What is Hyperconvergence?

Hyperconvergence is an IT framework model that allows businesses to reduce data centre complexity and improve the scalability of their IT architecture. This is achieved by combining storage, computing and networking into a single server solution supported by a hypervisor to support the virtualisation of machines.  

Hyperconvergence infrastructure (HCI) is usually run on standard servers with multiple nodes that can be clustered into pools of shared resources for compute and storage applications. With this in mind, HCI is designed for convenient consumption and a simplified IT structure.  

Hyperconvergence differs from convergence IT systems as it adds more automation and a deeper level of abstraction. Unlike convergence, hyperconvergence provides seamless integration that enhances scalability. However, the components of a hyperconverged environment cannot be separated, unlike a converged architecture.  

HCI provide the agility of public cloud infrastructure whilst maintaining control of hardware on an organisation’s own premises, creating a fully distributed and secure storage system that protects organisations’ critical business data.

The Growth of Hyperconvergence 

Hyperconvergence is increasingly growing in popularity and winning over organisations across the globe This is due to its potential to ease management, streamline the deployment of new workloads, and optimise infrastructure costs. 

Hyperconverged technology is undoubtedly growing in popularity and importance; Gartner has given the technology its own magic quadrant highlighting that it is firmly established in the tech world.1 Growth of this technology can also be seen through Meticulous Research’s findings which show that the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) market will be worth $42 billion by 2028, equating to 24% growth this decade.2  

What are the Benefits of Hyperconverged Infrastructure? 
 

Increased Simplicity and Flexibility  

Hyperconverged infrastructure delivers simplicity and flexibility compared to legacy systems. The integrated storage, servers and networking switches are designed to be managed as a single system, eliminating the need for multiple management services. 

Improved Scalability 

The software-defined storage enables greater scalability and resource efficiency: Companies can start small and grow resources as needed. 
Save Your Company Money: Hyperconvergence IT systems encourage potential cost savings in areas such as data centre power and space and IT labour. 
Increased Security: With data protection, disaster recovery and an increase in resilience, HCI works to increase the security of your IT system. 

Hyperconvergence Versus the Cloud 

Hyperconverged infrastructure and the cloud both use software-defined management systems to combine hardware resources which can then be virtualised. Both technologies work towards optimal infrastructure management automation but use different approaches. 

The cloud simplifies processes for the user by putting a layer of abstraction between them and the compute resources they are using. The cloud helps to make data centres available to multiple users over the internet and provides organisations with always-available on-demand system resources, without the need for direct management, and eliminates the need for local storage and computing to run programs and share data with others.  

HCI is aimed at making it easier for IT teams to provide services to users by standardising and unifying the platform. It gives organisations a reliable operating environment with hyper-integrated building blocks. HCI has a positive impact on centralised data management, with data protection and big data workloads which explains why it has increased in popularity amongst businesses in recent years. 

The two technologies can work together as HCI supports the cloud by giving organisations a simple and productive environment to set up their database in the cloud. HCI is a scalable, simple, and cost-effective approach to establish cloud, be it private, public, or hybrid. 

Which Workloads Work Best with HCI? 

HCI systems were initially aimed at Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and other workloads with predictable resource requirements. Over time, they have expanded into scalable platforms for enterprise applications, database, and private cloud. Common workloads run on hyperconverged systems include databases, file and print services, collaboration platforms, commercial packaged software, analytics, and web-facing workloads. 

Additionally, smaller enterprises that may not need a full-scale data centre infrastructure but want to retain some control over their environments may also benefit from hyperconverged infrastructure.  

The Future of Hyperconvergence Infrastructure

Hyperconverged infrastructure will inevitably evolve to keep up with advances in modern technology. Some vendors, such as HPE, are already disaggregating their HCI offerings, which takes advantage of virtualisation to allow users to customise the components of their HCI stack. 

HCI is also adapting to containerisation and many vendors are now positioning their offering with containers in mind, with a view to assisting organisations in achieving a state of digital modernity through the converging of containers and infrastructure. Specifically, advanced hyper converged systems, optimised for helping companies create new applications as microservices, deploying them in containers and managing them with Kubernetes, is the path to the modernised enterprise. 

The Next Steps 

At Techbuyer, we have partnerships with market-leading infrastructure vendors and can offer advice on the right hyper converged infrastructure solution for your organisation from vendors such as HPE and VMware. 

We have a team of highly trained Solutions Architects who can guide you through all the different products on the market. Please get in touch here to find out how we can help. 

Citations 
1. Network World, 16/03/2018 
2. Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. 14/09/2021