physically small and takes up far less room than legacy hardware, and HC3 clusters can be deployed on an existing system in less than an hour.
When customers hear about this, they often think it’s too good to be true. But the proof is in the success of more than 2,500 businesses, government departments and education institutions who’ve installed Scale Computing solutions.
A K-12 Solution: Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township
One of our clients that successfully modernized with Scale Computing is the Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Wayne Township. With 21 schools, more than 16,000 students and even more Windows devices and Chromebooks, the IT department managed with a trim staff. The district, like most institutions, needed to increase its storage and memory capacity, but decided to go a different route than simply installing more servers.
Pete Just, the CTO of MSD of Wayne, chose instead to “downsize” with Scale Computing. The HC3 clusters have replaced cabinets of servers, and the installation and ramp-up was much faster than he expected.
“I was hoping it would turn out to be pretty good, and it’s turned out to be really great,” Pete said in this video about the project.
Is Hyperconvergence Right for Your Organization?
Done the right way, implementing a hyperconvergence solution could easily save an organization 40 percent on hard costs, and even more when you calculate the soft costs of time and expenses of training and setting up a new system.
Organizations are buzzing about this and talking to each other to see if it’s really true. It is. Talk to us and let us see if a solution from Scale Computing is right for your business or institution.
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