There is always a lot of buzz around the ‘next’ big IT infrastructure technology, but how much have you heard about hyperconverged infrastructure? It can be hard to sift through the articles and expert opinions for what is the next best solution for your IT environment, and we have seen this through the years, but hyperconverged is worth the look.
The hardware-driven data center will soon be unsustainable. If you think that statement may be too bold, look at the latest commentary on the benefits of the Software Defined Data Center (SDDC).
According to VMware, “The next generation of data centers is clearly software-defined: all infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service, with control entirely automated by software. To fully realize the potential of the software-defined data center, all infrastructure disciplines must therefore be virtualized, and put under automated control. [click to tweet] This creates a separate, more strategic motivation for software-defined storage.” Clearly, the hardware driven data center is well on its way to becoming an IT relic.
The Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) is more so a reality for IT leaders now than ever before. Evolving from a buzzword, many IT leaders have a roadmap that includes SDDC. According a research poll conducted by IDG, 42% of IT Decision Makers plan to move to an SDDC. [click to tweet] As the hardware-driven data center proves itself insufficient to complete business processes and manage increasingly large and complex workloads for enterprises, the need illuminates itself further.
The concept of “software-defined” is not new, in fact we’ve been replacing hardware with software for a long time. Think about the alarm clock you used in the 90’s. If you wanted to set your alarm clock for 30 minutes earlier than usual you had to rotate through 23 and a half hours to set your new time. But that was normal. Fast-forward to now and your alarm can be turned on, off, or adjusted with a click of a button – right on your mobile device – replacing hardware with a software enabled device.
The IT data center finds itself at a decisive nexus in its life cycle and is about to undergo a similar transformation to that of the Google self-driving car. Just as a computer-driven car doesn’t have to listen to the needs of a human driver, a software orchestrator drives all of the IT decision making, providing automated judgments for the organization based on the immediate conditions at hand. A Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) completes this transition.
“Software Defined Data Center is where…all the complexity in configuring and changing all the individual elements is abstracted to a single control level where you can make those changes with the single press of a button.”
