On The Growth Path: Benefits of Hyper-converged Infrastructure

According to Research & Markets, it says that hyper-converged infrastructure can be defined as a software system architecture which brings together multiple data center services to amplify computing, networking and storage to improve performance efficiency and reduce costs. It further stated that globally, rising usage of virtualization, increasing need of data protection and disaster recovery, low capex and total cost of ownership are the prime growth drivers of hyper-converged infrastructure market.

In addition, development of technologies to create high value hyper-converged infrastructure and increase in adoption of hyper-converged infrastructure in emerging economies such as China, India and others, is expected to create new opportunities for hyper-converged infrastructure market. However, higher cost of the research and development, demerits of bundled solutions are the key restraints for hyper-converged infrastructure market.

Meanwhile IDC defines converged systems as pre-integrated, vendor-certified systems containing server hardware, disk storage systems, networking equipment, and basic element/systems management software. Specific to management software, IDC includes embedded or integrated management and control software optimized for the auto discovery, provisioning and pooling of physical and virtual compute, storage and networking resources shipped as part of the core, standard integrated system.

MARKET DYNAMICS

Experts say that,HCI offers the combination of cloudlike features – such as automation and self-provisioning in a single, rack-mounted appliance. A IDG research study said that most IT decision were interested in adopting HCI to improve IT agility and enable digital transformation.

Top drivers also include:

• Automating infrastructure provisioning and management
• Maximizing IT security
•  Increasing pressure to transition to a cloud-compute model of IT service delivery

Last year Gartner observed that A Hyper Converged Integrated Systems (HCIS) is a subset of the integrated systems market and will be a key growth engine for this market. These systems tend to cost less than traditional integrated systems, and have a good mix of established and emerging vendors. HCIS is poised for growth because of its low initial acquisition cost compared with traditional integrated systems due to lower storage area network (SAN) costs and features, such as faster time to provision and deploy, better overall total cost of ownership, and ease of maintenance/upgrades.

The adoption of integrated systems in India is being driven by organizations looking to replace existing infrastructures and, as a result, evaluating their options in the market. Large enterprises have focused their efforts on building intelligent data centers that focus on a quick response to the requirements of the business. While most of the spend on integrated systems to date has been driven by the banking and insurance sector, and service providers, the growing number of use cases and an increase in marketing by a wider community of vendors have led to a greater awareness and greater acceptance of integrated systems.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Converged Systems Tracker, worldwide converged systems market revenue increased 9.1% year over year to $3.6 billion during the fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17). Full-year sales surpassed $12.5 billion, representing a 9.4% increase over the previous year and the first time the market surpassed $12 billion in a calendar year.

“The number of organizations deploying converged systems continued to expand through 2017,” said Eric Sheppard, Research Vice President, Enterprise Servers and Storage at IDC. “This drove the total market value past $12.5 billion for the year. While not all market segments increased during the year, those that did grow were able to provide considerable benefits related to the most core infrastructure challenges facing today’s data centers.”

CONVERGED SYSTEMS SEGMENTS

IDC’s converged systems market view offers three segments: certified reference systems & integrated infrastructure, integrated platforms, and hyperconverged systems. Certified reference systems & integrated infrastructure are pre-integrated, vendor-certified systems containing server hardware, disk storage systems, networking equipment, and basic element/systems management software. Integrated platforms are integrated systems that are sold with additional pre-integrated packaged software and customized system engineering optimized to enable such functions as application development software, databases, testing, and integration tools. Hyperconverged systems collapse core storage and compute functionality into a single, highly virtualized solution. A key characteristic of hyperconverged systems that differentiate these solutions from other integrated systems is their scale-out architecture and their ability to provide all compute and storage functions through the same x86 server-based resources. Market values for all three segments includes hardware and software but excludes services and support.

The certified reference systems & integrated infrastructure market generated $1.7 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter, which represents a 3.4% year-over-year decline and 47.1% of the total converged systems market value. Dell Inc. was the largest supplier in this market segment with $735.0 million in sales and a 42.9% share. Cisco/NetApp generated $565.6 million in sales, which was the second largest share at 33.0%. HPE generated $289.3 million in sales and captured 16.9% market share.

OUTLOOK

A fundamental shift is taking place in enterprise infrastructure as many organizations recognize the benefits hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) can offer. These organizations have pursued a new architectural design that pairs web-scale engineering with consumer-grade design – making the infrastructure ‘invisible’ so that IT teams can devote more time to business applications. Increasingly, these same organizations are embracing IT strategies that leverage multiple cloud infrastructures and cloud-based services.