Let’s talk about clusters and clouds. We often associate the word “cluster” with terms such as redundancy, resiliency or workload distribution. IT admins have traditionally turned to clustering bare metal systems such as firewall appliances, web servers, and virtual hosting platforms for years. When we consider the “cloud” we think about characteristics such as limitless scalability, elasticity, and simplicity. Of course, the infrastructure that supports these cloud environments is derived from clustered infrastructures, hidden underneath SaaS and IaaS platforms and are thus inaccessible to customers.

Extend Nutanix Clusters Into The Cloud

But what if you extend your clusters into the cloud? You could have then the best of both worlds. That is what has delivered on, cloud-based clusters that reduce both the cost and complexity of today’s most complicated hybrid networks. Think of their solution as a cluster on steroids. For instance:

• In the same way that you are accustomed to firing up additional virtual machines within your on-premises HCI solution, you can now scale out, not only from a capacity perspective, but a geographical one as well. That’s because you can burst added capacity across multiple clouds in order to meet unforeseen demands from multiple regions of the world.
• What you giveth, you can also take back away. Idle machines cost money in an OPEX cloud model so let you spin down virtual machines and shrink capacities when demand fades in order to save money. Nutanix Clustering does one better than that, however. Not only can you hibernate VMs and their supporting resources, you can even hibernate the bare metal instances that support the cluster itself, saving you bare metal compute costs as well. Then simply resume these instances when they are needed again down the road. In other words, you aren’t just right-sizing your VM capacity, you’re also right-sizing your cluster infrastructure in real time as well. This is especially beneficial for , say for DevOps or seasonal-based businesses.

Watch how to hibernate VMs in this 2-minute demo from Nutanix

• Nutanix cloud-based clusters take redundancy to the next level as well as you can leverage public clouds for high availability and even if your primary workloads reside on-premises. Your disaster ready infrastructure can reside in faraway geographic reasons to ensure ultimate redundancy.

Cloud Like, But Not Cloud Only

The Nutanix HCI stack is available on AWS and Azure bare metal instances, fully extending the power of existing on-premises Nutanix HCI clusters into the cloud. But that doesn’t mean it is a cloud only solution. It also doesn’t mean that you are reliant on any third parties as is the usual case with cloud-based services. Nor are you locked into any particular cloud infrastructure. Using the Prism Central management interface, internal IT remains in complete control of their own environment, calling the shots as they see fit. Admins can now manage any Nutanix node, VM or application within their ecosphere from a single pane of glass. This not only simplifies administration but also allows you to maximize your resources to your mission critical workloads rather than management tasks. All of this allows for seamless integration on a number of levels. Here are three to consider:

1. It redefines the concept of “lift and shift” for applications. While lift and shift migrations might not involve a forklift, it often requires rearchitecting your applications in order to transition them to the cloud. By decoupling applications from their underlying platform, Nutanix gives you the ability to migrate on-premises applications to the cloud with minimal changes, thus saving you time and money.
2. Those applications that must be hosted by your on-premises Nutanix cluster can be modernized in cloud like fashion by allotting them direct access to native cloud services such as AI-based analytics and other advanced digital initiatives.
3. Not only are your applications completely portable now, so are your licenses. Current Nutanix customers can utilize existing Nutanix Capacity Based Licenses (CBL) and apply them to the cloud. Simply reduce or retire your existing on-premises clusters and apply them to the cloud. New customers hosting environments that have consistent workloads may want a commitment-based subscription plan while others may be better off with a pay-as-you-go structure.

A True Hybrid Cloud

There was a time when a network was comprised of a single data center. There was a time when an enterprise utilized a single cloud. Those days are long gone as businesses have evolved with the times, and so has Nutanix. HCI is no longer about on-premises hardware environments. Nutanix clusters are about incorporating all aspects of your hybrid cloud whether it be public or private clouds. Nutanix clusters operate in a borderless vacuum so that you can operate your applications and services in a hybrid estate that is void of confining perimeters. In the same way that the first Nutanix cluster solutions began busting up silos within the traditional data center, they’re now doing the same for multi-cloud environments as well. Nutanix clusters offer you the freedom of the cloud in terms of performance and portability. Exciting, right? Maximize your today by clustering everything into one extended platform.

NEXT STEPS: We’ve helped countless enterprise IT teams transform their business with Nutanix. Leverage our team’s extensive knowledge by with us. Whether you’re consider adopting Nutanix, or if you want to know how to get more value from your Nutanix environment, we’re here to help. .

Where are you in your journey to software defined infrastructure?

In this eBook you will learn about the benefits of software defining your infrastructure, why and how hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) plays a critical role, and compare your journey to SDI against IDC’s 7 essential steps for IT transformation. Click below to download your copy of the FREE eBook today!

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Over the last handful of years, the adoption of private and public cloud solutions has revolutionized enterprise IT and offered a level of operational agility that was previously unheard of.

Today, enterprises are increasingly choosing to make use of multiple cloud solutions and deployment models. To properly manage and administer these hybrid cloud environments, many organizations have turned to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), which offers the ability to support integrations between public cloud application platforms, as well as a common management platform for the entire hybrid cloud environment.

One such HCI solution is . In this two-part blog series, we will discuss the proven benefits of this solution, as reported by and based on real customer feedback.

As part of the research process for the study and subsequent report, IDC interviewed organizations “with experience with or knowledge about (Nutanix Enterprise Cloud’s) benefits and costs. The interviews covered a variety of quantitative and qualitative questions about the impact of Nutanix Enterprise Cloud on their overall IT costs, operations and businesses.”

In this first article, we take a look at the most prevalent business and operational benefits of Nutanix Enterprise Cloud.

1. Improved IT Agility Delivering Storage and Compute ؛£½اض±²¥

In the study conducted by IDC, participants shared that through utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud, they saw significant agility improvements when it came to deploying and upgrading core compute and storage environments.

Various capabilities of the solution contributed to enhancing agility in these areas, including “having a common pool of storage and compute resources, the ability to easily add capacity to their Nutanix environments, automated provisioning of resources, and offering self-service to users.”

According to IDC, participants saw the following benefits when utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud:

• Average time to deploy new storage systems was 82% faster
• Average staff time to deploy each system was reduced by 85%
• Average time to update storage systems was 70% faster
• Average staff time for updates was reduced by 66%
• Average time to deploy new physical servers was 53% faster
• Average staff time to deploy new physical servers was reduced by 44%

2. Improved Data Protection and Reduced Operational Risk

IDC’s study also found that participants reported improved business continuity and reduced operational risk when utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud. This was achieved by “reducing the frequency of unplanned outages affecting applications and services running on their platforms and having more robust data backup and recovery environments.”

According to IDC, participants reported:

• An 85% reduction in unplanned downtime
• A 72% increase in the frequency of data backups
• A 29% increase in data recovery efforts completed within the objective

By reducing the frequency and impact of unplanned outages, enterprises utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud are also reducing the costs associated with these business interruptions. This offers an opportunity for organizations to put those cost savings to work by investing it back into the backup environment.

3. Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Offers A Business-Enabling IT Platform

It’s never been more apparent than now how essential business agility and adaptability is to an enterprise. For organizations utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud, many of the challenges associated with managing a highly distributed workforce and its data are vastly reduced.

Participants in IDC’s study found that they saw improved customer satisfaction, faster onboarding of new branches and partners, and the ability to increase focus on business objectives when utilizing Nutanix Enterprise Cloud.

IDC identified that the support Nutanix Enterprise Cloud offers to business activities results in a higher average revenue, which IDC quantified to be an average of $932,800 per organization per year.

When it comes to VDI, participants in IDC’s study also reported benefiting from faster VDI application performance and found it was easier to extend their VDI environments with Nutanix Enterprise Cloud. This translates to improved productivity from employees at these organizations.

Are You Interested In Nutanix Enterprise Cloud?

The data in IDC’s study and the feedback from its participants makes it clear that Nutanix Enterprise Cloud makes a positive impact on business and operational activities for the organizations that deploy it. Enterprises of all types and from a variety of industries are adopting this solution to modernize data centers, improve IT response time and refocus IT on activities that generate revenue instead of just keeping the status quo.

NEXT STEPS: Learn more about the benefits of software defined infrastructure and how to get started with hyperconverged infrastructure in our eBook. Click below to start reading.

The post 3 Proven Business and Operational Benefits of Nutanix appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

The data needs of today’s enterprises continue to evolve and to keep up, many IT organizations are turning to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). The benefits of HCI, which include rapid deployment, reduced physical space requirements, and streamlined infrastructure, match perfectly with the immediate priorities of IT organizations looking to modernize legacy systems to increase agility, improve the management experience, and simplify scalability.

That said, HCI is continuing to evolve as does the needs of the enterprise. As shared by IDC, it’s predicted that by 2023, 70 percent of enterprises will run varying levels of processing at the IoT edge, and the compound annual growth rate of edge infrastructure spending on compute and storage will grow to hit $21.2 billion in 2023.

As companies modernize their infrastructure and adopt HCI, they realize workloads at the edge are different from typical enterprise workloads. These workloads are creating and processing data at the edge, they are small and resilient, and they require friction-less deployment, connectivity and mobility. HCI must evolve to service the world we are living in, the world at the edge. Let’s take a look at the next steps needed for your organization to extend HCI to the edge, and the reasons why HPE SimpliVity just might be the right choice.

Achieving Edge-Optimized HCI

To optimize and bring HCI all the way to the edge, IDC specifies that enterprise requirements include:

• More efficient technologies for capturing and processing data
• Local resiliency and no-touch IT
• Built in security
• Automation to simplify management and automate day-to-day activities
• Simplified deployment, connectivity, and operations
• High availability (HA) in the smallest physical footprint possible

HCI at the Edge with HPE SimpliVity

is edge-optimized HCI. This leading HCI solution offers enterprises the simplest and most efficient all-in-one appliance (including data protection) with HA in as little as two nodes, remote and multi-site management, and artificial intelligence (AI) and automation through .

Four differentiators of HPE SimpliVity:

1. Easy to deploy – Low-entry price point and packaging for compact, highly available, all-in-one HCI with built-in data protection
2. Efficient data movement – global dedupe, space efficient replication and rapid multi-site DR for fast recoveries in low bandwidth settings
3. 2-Node high availability – Achieve resiliency with 2 nodes in small footprint with built-in data protection and disaster recovery features to help keep data safe at the edge
4. Simple to manage – Remote, multi-site infrastructure management with integrated data services and backup/recovery through VMware vCenter

Research by IDC shows that 75 percent of customers saw better storage utilization and 57 percent saw improved staff productivity when utilizing HPE SimpliVity.

Why are Enterprise Leaders Choosing HPE SimpliVity?

Businesses are moving to more data-centric business models; they are capturing and analyzing more data than ever before. This faster pace of business and the immense volume of data are forcing organizations to modernize IT infrastructure at a rapid rate. They require increased agility, improved manageability, and the ability to scale when needed. Turns out, HPE SimpliVity is solving the need.

A recent PeerPaper Report by IT CentralStation titled, , captures real user reviews of HPE SimpliVity. Of the many factors these companies considered before deploying HCI, here are the top reasons they ultimately went with HPE SimpliVity:

• Simplicity
• Manageability
• Efficiency
• Faster, more highly available applications
• Fast backup and Restore
• Footprint consolidation
• More Cloud options

The other major factor is data intelligence and is part of what makes HPE SimpliVity different from competing HCI solutions. comes with the benefit of AI-driven intelligence with HPE InfoSight, providing visibility and predictive analytics across your infrastructure. With VM-centric management and mobility, built-in , and unparalleled data efficiency in an architecture that’s already optimized for the edge, HPE SimpliVity has truly evolved from the HCI solutions of the past.

It’s Good for Remote Workforce Initiatives, Too!

We would be remiss if we didn’t stop for a moment to call out HPE SimpliVity’s ability to support your remote workforce. In an article on HPE’s Community platform titled, , HPE reports that HPE SimpliVity is a proven architecture for VDI, with running virtual desktops on the platform (that was from May 2020, we estimate it to be significantly higher by now given the implications of the pandemic). HPE customers are already benefiting from the powerful, built-in data protection and single-click lifecycle management of HPE SimpliVity, but the solution goes further to support the evolving needs of a remote workforce. Here’s how:

1. Easily scalable: Customers can start with a small, medium, or large configuration and easily add new nodes in small, powerful increments from pilot to production scale with no disruption.Powerful capabilities in a compact form factor: Starting with the very first appliance, customers can take advantage of the full software capabilities of HPE SimpliVity including guaranteed data efficiency, built-in data protection, and global VM-centric management and mobility.
2. Lower dollar per desktop cost: Doubling the virtual desktops per server provides businesses a 50% savings in cost per remote worker.
3. Seamless integration into existing IT environment: Customers can mix HPE SimpliVity 325 with HPE SimpliVity 380 and 2600 models in the same federation across many sites, easily integrating the new HCI nodes into existing environments.

Highly dense HPE SimpliVity 325 is a powerful hyperconverged infrastructure for space-constrained IT. The 1 rack-unit model is ideal for remote sites, Edge, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

Are You Interested In Utilizing HCI At The Edge?

As a global, edge-to-cloud company, HPE is helping enterprises around the world upgrade from legacy systems and experience the benefits of a new generation of HCI. With a variety of use cases, and powered by the industry’s most advanced AI for infrastructure, HPE SimpliVity is offering the HCI experience at the edge, without compromising performance.

If you’re considering a move to hyperconverged infrastructure, rest assured that WEI can help you along the way. Ask us about our experience implementing HPE SimpliVity for mid-market to enterprise companies across several industries. We are there by your side to consult, design and architect a solution, as well as implement and support your organization beyond deployment. Contact us today to talk more about how HPE SimpliVity can fit in your environment.

NEXT STEPS: Modernizing your IT infrastructure? Sure, we all are! Dig into the differences between Converged and Hyperconverged Infrastructure and find out the key questions to ask before investing in an HCI solution in our white paper below. Read it today!

The post Extend HCI to the Edge with HPE SimpliVity appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

In years past, IT teams were generally squirrelled away and largely forgotten by other departments. Today, the digital economy and increased use of technology in the workplace have made IT a center point of daily operations and forced enterprises to focus on modernizing their .

To keep up with evolving business objectives and increasingly complex and growing workloads, today’s IT teams need to be flexible, agile, and efficient, but that hinges on whether the infrastructure is flexible enough to respond to the speed of business.

So how can enterprises give IT teams the tools they need to be successful? By choosing solutions that also prioritize these attributes.

Nutanix enterprise cloud and HPE GreenLake

Separately, and are supporting enterprises through a variety of digital transformation and modernization solutions.

, a fully managed, scalable IT infrastructure service, offers enterprises a cloud-like consumption model for on-premises infrastructure. HPE also offers flexible pay-as-go models and makes it easy for enterprises to scale to their exact needs.

HPE GreenLake has cast aside the one-size-fits-all approach to supported technology by allowing enterprises to choose the most appropriate HPE or third-party technology, which now includes .

As a complete IT infrastructure, the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Platform provides the agility, scalability, and simplicity of the cloud, and the security, performance, and cost predictability of traditional on-premises infrastructure.

An additional benefit can be found in the way Nutanix Enterprise Cloud spreads all data and processes across the entire cluster, which improves resource utilization, scalability, and performance predictability.

So why is Nutanix and HPE together critical to modernization success?

Through this partnership, Nutanix and HPE are offering customers additional strategies for modernizing IT and transforming operations through two key methods. The first is a portfolio of running the Nutanix software stack, and the second expands HPE GreenLake to run the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud as-a-service to support key areas.

Throughout their partnership, Nutanix and HPE have focused on end-user computing and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), databases, and private cloud infrastructures.

In terms of end-user computing, HPE GreenLake with Nutanix offers enterprises faster and easier deployment and management of VDI, as well as desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) infrastructure. HPE GreenLake with Nutanix also simplifies bring-your-own-device and choose-your-own-device programs through the distribution of applications through SaaS models.

For databases, HPE GreenLake with Nutanix mitigates common management challenges that come about due to the use of traditional infrastructure to support high-performance database operations. By streamlining database deployment, management, and operations, HPE GreenLake frees up IT for more complex and strategic projects.

Finally, the focus on private cloud infrastructure, supported by hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), allows enterprises to consolidate siloed workloads into just one management platform. Additionally, IT teams love the one-click database deployment, management, and operations, as well as a pay-per-use billing structure.

Are you interested in modernizing your IT strategy?

To keep up with the demands of this new digital world, enterprises must prioritize efficiency as the key focal point of their IT modernization strategy. HPE GreenLake with Nutanix enables enterprise IT teams to use the tools they need to be successful on their own terms. Take a closer look at how these two solutions work together and it will be easy to spot opportunities for efficiency gains and reduce complexity. Contact the WEI team today to learn more about how these solutions can work in your environment. WEI is an HPE Platinum Partner and we have several resident Nutanix experts on our engineering team that can help you navigate toward the right infrastructure solution for your company.

NEXT STEPS: Modernizing the data center essentially starts with virtualization. And yes, you can virtualize it all! We are now living in a software-defined world, and the companies that had adopted software defined infrastructure early are also the industry innovators of today. Read our eBook below to better understand what’s required for a successful journey to software defined infrastructure.

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WEI is committed to helping organizations accelerate their by leveraging their validated services delivery capabilities around advanced VMware technologies. Today we are proud to announce the successful achievements of the Datacenter Virtualization and Desktop and Mobility VMware Master Services Competencies.

“Few VMware partners have earned the distinction of achieving two Master Service Competencies,” said WEI President Belisario Rosas. “WEI is proud to have earned these technical achievements.”

“VMware is pleased to recognize WEI for achieving Data center Virtualization and Desktop and Mobility Master Services Competencies. This achievement shows customers that partners like WEI are dedicated and invested, and have validated expertise in advanced VMware technologies,” said Jenni Flinders, vice president and worldwide channel chief, VMware. “We value WEI as a VMware partner, and appreciate their efforts in achieving this VMware distinction as they work to increase their service delivery capabilities.”

These achievements will assist WEI in developing customer-centric solutions for our clients in four distinct areas:

• Cloud Management and Automation – Designates expertise in delivery of VMware Cloud Management and Automation solutions and services with deep understanding and execution of cloud management design principles and methodologies.
• Data Center Virtualization – Designates expertise in delivery of environments and digital infrastructure services with deep understanding of and execution in Data Center Virtualization design principles and methodologies.
• Desktop and Mobility – Designates expertise in designing, installing, and maintaining and solutions with deep understanding of and execution in desktop and mobility design principles and methodologies to deliver a scalable and reliable digital workspace.
• Network Virtualization – Designates expertise in the delivery of VMware NSX environments and with deployment and optimization of NSX environment capabilities.

Let WEI Help Guide Your Digital Transformation

When it comes to delivering or obtaining the right set of cloud services, WEI routinely pairs industry best practices with top-flight technologies and its own brand of innovation. The result? The right cloud-based solution at just the right time for any enterprise. Contact us today to get started.

The post WEI Masters VMware Services Competency in Data center Virtualization, Desktop, and Mobility appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.