Compare XtremIO vs. Unity all-flash storage system for VDI

#Dell sells two all-flash storage platforms that target #VDI workloads: #DellEMC #Unity and Dell EMC #XtremIO #X2. Unity is a midrange storage platform for small to medium-sized businesses, and XtremIO is an enterprise-scale platform for organizations with large VDI deployments.

In May 2016, EMC introduced the Unity platform to replace its aging VNX systems. Several months later, Dell acquired EMC, and it has since expanded the Unity product line by adding four additional all-flash platforms: Unity 350F, 450F, 550F and 650F. These arrays are faster and more efficient, and they support larger capacities than either the VNX systems or the earlier Unity models.

Dell offers Unity in several forms. The first is the purpose-built physical platform, which you can configure with all-flash drives, or in a hybrid setup that includes a combination of flash and traditional hard disks. An all-flash storage system delivers the best performance because it offers higher I/O rates and submillisecond response times.

The second form is the Unity Virtual Storage Appliance (UnityVSA), a software-defined storage product for consolidating hardware resources. You can download and use the UnityVSA Community Edition for free, or you can go with the subscription-based Professional Edition, which includes technical support and can handle larger capacities. Both editions require that you install UnityVSA on a VMware ESXi host.

Unity also comes as part of a Dell EMC VxBlock System 350 or Vblock System 350 converged infrastructure. With this option, you can take advantage of the Unity all-flash storage system and get a package that simplifies your VDI implementation.

The Unity platform primarily targets VDI implementations with fewer than 500 virtual desktops, but you might be able to support up to 2,000 nonpersistent desktops -- as long as your VDI deployment stays nonpersistent. Persistent virtual desktops require significantly more storage.

http://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/tip/Compare-XtremIO-vs-Unity-all-flash-storage-system-for-VDI

White boxer is a white racker: Supermicro touts Rack Scale Design

Building servers, switches and storage are a good racket for ODM #Supermicro but building #Vblock-like rack scale systems is an even better one. It has launched a complete #RackScale Design system using its server and storage building blocks in standard racks, with multiple rack PODs. Supermicro first talked about its RSD ideas in March. Rack Scale Design (RSD) supports #Intel Xeon SP-based X11 generation and all existing X10 generation server and storage systems, as well as Supermicro networking products. It introduces pooled NVMe storage shared by multiple application hosts over PCI-E interconnects. RSD building blocks share power and cooling resources to provide the claimed best PUE metrics in large scale data centre deployments. Supermicro says customers need to able to put together racks of gear - servers, storage and networking, more easily. Its RSD is pre-packaged, pre-validated, and built on an open standards-based architecture with API-driven Redfish management. It's integrated with data centre management software layers such as #OpenStack

Ultra NVMe,BigTwin,TwinPro,FatTwin,SuperBlade servers,SuperStorage servers,Supermicro 1G, 10G, 25G and 100G Ethernet switches,SuperRack technologies.

The Supermicro Rack Management Module (SRMM) is based on Redfish APIs (and Intel's RSD) and works with Supermicro's POD Manager to speed deployment and make data centre management easier, according to Supermicro. We're told pools of compute, storage and networking across racks can be managed as physical servers, storage arrays and switches are managed now.

Supermicro says that, with RSD, many application hosts can share and dynamically compose systems to support wide range of workloads with a balanced computing, networking and storage ratio.

The company thinks data centres are having to change to cope with application sets needing more data storage and better access to the data, meaning more drives in less physical space, faster drives and faster access to them; shared NVMe drives and PCIe connections to the host servers.

Charles Liang, Supermicro’s President and CEO, said that RSD includes a 1U enclosure with 32 hot-swap NVMe SSDs inside it, claiming this is “unrivalled density

The customer types in mind are cloud service providers, telecoms and Fortune 500 companies. We should understand, Supermicro says, that RSD technology provides a foundation to build future infrastructure for both data centre and cloud environments.

Future RSD releases are planned to support other PCIe end point devices, such as FPGAs, and help data centre operators to programmatically control software-defined data centres from bare metal to cloud-native applications

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/20/supermicros_vblocklike_converged_rack_scale_design/

Dell EMC Sees Intel Scalable Processors Advancing Software-Defined Infrastructure

#DellEMC fulfilled a promise made earlier this year by announcing today it is making available #14G Dell EMC #PowerEdge servers based on the #Intel Xeon Scalable processor series. Brian Payne, senior product planning manager for the Dell PowerEdge Server Portfolio, says the availability of Intel Xeon Scalable processors should significantly accelerate the transition to software-defined infrastructure because of the increased system bandwidth afforded by the NVMe backplane technology Intel developed. While NVMe has been available for some time, the Intel Xeon Scalable Series are the first processors optimized to handle the levels of throughput enabled by NVMe. Specifically, Payne says he expects to see more adoption of both hyperconverged infrastructure ( #HCI ) and #softwaredefinedstorage systems. “HCI and software-defined storage are killer apps for NVMe,” says Payne. Earlier this year, #DellEMC announced that PowerEdge servers would be the foundational component of its #HCI platform based on appliances from #Nutanix, while the company continues to rely on #UCS servers from #Cisco for its #VxRail converged infrastructure platform. Last month, Dell EMC let it be known it is retiring the original #Vblock systems developed by EMC prior to its merger with Dell in favor of a #VxRail series that supports multiple types of network virtualization options on a Cisco UCS platform. Payne says the most significant thing customers need to remember in this brave new world of software-defined infrastructure is that not all applications are created equal. Because of that, IT organizations often need to be able to dynamically make available different classes of resources to different types of applications on the same server. Many IT organizations may simply be getting used to running more applications than ever on fewer physical boxes as the overall density of servers continues to increase. A few short years ago, IT managers were complaining that they were running out of physical space in the data center. Thanks to consolidation a few years later, it’s not uncommon to find plenty of room to spare in a modern enterprise data center environment.

http://mobile.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/it-unmasked/dell-emc-sees-intel-scalable-processors-advancing-software-defined-infrastructure.html

Dell EMC's Goulden And Burton Discuss Software- Vs. Hardware-Defined Storage, Overlapping Storage Lines, And The Future Of Cisco In VxBlock

David Goulden, president of #DellEMC, and Jeremy Burton, chief marketing officer for Dell EMC (pictured l. to r.), are helping the company navigate a sea of technology changes impacting the data center infrastructure business. In this part of a two-part conversation, Goulden and Burton talk about why archrival #Cisco Systems is still part of its billion-dollar #Vblock / #VxBlock business, why it is keeping its overlapping midrange #Unity and #Compellent storage lines, and why storage hardware will remain a key differentiator for the company even as it faces pressure from an industry rapidly adopting software-defined storage technology. Read on to learn more, and then look for the other half of the discussion, which focuses on Dell EMC business issues.

http://m.crn.com/slide-shows/storage/300083988/dell-emcs-goulden-and-burton-discuss-software-vs-hardware-defined-storage-overlapping-storage-lines-and-the-future-of-cisco-in-vxblock.htm

Dell EMC Commits To Exclusive Use Of Cisco UCS Servers In Vblocks, VxBlocks

A couple of key #DellEMC server and storage executives have stated unequivocally said the company would continue to use #CiscoUCS servers, and not Dell servers, in the company's #Vblock #convergedinfrastructure solutions.  Channel partners close to both #Dell and #Cisco had mixed reactions to the Dell #EMC move – some see it as an example of the vendor's commitment to offering flexible solutions to customers, and others see it as a way to keep existing customers satisfied until they move to Dell-centric servers. Chad Sakac, president of Dell EMC's converged platforms and solutions division, said in a December video blog that customers see servers a critical part of how they build their IT infrastructures. [Related: 23 Powerful Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Products] Dell EMC will continue to build its Vblock and #VxBlock pre-integrated converged infrastructure solutions using Cisco UCS servers while building its VxRack hyper-converged rack-scale solutions and its #VxRail -based and #Nutanix-based hyper-converged infrastructure appliances using Dell's R630, R730, and R730xd server platforms with #softwaredefinedstorage, #SSDs, and #NVMe storage, Sakac said. Vblock and VxBlock are similar, but VxBlock includes built-in software-defined networking using #VMware #NSX or #CiscoACI technology. When it comes to enterprise-class Vblock and VxBlock solutions, customers still want to know the specific components or "ingredients" even though they are primarily concerned with the functionality of the solution as a whole, Sakac said. "Customers worry about the ingredients, when they don't really understand that, when they're buying [converged infrastructure], they're not buying the ingredient," he said. "The thing that they're evaluating is everything inside [the solution]. But again, customers start their journey by thinking the ingredients really, really matter. So we say, 'OK, fine.'" Unlike the rack-scale-based and appliance-based hyper-converged infrastructure solutions, in which the storage is tightly integrated with the server, the VCE Vblock platforms feature an external storage array tied to the server, Sakac said. That array could be either a VMAX, XtremIO, XC-series, or Unity, he said. For both the Vblock and the VxRack solutions, Dell EMC has standardized on the Cisco Nexus network technology because of enterprise customer demand, Sakac said. And when VCE Vblocks were first unveiled, they were built using Cisco UCS servers, he said. Both Sakac and Ravi Pendekanti, senior vice president of product management and marketing for Dell PowerEdge servers, said Dell servers compete very well in terms of capabilities with those of Cisco. However, Pendekanti said, Cisco UCS will remain the server platform of choice for Vblocks and VxBlocks.

http://m.crn.com/news/storage/300083302/dell-emc-commits-to-exclusive-use-of-cisco-ucs-servers-in-vblocks-vxblocks.htm

Dell EMC will keep Cisco Vblocks, Nutanix XC Series hyper-convergence

#Dell #EMC reinforced its commitment to sell #Cisco products in #Vblocks and #Nutanix-based XC Series hyper-convergence, even if those vendors compete with Dell and EMC products.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Although Dell's acquisition of EMC created a combined company with a plethora of storage and server products, Dell EMC will keep selling competing products from Cisco and Nutanix.

Dell EMC executives at Dell EMC World this week said they are determined to maintain close partnerships with Cisco and Nutanix in their converged and hyper-converged division.

EMC has sold Cisco Fibre Channel switching for close to two decades, and the two companies combined with EMC-owned VMware to start VCE converged infrastructure in 2009. EMC bought controlling interest of VCE in 2014 and brought it in-house as its Converged Platform Division, but continues to sell Vblocks consisting of Cisco servers and networking, EMC storage and VMware software. And convergence remains a key strategy for Dell EMC.

"Converged infrastructure and hyper-converged, that's where the world's going," Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell said.

Dell EMC has integrated Dell PowerEdge servers into a handful of EMC products since the merger closed Sept. 7, including VxRail hyper-converged appliances, ScaleIO block storage software and Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS). Cisco's UCS server is a major PowerEdge competitor, leading to speculation that PowerEdge will replace UCS in Vblocks.

Not so, said Chad Sakac, president of Dell EMC Converged Storage Platforms. Sakac pointed to his division's annual revenue of roughly $3.5 billion as a sign of customer affinity for buying Vblocks with Cisco technology.

"The first rule of business for me is: Don't punch your customers in the face," he said. "Vblock customers are very happy with how Vblocks are architected. We have no plan to replace the blades and components inside Vblocks. Period. Stop. End of story. It's a good, happy, profitable business that's growing. There is no gain in doing a swap of those components."
http://searchconvergedinfrastructure.techtarget.com/news/450401423/Dell-EMC-will-keep-CiscoVblocks-Nutanix-XC-Series-hyper-convergence

Hyperconverged Infrastructure Is Now A Data Center Mainstay

#Hyperconverged infrastructure, where networking, compute, and storage are assembled in a commodity hardware box and virtualized together, is no longer the odd man out. Compared with converged infrastructure -- a hardware oriented combination of networking and compute -- hyperconverged brings three data center elements together in a virtualized environment. Instead of a few converged units sitting at the edge of the corporate network, hyperconverged infrastructure has become part of the core data center infrastructure, according to 451Research's latest "Quarterly Voice of the Enterprise: Servers and Converged Infrastructure -- Organizational Dynamics." Hyperconverged infrastructure "represents the next evolutionary step" for what passes as standard converged infrastructure, according to the report. All major server and storage suppliers now produce hyperconverged units, but an early spin-off of #EMC and #VMware --  #VCE -- was an early producer of what became known as #Vblocks, which included #Cisco servers and networking, along with #EMC storage and #VMware virtualization.

#HPE, #DellTechnologies, #Nutanix, and #IBM are now all producers as well.

Hyperconverged infrastructure at one time was criticized as overkill and as handing off too many configuration decisions to a single manufacturer. But IT managers and CIOs have abandoned that critique as more and more hyperconverged units are integrated into the data center with minimal configuration headaches and operational setbacks.

The 451 Research Voice of the Enterprise found that 40% of enterprises now use hyperconverged units as a standard building block in the data center, and analysts expect that number to climb rapidly over the next two years.

For that 40% of users: "74.4% of organizations currently using hyperconverged are using the solutions in their core or central datacenters, signaling this transition," according to the report.

Christian Perry, research manager at 451 and lead author of the report, wrote that "loyalties to traditional, standalone servers are diminishing in today's IT ecosystems as managers adopt innovative technologies that eliminate multiple pain points."

As a knowledgeable manufacturer innovates to produce process efficiencies in closely assembled and aligned storage, compute, and networking, both speed of installation and ease of operation lead to greater data center agility, he wrote in the Sept. 29 report.

Such an infrastructure change also leads to a change in the complexion of the IT staff.

For large enterprises of 10,000 employees or more, 41.3% reported that they were planning to change their IT staff makeup as a result of hyperconvergence. Over a third -- 35.5% -- of enterprises responded that they had added more virtual machine specialists due to the adoption converged systems.

According to the authors, "This is more than double the number of organizations actively adding specialists in hardware-specific areas" (such as server administrators or storage and network managers).

http://www.informationweek.com/data-centers/hyperconverged-infrastructure-is-now-a-data-center-mainstay/d/d-id/1327088

VCE Vblocks help healthcare provider fix data center footprint issues

Seeing a decrease in floor space as well as an increase in performance and capacity is a great story to tell management. That's a story Ben Gordon, VP of enterprise infrastructure services at Molina Healthcare Inc., got to tell after installing all-flash #VCE #Vblocks in his data center.

Molina is a healthcare provider based in Long Beach, Calif., with additional offices across the United States. The company was growing so quickly that they were beginning to run out of floor space in their New Mexico data center. On top of that, they needed to support a high-volume call center and member-based applications which experienced performance spikeseach year during periods of open healthcare enrollment.

Molina had already been a VCE customer -- they had Vblock 700 and 300 series already installed. But as their existing hybrid Vblock systems were aging, they used the opportunity to replace some with VCE's newest addition to itsconverged infrastructure lineup: the higher-capacity, all-flash Vblock 740.

Converged infrastructures combine data center components from several different vendors that are pre-tested to work together in one chassis. The Vblock 740 converged infrastructure uses #Cisco #UCS servers, Cisco switching and #EMC #VMAX all-flash storage. That's opposed to hyper-converged infrastructure (which VCE also sells) which includes a hypervisor as well as software that typically provides additional management and features.

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/450302624/VCE-Vblocks-help-healthcare-provider-fix-data-center-footprint-issues

EMC Exec: No Competition Between Dell-Nutanix Appliance And EMC Hyper-Convergence Portfolio

#Dell - #EMC intends to take a more-is-better approach to hyper-convergence, selling Dell’s #Nutanix -powered XC appliance alongside EMC offerings such as #VBlock, #VxRack and #VxRail, according to EMC’s top hyper-convergence executive. And while this sets the combined company on a course to sell a patchwork of complementary and competing proprietary and OEM products, solution providers say having a wide array of options is an effective and profitable way to approach hyper-convergence customers.  @ChadSakac, president of #VCE, EMC’s Converged Platform Division, wrote in a recent blog that the division will likely be the home of Dell’s XC appliance once the $62 billion merger closes. Dell executives have told CRN that account executives from each company will work cooperatively, and with the channel, to meet customers’ needs, meaning it’s entirely possible that EMC sales teams could wind up selling Dell XC solutions.
http://m.crn.com/news/data-center/300081365/emc-exec-no-competition-between-dell-nutanix-appliance-and-emc-hyper-convergence-portfolio.htm

COO: VCE converged infrastructure not affected by Dell-EMC

#VCE's converged systems cater to a wide array of users, but will still differ from #Dell 's converged products after the purchase of VCE's parent company, #EMC, according to COO Todd Pavone.

Like its parent company, EMC, VCE is going through a transition period. VCE recently named longtime EMC executive Chad Sakac its president to oversee the converged infrastructure group, which will likely grow in importance when server vendor Dell completes its $67 billionacquisition of EMC.

VCE COO Todd Pavone, who was part of VCE since its 2009 inception, said some things won't change -- even after Dell assumes control of EMC. Pavone said #Cisco will remain in its current role as a VCE partner, and VCE's converged infrastructure products differ enough from Dell's converged offerings to avoid overlap.

VCE consists of three main converged system products: the #Vblock, which uses Cisco networking and servers; #VxRack for hyperscale environments; and the #EVO:RAIL appliance #VSPEX Blue.

SearchVirtualStorage recently talked to Pavone about VCE's converged infrastructure portfolio and strategy going forward as EMC's main converged infrastructure business.

http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/4500271144/COO-VCE-converged-infrastructure-not-affected-by-Dell-EMC