Converged infrastructure management
Converged infrastructure represents a bundling of various data center systems -- such as storage, networking and servers -- that organizations can purchase all at once from a single supplier. Explore converged infrastructure management options such as DCIM, hybrid cloud and different management software to keep converged infrastructures running smoothly.
Top Stories
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Feature
01 Apr 2025
Dell VxRail vs. Nutanix NX: HCI heavyweights square off
Compare Dell VxRail and Nutanix NX, leading hyperconverged infrastructure platforms, to understand their strengths and ideal applications to best fit your organization's needs. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Mar 2025
8 popular infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools to consider
Learn how these infrastructure-as-code tools can help streamline application development and deployment by reducing many of the headaches associated with manual processes. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Jun 2019
Know the risk of hyper-converged vendor lock-in, myths and facts
The risk of HCI vendor lock-in is real. The reason why is different than you might think, however. See how it often comes down to financial, not technical, limitations in this article. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Jun 2019
Docker Containers as a Service deployment simplified on HPE Synergy
Reference Configuration guides the deployment of the complete Docker-based Containers-as-a-Service platform on HPE Synergy composable infrastructure to simplify container use. Continue Reading
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News
20 Jun 2019
HPE SimpliVity gets new features, competition
HPE exec says vendor's HCI strategy is 'SimpliVity, SimpliVity, SimpliVity' -- but don't forget HPE's competitive Nutanix and Nimble Storage dHCI products. Continue Reading
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News
18 Jun 2019
HPE unveils Nimble dHCI, InfoSight on SimpliVity HCI
Is disaggregated HCI a thing? Hewlett Packard Enterprise says yes, with its new Nimble Storage-ProLiant server combo that looks more like converged infrastructure than hyper-converged. Continue Reading
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Answer
18 Jun 2019
HCI management layer vs. native hypervisor management
See why inherent differences between hyper-converged and native hypervisor management tools tend to make one better suited for managing virtualized HCI resources than the other. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2019
Scale Computing HC3 hyper-converged hardware gets edgy
Scale Computing 1U edge nodes allow easy deployment by retailers in multiple sites that lack on-site IT. The Scale Computing storage layer removes the need for RAID-based data protection in the box. Continue Reading
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Answer
13 Jun 2019
Essential hyper-converged backup, data protection questions to ask
Procure a hyper-converged infrastructure, and you'll need to protect the data residing in that environment. Ask and answer these questions to determine the best HCI backup approach for your organization. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2019
HCI market: Dell and VMware gain, as Nutanix stumbles
HCI pioneer Nutanix's revenue slid last quarter, as it goes through a business transition and greater competition from Dell appliances and VMware HCI software. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2019
New Toshiba M.2 SSD targets composable infrastructure
Toshiba takes aim at composable infrastructures, data centers and high-end workstations with new low-power, small-form-factor 2 TB M.2 SSD that uses dense 96-layer 3D NAND flash. Continue Reading
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News
31 May 2019
HiveIO releases Hive Fabric virtualization framework update
Hive Fabric 7.3 has four main updates. New features enable admins to install GPUs, control acceleration, add multiple defined networks and manage server memory. Continue Reading
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Tip
30 May 2019
The vSAN stretched cluster type spreads HCI love for HA, DR
VMware vSAN stretched clusters enable admins to spread hyper-converged infrastructures across two physical locations. Learn more about them and their benefits. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 May 2019
HCI hardware or hyper-converged software: Which is better for me?
Appliance-based hyper-convergence integrates software with hardware, while software-only HCI enables you to use the hardware of your choice. Each type has pluses and minuses. Continue Reading
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Tip
14 May 2019
3 hyper-converged cloud infrastructure benefits
A hyper-converged cloud enables IT managers to overcome the challenges of managing compute, storage and network resources as separate tiers and move to the cloud in stages. Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2019
Nutanix fights VMware with AHV hypervisor, cloud support
In the battle for HCI supremacy, Nutanix has hyper-converged history and now AHV, while VMware has virtualization dominance and a boost from its parent Dell's server hardware. Continue Reading
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Opinion
09 May 2019
Hyper-converged infrastructure benefits by reducing IT complexity
Businesses turn to hyper-convergence to reduce data center complexity so IT can more directly support business goals and capitalize on the value of data. Continue Reading
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Infographic
08 May 2019
Enterprise adoption of hyper-converged storage gains traction
Hyper-convergence may be on the upswing, but concerns about vendor lock-in, integration and the independent scaling of resources, including storage, limit its appeal for some. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
With Nutanix Mine, HCI vet adds converged secondary storage
Nutanix prepares to launch its Mine converged secondary storage appliances as it expands beyond primary storage with an architecture that Cohesity and Rubrik have adopted. Continue Reading
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Opinion
08 May 2019
Hyper-converged technology ready for next step, multi-cloud
The height of the next hyper-converged infrastructure wave will revolve more around finding the right use cases rather than the right technology and architecture. Continue Reading
- 08 May 2019
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News
30 Apr 2019
New NEC hyper-converged infrastructure appliance targets SMBs
NEC partners with Scale Computing to launch its first hyper-converged infrastructure appliance tailored to SMBs and remote offices in the U.S. and Europe. Continue Reading
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News
30 Apr 2019
Dell EMC VxRail at heart of vendor's cloud strategy
Dell EMC wants to turn its hyper-converged infrastructure market-leading VxRail appliance into the leading hybrid cloud building block with the help of VMware Cloud Foundation. Continue Reading
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Answer
25 Apr 2019
Why is composable infrastructure important and what are its uses?
The ideal function of composability is to make IT infrastructure more flexible, manageable and scalable than ever. It isn't for everyone, however; at least, not yet. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Apr 2019
Why composable infrastructure goes hand in hand with private cloud
Some companies are opting out of SAN upgrades or costly converged systems in favor of composable architecture to build servers and storage on the fly. But will the concept take off? Continue Reading
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Tip
15 Apr 2019
Yes, pertinent, cost-effective hyper-converged platforms for SMBs exist
Why the simplicity and potential cost savings of a hyper-converged infrastructure from the likes of DataCore, Scale Computing and StarWind may be the way to go for some SMBs. Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2019
HPE-Nutanix deal expands roster of hyper-converged options
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Nutanix partnership sprang up on two fronts, bringing more layers of coopetition to the world of HCI. But where does this leave HPE SimpliVity? Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Apr 2019
A guide to hyper-converged data resiliency options and requirements
What you need to find out from HCI vendors to architect a resilient hyper-converged environment that will protect data against failure, error and attack. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Mar 2019
4 essential composable infrastructure questions answered
Learn how composable IT works, and find out when this highly flexible, programmable infrastructure model makes sense for your servers, network, and storage and when it doesn't. Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2019
Dell EMC VxBlock 1000 mixes in Unity hybrid, Data Domain
Ten years later, VCE is gone, EMC is part of Dell and Vblocks have become VxBlocks. But the early converged infrastructure stack is still going, with new products coming online. Continue Reading
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Answer
15 Mar 2019
What is HPE SimpliVity hyper-converged with Composable Fabric?
SimpliVity with Composable Fabric incorporates HPE's software-defined networking technology for implementing, managing and automating a fully connected and composable mesh fabric. Continue Reading
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News
11 Mar 2019
Startup gives Datrium DVX subscription pricing
With Datrium Forward, the software-defined storage startup looks to deliver a 'cloudy feel' to pricing for its DVX storage that spans on premises and in Amazon Web Services. Continue Reading
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Answer
11 Mar 2019
Is HCI but a stop on the road to composable architecture?
Find out if composable infrastructure is the next step in the evolution of HCI, if it is a completely different type of IT infrastructure or if the truth is somewhere in between. Continue Reading
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Answer
06 Mar 2019
The pros and cons of hyper-converged flash storage
Find out why and for what use cases and application workloads 100% solid-state flash may not be the best storage choice for hyper-converged infrastructure. Continue Reading
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News
04 Mar 2019
Nutanix HCI position under fire due to sales slump
Nutanix CEO says HCI sales slowdown is temporary because its technology remains strong; in the meantime, Dell-VMware is pushing HCI deeper into the enterprise. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Mar 2019
Essential hyper-converged cloud questions answered
Hyper-convergence can help make taking a cloud or multi-cloud approach to your architecture easier to implement, manage and scale. Read on to find out how and why. Continue Reading
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Definition
27 Feb 2019
network convergence
Network convergence is the efficient coexistence of telephone, video and data communication within a single network. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Feb 2019
Hyper-converged integrated systems crucial to long-term HCI success
No HCI platform exists in a silo. Learn why hyper-converged systems must communicate, interact and integrate with third-party management tools and the wider IT infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Feb 2019
The hyper-converged network benefits from commingling HCI, SDN
Merging software-defined networking with hyper-converged infrastructure platforms should simplify and ease the deployment, scaling and management of hyper-converged networks. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Feb 2019
Hyper-converged cloud key to private cloud success
Granular scaling and rapid deployment help make hyper-converged infrastructure the ideal platform for building out, deploying and scaling out a private cloud. Continue Reading
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News
05 Feb 2019
HCI software maker Maxta shuts down after funding failure
Maxta tried to carve a niche in hyper-converged infrastructure with MxSP software for industry-standard x86 servers -- the business model HCI pioneer Nutanix shifted to in 2018. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Jan 2019
10 top tips to maximize hyper-converged infrastructure benefits
The most-read hyper-converged tips of the past year represent a range of best practices for procuring and implementing HCI as all or part of your overall data center architecture. Continue Reading
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News
16 Jan 2019
Datera storage software trains for long run on HPE servers
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and startup Datera combine on block-storage appliances and expect to compete against Dell EMC's ScaleIO-based VxRack Flex hyper-converged systems. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Jan 2019
Hyper-converged infrastructure vendors adapt to AI workloads
Hyper-converged infrastructure evolves to accommodate the increasing demands of resource-hungry AI workloads. AI, in turn, promises to improve management of HCI and non-HCI resources. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jan 2019
Detroit Symphony tunes up performance on Scale Computing HC3
The nonprofit Detroit Symphony Orchestra refreshed its data infrastructure with a three-node Scale Computing HC3 hyper-converged storage cluster to manage 10 TB of data. Continue Reading
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News
12 Dec 2018
Amarillo hyper-converges IT with Dell EMC VxRail appliances
Hyper-convergence cut costs, streamlined operations and set up Amarillo to use the cloud for storage tiers, while shifting resources away from managing infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Dec 2018
HPE SimpliVity hyper-converged FAQs get answered
When HPE bought SimpliVity in 2017, it raised questions about the two company's HCI products, even though they were existing partners. We answer some of those questions. Continue Reading
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Buyer's Guide
29 Nov 2018
What you need to know before buying hyper-converged technology
Learn how to determine your organization's need for hyper-converged infrastructure and to evaluate offerings from top HCI vendors to find the right fit. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Nov 2018
Weighing open converged infrastructure against composable
OCI and composable infrastructure are both touted as the latest in convergence, but it is important to know how they differ before making an IT buying decision. Continue Reading
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News
08 Nov 2018
Dell EMC VxRail HCI builds on VMware Cloud Foundation
Dell EMC builds on VMware Cloud Foundation and plans to offer a new two-node VxRail entry point, with a flexible VMware vSAN license. Dell EMC also adds VMware integration to VxBlock. Continue Reading
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News
29 Oct 2018
NetApp HCI aimed at hybrid clouds
Late to HCI, NetApp tries to play catch up against Dell EMC, VMware and Nutanix by pushing its SolidFire flash-based product into hybrid cloud deployments. Continue Reading
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Definition
26 Oct 2018
DataCore
DataCore is a software-defined storage (SDS) company, as well as an early storage virtualization software vendor, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Oct 2018
Is hyper-convergence infrastructure becoming stratified?
As more options for converged or hyper-converged IT types come to market, organizations may find themselves siloed into an option by size. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Oct 2018
Secondary storage structure is based on workload needs
Using secondary storage can improve the performance of mission-critical applications, but deciding what data is secondary in importance isn't as easy as it seems. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Oct 2018
Pivot3 HCI: 7 things you should know
Where did Pivot3 first target its hyper-converged storage systems, and where is it focused today? Find out answers to these and other frequently asked questions. Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2018
X-IO Axellio hitches HCI star to Microsoft, NVMe
X-IO side steps VMware, enters hyper-competitive hyper-converged market with dense NVMe blades packed with Microsoft virtualization and storage software. Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2018
Hitachi Vantara storage takes turn to NVMe, cloud
Hitachi Vantara updates its products and prepares to lay out a strategy for using its storage for IoT and distributed data management amid the multi-cloud movement. Continue Reading
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News
25 Sep 2018
Dell EMC VxRail powers Mercy Ships' floating hospital DCs
Dell EMC hyper-converged appliances float the Mercy Ships IT team's boat. VxRail helps the medical charity consolidate IT technology in its floating hospitals and headquarters. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Sep 2018
7 hyper-converged secondary storage questions answered
Combining HCI and the use cases of secondary storage, such as data recovery and archiving, was a challenge, but a few companies took up that task and launched a new market. Continue Reading
- 06 Sep 2018
- 06 Sep 2018
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Feature
06 Sep 2018
Examples of hypervisors and how they're supported in HCI products
Hypervisor support in hyper-converged infrastructure has evolved over time. Find out how as we assess the past and current place of individual hypervisors in these architectures. Continue Reading
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Opinion
06 Sep 2018
Definition of hyper-converged infrastructure evolves, as do products
Defining hyper-convergence can be a challenge. Focus instead on learning about hyper-converged infrastructure product options and how they fit your data center and cloud plans. Continue Reading
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News
06 Sep 2018
VMworld pushes vSAN HCI to cloud, edge
Private beta for next vSAN version includes built-in snapshots, NFS file services and cloud-native storage, as well as improved cluster management for the HCI software. Continue Reading
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News
04 Sep 2018
Pivot3 storage moves toward composable capabilities
CEO Ron Nash said Pivot3 and NexGen Storage are integrated as a single code base. NexGen gives Pivot3 automated QoS and dynamic provisioning for multi-cloud enterprises. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Aug 2018
Hyper-converged product comparison: What leading HCI vendors offer
Before you purchase a hyper-converged infrastructure system, use the criteria and factors examined here to evaluate 10 leading HCI products. Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2018
VSAN hyper-converged users offer buying, implementing advice
Users provide tips on going from three tiers to tears-free hyper-convergence using VMware vSAN software or other HCI architectures proliferating in the data center and beyond. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Aug 2018
Composable architecture options versus CI and HCI
While converged, hyper-converged and composable infrastructures all share some degree of similarity in convergence, important differences can affect your IT architecture choices. Continue Reading
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News
27 Aug 2018
Dell EMC HCI and storage cloud plans on display at VMworld
Dell EMC promises to synchronize releases of VMware's vSAN on VxRail HCI appliances, although it may take 30 days to do it; fleshes out cloud support for storage, data protection. Continue Reading
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News
23 Aug 2018
HiveIO seeks to create buzz in HCI market
HiveIO says artificial intelligence makes its Hive Fabric's Message Bus management unique; now, the HCI startup must prove it's really AI and not just an AI-wash. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Aug 2018
Answers to NetApp FlexPod commonly asked questions
Wondering which version of FlexPod is ideal for your situation? In this FAQ, find out the answer to this, as well as other common NetApp and Cisco FlexPod questions. Continue Reading
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News
21 Aug 2018
Dell EMC PowerEdge MX teases 'kinetic' compute and storage
Dell EMC composes its MX composable infrastructure story around SAS storage sleds that slide into in a single 14th generation 7U PowerEdge chassis, with OpenManage software. Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Aug 2018
Hyper-converged products offer big benefits to IT environments
Hyper-converged technology offers benefits such as scalability to help reduce the storage footprint, and enables organizations to pick the hardware and configuration to best suit their needs. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Aug 2018
Datrium open converged infrastructure makes HCI flexible
Datrium calls its less rigid form of converged infrastructure open convergence to highlight its greater scaling flexibility versus converged or hyper-converged infrastructures. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Aug 2018
Nutanix hyper-converged Flows into multi-cloud and more
With the introduction of Flow, Beam and Era, Nutanix has made a clear statement that it's aiming for a comprehensive Nutanix enterprise cloud OS. Continue Reading
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News
08 Aug 2018
Western Digital OpenFlex composes storage infrastructure
Western Digital delivers OpenFlex architecture, an ambitious attempt to foster open standards for composable compute, network and storage as an alternative to hyper-convergence. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 Jul 2018
Composable infrastructure platform FAQs get answers
While the goal of hyper-converged infrastructure and composable infrastructure are much the same, the way they achieve that objective of on-demand IT infrastructure differs. Continue Reading
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Definition
24 Jul 2018
NetApp FlexPod
NetApp FlexPod is a reference architecture for server, storage and networking components that are pretested and validated to work together as an integrated infrastructure stack. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Jul 2018
New vSAN 6.7 features boost failover, ease management
The latest version of vSAN puts the hyper-converged storage software into a wider range of use cases with better support for failover and a smoother management user interface. Continue Reading
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Quiz
18 Jul 2018
Test your hyper-converged networking knowledge
Network hyper-convergence is racing to catch up to the level of virtualization of compute and storage. Test yourself on your HCI networking knowledge. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Jul 2018
Hyper-converged infrastructure software aids IT flexibility
Implementing a software-based hyper-converged platform can make it easier to scale components separately, but it has drawbacks as well, like multiple support sources. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Jul 2018
Craft a converged secondary storage strategy with care
Secondary storage vendors have been offering converged technologies and products for a few years now, and the systems have become more feature-rich and cloud-capable. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2018
Datrium DVX switches focus to converged markets, enterprise
Datrium approaches HCI in a nontraditional way, but its DVX architecture combines compute and storage while pumping up its data protection capabilities. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Jul 2018
How to ensure hyper-converged infrastructure security
To secure data in an HCI system, it requires tools and techniques that account for the unique features of hyper-convergence, such as shared resources and virtualized management. Continue Reading
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Quiz
09 Jul 2018
Test your Cohesity storage systems knowledge
Taking the principles of hyper-convergence and applying them to secondary storage systems enabled Cohesity to create a hyper-converged platform for data recovery and backup. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Jun 2018
Your Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure questions answered
Red Hat HCI is software only, based on open source applications and is aimed for IT operations that want to use existing hardware in a DIY implementation. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jun 2018
Cisco hyper-converged HyperFlex adds NVMe-enabled model
Cisco HyperFlex 3.5 software adds native DR and cloud-based Intersight Storage Analytics. The all-flash hyper-converged systems integrate Nvidia GPUs and Intel Optane NVMe SSDs. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jun 2018
Hitachi UCP update includes NVMe cache, GPU server
Hitachi updates Unified Compute Platform (UCP) portfolio with new NVMe-based Intel Optane caching option and technology from partners VMware and Cisco. Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Jun 2018
Find out answers for FAQs about Nutanix AHV and Acropolis
Check out these answers to some of the frequently asked questions about Nutanix's Acropolis and AHV core hyper-converged infrastructure software products. Continue Reading
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News
24 May 2018
Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure for Cloud launches
Red Hat expands its hyper-converged infrastructure lineup with a cloud offering that combines OpenStack and Ceph. The new option joins Gluster-based HCI for Virtualization. Continue Reading
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Quiz
23 May 2018
Test your Storage Spaces Direct hyper-converged system smarts
Windows Server 2016 took Microsoft into the HCI game, with hyper-convergence features based on Storage Spaces Direct, the upgrade from Windows Server 2012's Storage Spaces feature. Continue Reading
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Quiz
22 May 2018
Test your hyper-converged infrastructure storage knowledge
Storage in a hyper-converged infrastructure is not limited to whatever disks the vendor decides to put into its base appliance. Test your knowledge of HCI storage with our quiz. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 May 2018
Certain solid-state storage characteristics benefit HCI most
Depending on the workload demands, there are features of solid-state storage that can greatly enhance the performance of your hyper-converged infrastructure system. Continue Reading
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Answer
11 May 2018
Which Windows Server deployment features work best with HCI?
There are features in Windows Server 2016 that are specific to hyper-converged infrastructure, but many of the more basic functions also can be used to customize and improve HCI. Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2018
Nutanix .NEXT 2018: CEO Pandey talks Xi, Cisco, multi-cloud
Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey discusses why Xi Cloud Services are taking so long to deliver, blames Nutanix No. 1 HCI market share loss on 'funky accounting.' Continue Reading
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Feature
09 May 2018
Hyper-converged software: Eight things you need to know
What are some commonly asked questions about the choice to build a DIY software-only HCI platform? Below are FAQs about the benefits, drawbacks and option of buying HCI software. Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2018
Nutanix Flow, Beam, Era highlight .NEXT 2018 launches
Nutanix uses small acquisitions to fuel further expansion of its core HCI into an enterprise cloud OS with Flow, Era and Beam, which were announced at the Nutanix .NEXT 2018. Continue Reading
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Quiz
03 May 2018
Test your hyper-converged infrastructure use cases knowledge
Our quiz is all about how different workloads and applications require choosing different hardware and software options in a hyper-converged infrastructure platform. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 May 2018
Inline deduplication fits well with hyper-converged IT
Of the two main types of deduplication, most HCI vendors choose inline over post-process because of the performance benefits and lower levels of total storage required. Continue Reading
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News
02 May 2018
'Software-defined' Dell EMC HCI gets hardware boost
Dell EMC VxRail customers discuss their use of the HCI platform inside and outside the data center; platform moves to faster 14th gen PowerEdge servers powered by NVMe flash. Continue Reading
- 01 May 2018
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Opinion
01 May 2018
Cohesity's hyper-converged secondary storage takes on data growth
An out-of-the-box secondary storage strategy to deal with the coming deluge of file and object data promises to overcome scalability, management and capacity limits of NAS. Continue Reading
