A recent World Watch Webinar explores HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure, its new features, and its application at the edge. This checklist can help you make sure the HCI edge solution you deploy delivers what you really need.
Many organizations that have data at the edge have to get that data to their core data center, either for analysis or processing. And IT must have the ability to archive and back up the data to ensure availability. Sounds complex. To further complicate matters, you must have the ability to move data from edge to core or edge to cloud – and do so seamlessly.
Processing and protecting data at the edge
So, what exactly is the edge? “The edge” is effectively any location outside of a centralized data center, and it is where most of today’s data is either generated or consumed. You may ask, “Why does the edge matter?” The edge really drives new revenue streams and provides an ability for increasing operational efficiency with analytics and AI – closer to where the action is. Being able to process more of that data near the edge results in significant value for the organization.
The edge presents its own unique challenges. Some organizations don't have enough IT personnel to manage infrastructure at multiple remote locations. For those organizations, it can be an enormous benefit to find a solution that solves most of these challenges for you. HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) does just that. It also has the unique capability to deliver, with just two nodes, a complete edge solution without compromising on high availability or requiring additional resources to keep things up and running.
Here’s a checklist that can help you make sure any HCI solution you deploy delivers what you need to keep your data accessible and simple to manage at the edge. HPE SimpliVity checks all the boxes.
1. Cost savings on management? Check!
The real beauty of the HPE SimpliVity architecture is in the unified management structure, where all the infrastructure, even if it’s widely distributed, can be managed from a single console. Simpler than many other architectures, certainly, and it’s cost-effective, too. Here’s a comparison: According to an HPE cost/site analysis of hyperconverged deployments, a single site without HPE SimpliVity can run about $88,000. (eighty-eight thousand USD) in total cost of ownership, depending on the hardware platform you choose. HPE SimpliVity customers, on the other hand, have a much lower TCO. In fact, our tests show that customers save as much as 63% on a single edge site. Now you may be thinking, “this is great for a single site, but what about when you have hundreds of sites?” That’s when the TCO savings get really serious.
In a recent HPE World Watch Webinar, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Vinay Jonnakuti, talks about a customer who deployed HPE SimpliVity in their sports and recreation retail stores. They were up against a lot of challenges and were looking for a simple, scalable solution. Starting with just two small nodes of HPE SimpliVity in one store, they have now rolled the hyperconverged infrastructure out to all 150 of their stores. What were the results? They achieved 17% faster updates and huge cost savings overall. Based on average performance results in HPE test labs, this would likely hold true for many retail store businesses.
Another interesting use case for HPE SimpliVity is in the agricultural manufacturing industry. In this case, the customer also wanted an edge solution, but they had limited IT staff available to manage the infrastructure. HPE SimpliVity allows them to manage each of their distributed sites with just two hyperconverged nodes.
2. Simplicity, efficiency, and scalability? Check!
The greatest advantage of HPE SimpliVity might just be the tiny footprint. Customers can start small and actually stay small, footprint-wise, as they grow their infrastructure. There are customers who have transformed their data centers by collapsing multiple racks into a few HPE SimpliVity nodes. And if they have to scale their infrastructure, they can simply add more compact hyperconverged nodes without compromising performance.
3. Built-in data protection and disaster recovery? Check!
HPE SimpliVity architecture isn’t just about high efficiency. It’s also a friction-free data protection model. What’s really important is its ability to back up and replicate data and applications very easily, and even send archival data to HPE StoreOnce for backups that are tightly integrated within the user interface. Everything is seamless. Everything is simple.
Our HPE SimpliVity HyperGuarantee promises you will have the ability to backup and restore or clone 1 TB VMs in less than 60 seconds. Less than the time spent brewing a cup of coffee. And you can set up automated disaster recovery to automate the whole failover process, too. Once the plan is in place, you just execute it when needed, and all your VMs are up and running in the remote site.
4. Top-notch management? Check!
IT infrastructure management is often seen as the complex part of a solution where specialized – and scarce – resources are needed to set up and monitor the environment. This is where HPE SimpliVity really shines by providing a tight, intuitive integration with VMware vCenter. Managing everything from a single interface where most operations require just a couple of clicks is a huge advantage. Add in the ability to do single-click upgrades and you have a real time-saver solution.
The ultimate differentiator for HPE SimpliVity is our integration with HPE InfoSight artificial intelligence. With predictive and preventive maintenance insights, you can better understand what's going to happen within your infrastructure over time.
5. Backup to HPE Cloud Volumes? Check!
Let’s say you are in the midst of contemplating a journey to the cloud for your edge, or even core infrastructure. You want a pay-as-you-go model to avoid over-provisioning, especially when performing backups for archival purposes. HPE SimpliVity now provides a solution integrated with HPE Cloud Volumes Backup, where customers can take backups to the cloud with just a couple of clicks right from the VMware vCenter UI. Using HPE Cloud Volumes, you can back up VMs directly to a public cloud while still maintaining built-in efficiency and simplicity. Chuck Wood, HPE Hyperconverged expert, explains the process clearly in a recent blog on this announcement.
Ready to learn more about HCI at the edge?
HPE SimpliVity optimizes your infrastructure with comprehensive edge-to-cloud simplicity. And it’s the one solution you need to protect your data from edge to cloud. So, the next time you hear “it’s all about the data” remember how simple, efficient, and effective HPE SimpliVity is at the edge. Check!
- There is a great chalk talk video with Calvin Zito, HPE Storage blogger, that illustrates all the cool aspects of HPE SimpliVity.
- In this video, HPE experts talk about edge challenges and how to approach them.
- Watch the 30-minute HPE World Watch Webinar: Power and protect from edge to cloud with HPE SimpliVity
1 2021 Strategic Roadmap for Edge Computing, Gartner, Published 3 November 2020 - ID G00723410
You can follow Stan on Twitter @StanITGrant or connect with him on LinkedIn
Storage Experts
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
twitter.com/HPE_Storage
linkedin.com/showcase/hpestorage/
hpe.com/storage
StorageExperts
Our team of Hewlett Packard Enterprise storage experts helps you dive deep into relevant data storage and data protection topics.
