Is your data center heading toward a Converged Infrastructure?

Part One: The Converged Infrastructure and You

HP has been talking quite a bit about a “converged infrastructure,” which our trusty Wikipedia defines as packaging:

“Multiple information technology (IT) components into a single, optimized computing solution. Components of a converged infrastructure solution include servers, data storage devices, networking equipment and software for IT infrastructure management, automation and orchestration.”

We think this means that the converged infrastructure represents the data center of the future where all your IT resources and systems exist and function dynamically.

We’re particularly interested in the way HP maps out the effect of power and cooling in a converged infrastructure. According to HP, a converged infrastructure “creates an intelligent,
energy-aware environment across IT and facilities to optimize and adapt energy use, to reclaim facility capacity, and to reduce energy costs. It collects and communicates thousands of power and cooling measurements across IT systems and facilities in real time to give your organization greater insight and control over energy use.”

Let’s take a look at what they’re saying.

We like the idea of an energy-aware environment that encompasses both IT and facilities. We’ve long advocated that these disciplines be cross-trained and that organizations need to bridge the IT-facilities gap. But we think HP gets to the real heart of today’s data center requirements when it discusses the need to “collect and communicate thousands of power and cooling measurements across IT systems and facilities in real time.”

We mentioned a few months ago that Gartner analyst Ray Paquet had noted the “Top Trends to Watch for the Data Center.” Among these were Energy Efficiency and Monitoring and Converged Fabrics. We’re thinking that the HP Converged Infrastructure and AFCO’s active enclosures align nicely here.

Bottom line: There is a great need for energy-efficient IT solutions - including servers, storage, networking and communications systems, as well as energy-efficient cooling techniques - that support increases in computing performance and density while reducing overall data center power demand. Managing these often competing resources correctly can save a large part of the IT infrastructure bill and lead to lower operating costs.

What do you think?