Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Bruce is the chief product officer at StorMagic, responsible for all aspects of product management, engineering and corporate communications
As the demand for scalable, cost-effective IT solutions continues to rise, balancing cost, reliability and performance has become a significant challenge for IT leaders. The 2023 acquisition of VMware by Broadcom has sparked widespread concern regarding significant price increases, product bundling, changing support models and future product direction.
This evolving landscape, shaped by shifting priorities and rising costs, has led to massive confusion and frustration in the market and new thinking about how and where applications should reside. Should they run on-site, in the cloud or a combination of both?
While many IT teams have embraced cloud solutions, these approaches often fall short in edge computing environments and for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). These environments are typically smaller sites that need to run a limited number of applications, but they are mission-critical and the cloud has drawbacks for them.
Areas of “cloud concern” for these smaller site environments include high cost, application performance issues and uptime. This disconnect has prompted organizations to explore alternatives to the cloud that solve these problems. Many are turning to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI).
The Rise Of HCI
HCI integrates computing, networking and storage into a unified, virtualized environment, streamlining IT management and improving operational agility. This convergence simplifies data management by enabling organizations to efficiently manage resources and respond swiftly to changing business needs. As IT needs grow more complex due to business demands like artificial intelligence and digital transformation, HCI stands out for its ability to be flexible and easily scale as business needs evolve.
HCI’s ability to deliver these benefits has not gone unnoticed. Adoption rates are climbing, and businesses are increasingly recognizing the potential for significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. Vendors are also expanding their HCI offerings, making solutions more robust and flexible to meet the evolving needs of modern enterprises.
While digital transformation often brings challenges—delays, complications and technical hurdles—HCI offers a scalable, software-based solution that simplifies these processes. It empowers organizations to grow without compromising on performance or cost, keeping the C-suite satisfied with IT investments. In fact, with 75% of data expected to be generated and processed outside traditional data centers or cloud environments by 2025, HCI is becoming a key component of these small site deployments.
The rise of HCI reflects a broader shift in how organizations approach IT infrastructure. It is not just a technological investment, but a strategic one, offering organizations a way to navigate modern IT challenges with greater flexibility and efficiency.
How To Prepare For Implementing HCI
Before businesses implement HCI, they should perform a detailed total cost analysis to make sure the solution can deliver the ROI that the business requires. The analysis should include both cap ex and op ex. Cap ex should include the total three- or five-year cost of the new server and storage hardware, software and other infrastructure costs. For op ex, make sure to include the costs of the IT team that will be needed to manage the solution as well as power costs.
Organizations need to make sure their staff is ready for the new HCI deployment and train IT personnel on any new management tools and best practices to ensure a smooth transition. This will also get IT ready to troubleshoot if any difficulties arise.
A best practice is to complete at least one pilot implementation or proof of concept (POC) deployment, which involves a small-scale deployment to test the HCI technology and identify any possible issues before the full rollout.
Considerations Before Implementing HCI
Of course, IT infrastructure isn’t one-size-fits-all, and there are some key factors to help determine if HCI is the correct solution for your organization. Businesses interested in implementing HCI should consider the following:
• Analyze current server, storage and network capabilities. This will help determine where HCI would be most useful to improve efficiency and scalability. This can also help identify potential bottlenecks or resource limitations before they happen.
• Assess edge workloads from a performance standpoint. Managing data at the edge can be complex due to the variety and volume of data generated. Organizations should implement robust data management solutions with the latest CPU/GPUs, fast SSDs and high-speed networking.
• Ensure secure data at the edge. Organizations should prioritize HCI solutions with built-in security features so sensitive data can be protected from unauthorized access. It is also essential that businesses put in place strong data privacy protocols to safeguard sensitive information and ensure compliance, particularly at the edge.
• Think about future growth. Be careful going with a pure HCI solution, because if you need to grow just compute or storage, you may wind up having to add both. Scaling requires more HCI nodes, which can be cost-prohibitive. A traditional three-tier architecture with the server, storage and networking in separate physical instances could be a better solution in these scenarios so they can scale independently.
• Consider the cloud. There are some scenarios where eliminating on-site hardware and software can make sense due to the potential for lowering costs. Some situations where the cloud makes sense are if your need for data processing is low (keep ingress and egress costs down), your location can handle occasional downtime (due to internet or cloud outages) and real-time performance isn’t a necessity (cloud will have longer latency on I/O than on-site IT).
Looking To The Future
As data increasingly migrates away from traditional data centers and cloud platforms, due to the rise of edge computing, HCI presents a clear path forward. Looking ahead, HCI will enable organizations to thrive in a world driven by data. Integrating essential IT components into a cohesive system helps reduce overhead costs, improve efficiency and maintain a competitive edge by adapting swiftly to market changes and evolving customer needs.
Whether for SMBs or larger enterprises, HCI offers a way to adapt to shifting demands while ensuring cost-effectiveness and reliability. As businesses continue their digital transformations at the edge, HCI will be central to ensuring they remain competitive, agile and prepared for the future.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
