Why VCE's OpenStack converged system could stop users bypassing IT

VCE, the converged platforms division of EMC, has revealed an OpenStack model of its VxRack System 1000, which will join versions based on VMware as well as for alternative hypervisors.

The VxRack System 1000 can be configured with different node types for different workloads, and now comes in three "personalities", said Matthew Oostveen, CTO of VCE Asia-Pacific & Japan. The latest model, the VxRack model with Neutrino nodes, joins the SDDC (software-defined data centre) model, for companies that have standardised on VMware, and the Flex model, suitable for non-VMware hypervisors such as Microsoft Hyper-V and KVM.

The Neutrino model lets user rapidly deploy apps, and is a foundation for multiple cloud-native services including OpenStack, VMware Photon and Apache Hadoop.

Oostveen said VCE was offering the three different models to accommodate customer preference – whether for VMware or for rival platforms. "I don't think that building walls around the empire and trying to keep the tide out has ever worked as a strategy."

The VxRack SDDC model, due to ship later this year, is aimed at "customers that have made heavy VMware investments", said Oostveen. "Not only do they have strong level of licensing, they also have large numbers of technical teams trained in VMware. It makes sense that they are able to deploy a technology where they don't have to retrain, and more importantly, don't have to insert a new silo.

"Some customers have made an investment in a different hypervisor and want to deploy applications differently, and an SDDC environment is not going to be right for them. What we have for them is the Flex configuration, which opens up the bare metal capabilities of the infrastructure to enable customer to configure and tune the infrastructure dependent upon their needs.

With the new Neutrino model, VCE recognises that "OpenStack is gaining momentum in the marketplace", said Oostveen.

"IT teams are looking for ways they can better serve lines of business who are asking them to be more rapid in the deployment of an application. [Line of business] are asking them to stand up infrastructure and software faster than they were able to before. What they are looking for is a public cloud-like environment on-premise."

He explained that line-of-business teams would bypass IT if they couldn't get the rapid deployment they were seeking. "I am really interested in this bypassing phenomenon. Why do people bypass IT? What is IT not doing right?"

"That is where this OpenStack solution comes into play," he added.

VCE claims to be the world leader in converged systems, with a range spanning from the lower-end with its VxRail hyperconverged appliance, which launched in February and competes with Nutanix and Simplivity, up to its flagship Vblock system, which combines technology from EMC, VMware and Cisco.

The journalist travelled to EMC World as a guest of EMC.