Kit list: Top converged systems hitting the market

This article appeared in the October issue of CRN magazine alongside this feature: "Help customers go hyper-scale" 

HP ConvergedSystem for SAP HANA

The HP ConvergedSystem for SAP HANA is a comprehensive in-memory optimised solution for running large mission-critical SAP HANA platform-based workloads while helping clients speed up problem resolution and improve response time to business demands. 

Two models were released in June. The HP ConvergedSystem 500 for SAP HANA, based on the latest Intel Xeon architecture, is purpose-built for analytics and data warehousing workloads. The HP ConvergedSystem 900 for SAP HANA delivers up to 12 TB of data in a single memory pool to power the most mission-critical business applications. Both are available for on-premise, hosted and cloud environments to provide automated and uninterrupted failover.

Available in Australia via Ingram Micro and Avnet.

Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance 

In June, Oracle unveiled the Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance, the latest in its series of converged infrastructure solutions, or ‘engineered systems’, in Oracle-speak.

The Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance, designed to help customers get Oracle and third-party applications or services up and running with minimal time spent on provisioning and configuration, streamlines application and service deployments via Oracle VM templates for more than 100 Oracle software packages.

Compute nodes for the solution include Oracle’s Sun Server X4-2 Xeon processor-based systems running Oracle VM Server for x86 for server virtualisation. They connect to the Oracle ZFS Storage ZS3-ES for centrally storing the management environment, and provide data storage for virtual machines.

Available in Australia via Avnet Technology Solutions and Nextgen Distribution.

Nimboxx AU-110

The AU-110 from Nimboxx is an all-in-one hyper-converged infrastructure solution that combines servers, storage, networking and security with mesh-based scale-out, dynamic resource orchestration and self-balancing workloads. The solution, released in June when Nimboxx came out of stealth mode, also provides dynamic adaptation to cache and storage changes based on multi-dimensional workload analyses.

Deployments can start with a single node and scale to hundreds. The Nimboxx Mesh Operating System (MeshOS) installs on bare metal and allows for direct control over all hardware resources. MeshOS also offers a RESTful API for integration with third-party applications.

Nutanix Operating System (NOS) 4.0

The Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure solution consists of its Nutanix Operating System (NOS) running on commodity hardware. In April, the company released NOS 4.0. 

Included in the new release is MapReduce post-process deduplication capability to significantly boost the effective capacity of a cluster, tunable redundancy to allow configuration of different degrees of fault tolerance, integrated data protection including local backups and remote replication, the ability to manage multiple Nutanix clusters across multiple locations, and Cluster Health for end-to-end visibility of virtual machines, nodes and disks in a cluster.

Available in Australia via Whitegold Solutions.

SimpliVity OmniCube

SimpliVity last year entered the hyper-converged infrastructure market with its OmniCube.

SimpliVity’s OmniCube data architecture includes what the company calls a Data Virtualisation Platform that tracks what data belongs to which virtual machine and enabling virtual machine mobility. The 2U OmniCube also uses deduplication, compression and optimisation of data at inception to ensure efficient storage. Also included is integrated data protection, including built-in virtual machine backup and data replication between primary and disaster recovery sites.

Two or more OmniCube systems networked together form an OmniCube Global Federation, a scalable pool of shared resources.

SolidFire Agile Infrastructure

In May, all-flash storage system designer SolidFire released its first Agile Infrastructure reference architecture for OpenStack. SolidFire AI is a prevalidated, converged infrastructure design that enables start-to-finish deployment of an OpenStack cloud infrastructure in less than one hour, through the combination of industry-leading compute, networking, orchestration and all-flash storage technologies. 

Steve Kelly, regional manager Australia & New Zealand, SolidFire said, “the Agile Infrastructure offering is a validated reference architecture with thorough configuration documentation and guidelines that would be ordered and assembled by customer and/or channel partner. 

“We are actively working with channel partners and distributors to formalise the availability of a fully integrated AI design that can be ordered and assembled before arriving onsite at the customer.”

SolidFire is distributed locally via Sapply.

Forward by Unisys

Unisys, better known for its mainframe technology, late last year unveiled its Forward by Unisys platform, which targets future software-defined data centres with a software-based fabric architecture connecting computing resources and components through high-speed interconnects. Part of the engineering team that developed Forward v2.0 is based in Australia.

Forward, which in June was updated with Intel Xeon E7 processors, features Unisys secure partitioning (s-Par) software to manage workloads and create a secure ‘container’ of dedicated resources including processing, memory and I/O for each application. Forward is targeted at Unix-to-Linux and Windows migration, secure cloud and big data workloads, ERP applications, and data centre consolidation.

Available in Australia direct from Unisys.

VCE Vblock System 340

The Vblock System 340 is the latest addition from VCE, the joint venture of EMC, Cisco and VMware. It is a highly scalable system for rapid deployment or expansion of virtualised data centres, cloud environments and service provider implementations. The 340 System handles a wide array of individual or mixed workloads including virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Microsoft Exchange 2010, Oracle and SAP enterprise applications, and vertical industry solutions. 

The Vblock 340 includes no single point of failure, and offers advanced data protection as well as inline deduplication that allows for more efficient use of storage resources.

Available in Australia via Ingram Micro and Westcon.

Nimble Storage SmartStack

The SmartStack for Desktop and Server Virtualisation from Nimble Storage, released in February, leverages Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), Nimble Storage CS-Series arrays, VMware vSphere and VMware Horizon View technology to eliminate the guesswork involved in planning, sizing and provisioning infrastructure for desktop and server virtualisation. 

Available in Australia via Nextgen Distribution.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX

Dell claims that PowerEdge VRTX is the first integrated IT converged solution designed specifically for remote- and small-office environments. It was enhanced in April with new capabilities including the addition of a second RAID to eliminate a single point of failure; additional server node choices for memory-intensive applications; enhanced tools to manage local or remote VRTX systems, and expanded support for virtual desktops via optional graphical processing units.

In July, Dell also unveiled a relationship with Nutanix under which it is reselling the Nutanix solution through its direct and indirect channels while preparing an OEM version featuring
Nutanix software running on a Dell server.

Available in Australia via Whitegold Solutions and Avnet Technology Solutions.

Fujitsu vShape

The Fujitsu vShape, released in February, offers a simple, scalable virtualisation solution using industry-standard components including NetApp storage, Brocade networking and VMware virtualisation technology, all running on Fujitsu Primergy servers. 

The vShape solutions start small with a configuration for as few as 25 virtual servers, and scales from there as needed. vShape offers easy ordering, standard maintenance for all components, and one single point of contact for the complete solution. Fujitsu claims the vShape’s deployment time can be measured in hours, not days.

Available in Australia via Dicker Data and Distribution Central.

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform

The Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) was updated in April to provide the foundation of an IT infrastructure that can adapt to continuously changing business needs without disruption. The UCP now features new entry-level configurations for VMware vSphere. Its Unified Compute Director software also was enhanced with increased capabilities, including server profiling for simplified provisioning and enhanced disaster recovery integration.

According to HDS, UCP combines best-of-breed storage, server, networking and software management in fully integrated packages designed for mission-critical workloads. HDS’ converged infrastructure offering relies on comprehensive, pretested cloud-ready infrastructure that can be deployed quickly and managed easily.

Available in Australia via Avnet and Lynx Technologies.