HCI

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The ROI of High-Performance HCI would be a compelling alternative to the high cost of dedicated All-Flash Arrays. However, as application performance demands increase, many HCI solutions struggle to deliver the required performance, scalability, and efficiency. Legacy HCI solutions struggle to keep pace with the demands of modern mainstream applications, let alone today’s high-performance applications. The result is that hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), which has long promised simplification and cost savings, has never delivered on this promise.

The ROI of High-Performance HCI is achieved only when these platforms meet the demands of today’s workloads. Applications such as virtual desktops and databases require high performance and low latency—capabilities that many legacy HCI platforms fail to provide due to architectural inefficiencies.

Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) is High-Performance HCI

the ROI of high-performance HCI

UCI is the next evolution in data center software, designed to overcome the limitations of legacy HCI by deeply integrating virtualization, storage, and networking into a single codebase. Unlike traditional HCI, where storage is often a second-class citizen running as a virtual machine, UCI treats storage as a first-class service, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilization. By addressing these challenges head-on, UCI solutions like VergeOS deliver superior performance and unparalleled ROI.

Want to learn more? Register for VergeIO’s upcoming webinar to see these high-performance results live on cost-effective hardware:
👉 Live Demonstration: Break the Performance Shackles of HCI

Eliminating Expensive Storage Hardware

UCI improves the ROI of high-performance HCI by eliminating expensive dedicated storage controller hardware and vendor-marked-up storage media, which can cost up to 10 times more than off-the-shelf consumer-grade SSDs. These enterprise-class drives are designed with features like capacitors and error-correcting code (ECC) to ensure data integrity, but they significantly inflate infrastructure costs.

Legacy All-Flash Arrays (AFAs) and HCI solutions depend heavily on these specialized components because they rely on the hardware for data resiliency and verification. In contrast, UCI solutions like VergeOS integrate these functions into the software, ensuring data resiliency and integrity without depending on expensive, proprietary hardware. This software-first mentality also enables UCI platforms to mix hardware from different vendors and generations, providing greater flexibility for organizations to scale and upgrade their infrastructure without forklift overhauls.

Matching and Surpassing All-Flash Array Features

Maintaining UCI’s improvements to the ROI of high-performance HCI requires that UCI platforms like VergeOS match and surpass the feature set of traditional all-flash arrays. Enterprises have come to expect capabilities such as:

the ROI of high-performance HCI
  • Unlimited snapshots without performance degradation: VergeOS supports instant snapshots without impacting IOPS or latency, allowing IT teams to back up and restore data seamlessly. VergeOS snapshots go beyond traditional snapshots because they are actually deduplicated clones, providing independence and scalability between snapshot generations.
  • Global Inline Deduplication: VergeOS performs global inline deduplication without slowing down I/O operations, enabling organizations to maximize storage efficiency without sacrificing performance. Unlike most deduplication technologies, which are added as an afterthought to the software and introduce latency, VergeOS’s deduplication was integrated from day one and has no noticeable impact on performance. Global deduplication also makes disaster recovery data transfers more efficient by reducing the amount of data that needs to be sent, particularly in many-to-one disaster recovery scenarios.
  • Replication to remote sites: Built-in replication ensures data can be efficiently copied to offsite locations, supporting robust disaster recovery strategies. When combined with VergeOS Virtual Data Centers, which encapsulate the entire data center, replication provides a simple and comprehensive solution for failover and recovery.

Traditionally associated with high-end storage arrays, these features are fully integrated into VergeOS’s UCI platform. By providing these capabilities within a consolidated, software-driven solution, VergeOS simplifies operations and delivers unmatched value.

High Performance with Low Latency

A critical challenge to improving the ROI of high-performance HCI is delivering high performance while maintaining low latency. Many HCI platforms struggle under demanding workloads because they must balance virtual machine and storage responsibilities within the same infrastructure. UCI, by contrast, is architected to ensure resource optimization and eliminate contention. When storage performance demands are extreme, VergeOS can even dedicate servers to specific functions, i.e., compute-only, GPU-only, and storage-only nodes.

By treating storage as a first-class service within its hypervisor, VergeOS achieves consistently low latency and sub-millisecond response times, even under heavy load. This deep integration allows VergeOS to allocate resources intelligently, ensuring that both compute and storage operations run smoothly without interference. Whether running I/O-intensive workloads or supporting mission-critical applications, VergeOS delivers the performance and responsiveness needed to keep pace with future demands.

Real-World Proof: VergeOS in Action

The advantages of UCI ROI versus the ROI of high-performance HCI are best demonstrated through real-world testing. Recently, VergeIO published a benchmark showcasing the performance of VergeOS under demanding workloads. The test utilized eight servers costing less than $1,500 per node, demonstrating that high performance does not require high-cost infrastructure. Key results included:

  • 1.5 Million+ Read IOPS using 64K blocks
  • 24 GB/s of Write Throughput on a 25 GB/s network

It’s worth noting that VergeOS achieved these results using 64K block sizes, which provide a more realistic representation of enterprise workloads compared to the more commonly benchmarked 4K blocks. Again, these tests were performed on off-the-shelf servers configured well below the typical data center-class server.

Want to see these results live? Join VergeIO’s upcoming webinar to learn how VergeOS delivers high performance on affordable hardware:
👉 Want to See UCI Outperform an AFA? Join us for a Live Demonstration

Conclusion: UCI Delivers The ROI of High-performance HCI

With UCI solutions like VergeOS, the ROI of High-Performance HCI is no longer a theoretical concept but a practical reality. By eliminating the dependency on expensive hardware, matching and surpassing the capabilities of traditional storage arrays, and delivering consistent low-latency performance, VergeOS enables organizations to meet the demands of modern workloads without breaking their budgets.

the ROI of high-performance HCI

UCI represents the logical evolution of infrastructure software, combining the simplicity of HCI with the performance and flexibility enterprises require. For organizations looking to consolidate operations, reduce costs, and scale efficiently, UCI is the path forward.

Filed Under: HCI Tagged With: ,

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Real-World HCI IOPS Results: 1 Million+ IOPS Using 64K Blocks

Ann Arbor, Michigan – December 10, 2024 – VergeIO, a leader in ultra-converged infrastructure (UCI), today announced the release of VergeOS Version 4.13, a breakthrough update developed in partnership with Solidigm, a leading provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions. This release sets new benchmarks in hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) performance, scalability, and affordability for enterprise environments.

Testing with 64K block sizes provides a more accurate representation of real-world virtualized environments that often use larger block sizes for storage I/O. Unlike traditional 4K block testing, which primarily evaluates raw storage performance, 64K blocks better reflect the demands of modern virtualized workloads, including virtual machines, databases, and large-file applications. These tests demonstrate how VergeOS and Solidigm can collaborate to deliver meaningful performance improvements for enterprise environments.

All About Storage Performance

VergeOS Version 4.13 focuses on delivering unparalleled storage performance through advanced networking optimizations that reduce latency and improve throughput.

Extreme Performance Powered by Solidigm

The Extreme Performance test for VergeOS 4.13 was conducted by Solidigm, showcasing the full potential of Solidigm’s technology. Key results included:

  • A 6-node cluster with mainstream dual Gold CPUs and Solidigm Gen 5 NVMe SSDs surpassed 1 million random read IOPS using 64K blocks, a common configuration in virtualized infrastructures, all while maintaining sub-millisecond response times.
  • In 64K random write performance, the configuration achieved 485K IOPS at more than 30 GB/s throughput, again with sub-millisecond response times, demonstrating exceptional efficiency and reliability in HCI environments.
  • The raw performance of the Solidigm SSDs using 4K blocks reached 17 million IOPS, pushing the boundaries of storage technology while maintaining sub-millisecond response times.
  • VergeOS’ data protection and deduplication features were fully active during these tests, highlighting VergeOS 4.13’s ability to maintain peak performance while delivering critical enterprise-grade capabilities.

Response time measurements were taken by deploying separate VMs outside the testing cluster to monitor latency under load. This method ensured real-world accuracy and demonstrated that sub-millisecond response times were consistently achieved, even under noisy neighbor conditions.

“Solidigm’s tests of VergeOS 4.13 demonstrate the unmatched performance and efficiency that our SSDs deliver in demanding workloads,” said Roger Corell, Director of Leadership Marketing at Solidigm. “The ability to achieve over 1 million IOPS with 64K blocks, coupled with sub-millisecond latency and enterprise-grade data protection, highlights the power of our collaboration with VergeIO to redefine hyperconverged infrastructure.”

Affordable Scalability Without Compromise

VergeIO demonstrated the cost-efficiency of VergeOS 4.13 with an eight-node cluster built in its labs using $1,500 servers equipped with consumer-class AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX CPUs, 96GB RAM, and 25Gbps Ethernet connectivity. This affordability test, conducted in VergeIO’s labs, delivered the following results:

  • 1.5 million random read IOPS using 64K blocks at a total cost of $10,000, equating to a cost of just 0.67 cents per IOPS, with sub-millisecond response times, setting a new benchmark for cost-efficiency in HCI solutions.
  • 195,000 random write IOPS using 64K blocks, achieving 12 GB/s throughput, effectively utilizing the network’s 25Gbps bandwidth, with sub-millisecond response times.

“These results demonstrate our commitment to making enterprise-grade performance accessible to organizations of all sizes,” said Greg Campbell, Founder and CTO of VergeIO. “Our affordability test shows that you don’t need expensive hardware to achieve remarkable results. With VergeOS 4.13, customers get a high-performance, scalable solution that fits within their budgets.”

Live Storage Migration: Critical for Next-Gen Storage Technologies

VergeOS 4.13 also introduces live storage migration for virtual machines, an essential feature in the era of advanced storage technologies like Solidigm’s 122TB QLC NVMe drives. These high-density drives, while delivering exceptional capacity, present unique challenges as they are integrated into existing environments.

Live storage migration allows organizations to dynamically move workloads between different storage tiers, optimizing performance, ensuring seamless continuity, and extending the life of storage media. During the December 17 webinar, VergeIO will demonstrate the live storage tiering capabilities of VergeOS 4.13, showcasing how the platform bridges high-performance and high-density storage seamlessly.

“VergeIO and Solidigm’s latest collaboration demonstrates how modern infrastructure can address the challenges of performance, scalability, and density,” said Marc Staimer, President of Dragon Slayer Consulting. “The results of both tests highlight the incredible synergy between VergeOS and Solidigm’s high-density SSDs. Combined with live storage migration, these capabilities empower organizations to adopt next-generation storage technologies without sacrificing performance or reliability, all while reducing costs and operational complexity.”

Experience It Live – December 17th Webinar

VergeIO invites IT professionals and decision-makers to experience VergeOS 4.13 in action during a live webinar on December 17, 2024. The event will feature a live demonstration of the platform’s capabilities and an in-depth discussion on how VergeIO and Solidigm are reshaping hyperconverged infrastructure. Register Here

About VergeIO

VergeIO is the future of virtualization and infrastructure. It is the ideal choice for those seeking an alternative to VMware. VergeIO is a leading provider of ultra-converged infrastructure (UCI) solutions, integrating virtualization, storage, and networking into a single, easy-to-manage platform. VergeIO’s software enables organizations to reduce costs, simplify IT operations, and achieve unmatched performance.

For more information on VergeOS Version 4.13 or to register for the webinar, visit www.vergeio.com.

About Solidigm

Solidigm is a leading global provider of innovative NAND flash memory solutions. Solidigm technology unlocks data’s unlimited potential for customers, enabling them to fuel human advancement. Originating from the sale of Intel’s NAND and SSD business, Solidigm became a standalone U.S. subsidiary of semiconductor leader SK hynix in December 2021. Headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, Solidigm is powered by the inventiveness of team members in 13 locations around the world. For more information, please visit solidigm.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Judy Smith, JPR Communications

Email: [email protected]

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: , ,

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As IT professionals seek VMware alternatives, they often encounter hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions, but these systems can’t deliver the media and node flexibility of Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI). UCI solutions like VergeIO provide businesses with enhanced adaptability to support diverse storage media and node types. This approach better aligns with real-world demands and long-term infrastructure goals.

What is Ultraconverged Infrastructure?

Unlike traditional HCI or three-tier architectures, UCI integrates storage and networking directly into the hypervisor, running as services rather than virtual machines (VMs). Traditional three-tier systems rely on separate networking, virtualization, and storage hardware components. At the same time, HCI typically bundles these functions but still operates them as independent layers, each running as independent VMs.

With UCI, these critical functions are embedded within the hypervisor, improving efficiency and higher performance. This architectural shift also delivers greater flexibility in choosing media and server (node) types, allowing IT teams to scale infrastructure resources precisely according to their specific workload demands. VergeIO’s implementation of UCI is VergeOS.

The Limitations of Traditional HCI in Mixing Media and Node Types

Traditional hyperconverged infrastructures have rigid configurations requiring identical nodes for computing and storage. Organizations must scale both resources equally, which may not meet their needs. Additionally, traditional HCI solutions can’t support multiple storage types in the same environment, like flash and HDDs. These limitations force businesses to overprovision resources and spend unnecessarily on high-performance storage not aligned with their workloads.

Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) addresses these challenges by enabling independent scaling of compute and storage through a mixed-node approach. It supports various storage media types, allowing IT teams to use high-density QLC flash, high-endurance TLC flash, and HDDs for optimized performance. This flexibility lets organizations assign workloads to the best resources for cost efficiency and improved performance.

Comparing HCI and UCI

The following table summarizes key differences between HCI and UCI, emphasizing how UCI overcomes many of the limitations faced by traditional HCI:

FeatureHyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI)
Node FlexibilityRequires identical nodes with balanced compute and storage resourcesSupports mixed nodes (compute-heavy, storage-heavy, GPU-heavy), allowing independent scaling
Media FlexibilityAllows independent scaling, adding only storage or computing as neededSupports a wide range of media types (TLC, QLC, HDD) tailored to workload requirements
ScalabilityMust add identical nodes, scaling compute and storage equallyAllows independent scaling, adding only storage or compute as needed
Cost EfficiencyHigher costs due to forced resource overprovisioningReduced costs by scaling based on actual workload needs
Resource AllocationLimited flexibility, requires additional hardware to meet diverse workloadsFlexible resource allocation across different node types for varied workloads
PerformanceOften limited by storage and compute configuration; may not fully utilize advanced hardwareMaximizes performance by optimizing workload placement and storage tiering
Data PlacementTypically lacks fine-grained control, with limited storage tieringSupports advanced data placement and storage tiering, utilizing high-density QLC, TLC, and HDD
Use CasesSuitable for basic virtualization needs, with uniform resource requirementsSupports diverse workloads (VDI, ML, AI, data lakes, backup) by adjusting to specific needs
High Availability and RecoveryBasic high availability, often requires more servers to maintain stabilityEnhanced high availability with efficient recovery, requiring fewer servers
ROI and Resource UtilizationLower ROI due to higher hardware costs and limited resource optimizationHigh ROI, optimized resource use through flexible node and media support
Hardware RefreshAll servers must be refreshed at onceServers can be refreshed gradually, one at a time, as needs change

Leveraging Mixed Storage Media: TLC, QLC, and HDDs

The Media and Node Flexibility of Ultraconverged

A key strength of UCI is its ability to support a variety of storage media, including TLC (Triple-Level Cell) flash, QLC (Quad-Level Cell) flash, and traditional HDDs. Each storage type offers unique benefits, and UCI enables IT teams to assign workloads to the most appropriate media, optimizing cost and performance without compromise.

  • TLC NVMe Flash: High-performance, high-endurance TLC flash is ideal for applications requiring frequent access to data, such as real-time analytics or transactional databases. UCI platforms allocate TLC flash where speed is critical.
  • QLC NVMe Flash: Cost-effective and high-density, QLC flash can store large datasets with minimal expense. QLC media, like Solidigm’s new 60TB+ QLC drives, is optimal for workloads with significant storage needs but lower performance requirements.
  • HDDs: HDDs remain a cost-effective choice for archival storage and backup, as they offer high capacity without the expense of flash storage. UCI allows organizations to assign archival or backup data to HDDs, reducing costs and freeing up flash resources for more demanding tasks.

In a recent evaluation, StorageReview verified VergeOS’s multi-media support, showcasing its flexibility to handle diverse storage types within a single environment. Readers can watch our on-demand webinar, in which VergeIO, StorageReview, and Solidigm discuss the test results and how these media options enhance the platform’s performance. Click here to register for the on-demand session.

Scaling Storage and Compute Independently with Mixed Node Types

UCI supports mixed node types, enabling independent scaling of compute and storage resources. Traditional HCI solutions require identical nodes for expansion, which is inefficient for businesses with unequal compute and storage demands. For example, data-intensive applications may need more storage without extra compute, whereas HPC tasks might require more compute with less storage.

The Media and Node Flexibility of Ultraconverged

In UCI, storage-heavy nodes or compute-heavy nodes can be added independently within the same instance, enabling organizations to scale up only what they need. This flexibility offers significant advantages for specific workloads:

  • Data Lakes and Analytics: Storage-heavy nodes provide the capacity required for large data lakes, while compute-heavy nodes and GPU-heavy nodes can seamlessly access the storage, creating a powerful path to analytics, machine learning (ML), and AI workloads—all supported by the media and node flexibility of Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI).
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI): Compute-heavy nodes can handle the CPU resources needed for VDI. In contrast, fewer storage-heavy nodes are used for backend storage, ensuring cost-effective scaling without excess.
  • Backup and Archival: Storage-heavy nodes offer the necessary space for long-term backup and archival data without requiring additional compute resources. When paired with GPU-heavy nodes, this configuration provides a high-capacity, cost-efficient foundation supporting AI-driven data analysis or data mining when needed.

This combination of mixed nodes enables organizations to flexibly support a wide range of workloads, from storage-intensive tasks to GPU-powered analytics and AI applications, all while optimizing resource use and reducing overprovisioning.

ioOptimize: Maximizing Efficiency in Mixed-Node and Mixed-Media Environments

In VergeIO’s UCI implementation, VergeFS boosts efficiency by allowing data to be placed across various media and optimizing computing and storage use. IT can allocate performance-critical data to TLC flash and assign archival data to QLC flash or HDDs. Additionally, IT can direct high-performance workloads to compute-heavy nodes, freeing storage-heavy nodes for data-intensive applications. This management prevents resource bottlenecks and maximizes ROI throughout the infrastructure.

The Advantages of UCI’s Flexibility in Media and Node Types

Combining mixed storage media and mixed node types allows UCI to deliver several essential benefits for modern data centers:

  1. Cost Efficiency: Organizations can optimize storage costs by matching storage media to workload requirements without compromising performance. High-density QLC and HDDs help reduce expenses, while high-performance TLC flash is allocated to applications that truly need it.
  2. Scalability: Mixed node types allow organizations to scale only the resources they need, adding storage or compute independently for greater scalability and control over infrastructure growth.
  3. Enhanced Flexibility: The media and node flexibility of Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) allows businesses to fine-tune infrastructure according to specific workload requirements, reducing waste and maximizing resource utilization.
  4. Future-Proofing: UCI supports a broad range of storage and compute configurations, allowing businesses to adopt new storage technologies and accommodate changing needs over time, ensuring the infrastructure remains resilient and adaptable.

Conclusion: Ultraconverged Infrastructure for True Flexibility and Efficiency

Flexibility is essential in today’s complex IT landscape. Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) provides media and node flexibility unmatched by traditional HCI, supporting high-performance TLC flash, high-capacity QLC flash, and cost-effective HDDs. UCI allows businesses to mix compute-heavy and storage-heavy nodes, scaling resources to meet real-world demands and reduce costs.

Solutions like ioOptimize enhance UCI’s effectiveness by optimally placing data and maximizing resource efficiency across mixed-node environments. By adopting UCI, businesses attain a future-ready infrastructure that scales flexibly, aligns with workload needs, and minimizes overprovisioning—ideal for organizations transitioning from VMware to a more adaptable, cost-effective platform.

Filed Under: Storage Tagged With: , ,

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Data centers have come a long way since the early days of server infrastructure, but one question remains: Why do most data centers still rely on dual-processor servers with 16 or 32 cores despite the availability of quad-processor servers? Quad-processor systems, after all, offer significant advantages like reduced server count, lower total costs, and decreased power and cooling requirements. Yet, many organizations must forgo these benefits.

This article explores the historical context of quad-processor servers, the real reasons behind their limited adoption, and why modern virtualization solutions are required to help organizations fully unlock the potential of these powerful machines.

The History of Quad-Processor Servers

Quad-processor servers have existed for over twenty years. Intel first offered quad-processor server support with its Xeon MP processors in the early 2000s. Designed for high-performance workloads, these servers provide notable benefits in computing power, minimized server footprint, and efficiency. Theoretically, they should have represented a straightforward option for data centers looking to streamline their infrastructure and lower operating costs.

However, despite these early promises, the adoption of quad-processor servers has remained limited.

Why Haven’t Quad-Processor Servers Taken Off?

At first glance, the main reason organizations might avoid quad-processor servers seems to be cost. However, a closer look reveals that hardware cost is not the primary barrier. In fact, when you account for fewer servers, reduced energy consumption, and lower cooling requirements, quad-processor systems result in a lower total cost of ownership compared to the cost of delivering the same compute capacity using dual-processor servers.

So, why do data centers still rely on dual processor servers? The answer lies in inefficient virtualization software and licensing models.

1. Inability to Fully Utilize Additional Compute and Storage Capacity

A key challenge lies in virtualization solutions’ storage and compute utilization capabilities. Even when quad-processor servers are deployed, many virtualization platforms struggle to effectively distribute workloads across the increased number of cores and more densely packed storage.

Virtualization solutions were initially designed around smaller dual-processor servers. These architectures are not inherently optimized to take full advantage of the increased computing power and memory that quad-processor systems offer. As a result, these systems often bog down, forcing IT teams to reconfigure environments to extract performance gains manually.

2. Virtualization Solutions Aren’t Optimized for Scaling Down

Why Do Data Centers Still Rely on Dual Processor Servers
Lack of Affordable Quad-Processor Support = Server Sprawl

If the virtualization software can efficiently use them, quad-processor servers should lead to fewer physical servers, and the data center should actually shrink in size. Another reason why data centers still rely on dual-processor servers is that traditional virtualization solutions don’t have an easy way to scale down, making refreshing to fewer, more powerful servers very complex. The result is server sprawl, which is the opposite of sustainability.

3. The Licensing Problem: Software Costs Outpacing Hardware Savings

Perhaps the most significant reason why data centers still rely on dual-processor servers is how most virtualization software is licensed. Most major virtualization platforms, including VMware, have adopted licensing models based on the number of CPU cores. This strategy effectively makes the software cost significantly more expensive than the hardware costs when moving from dual-processor to quad-processor servers.

As a result, the software cost cancels out any potential savings from reduced hardware, power, and cooling expenses. This dynamic leaves many organizations feeling trapped, unable to justify the transition to quad-processor systems despite their clear benefits.

Part of the issue is that legacy virtualization solutions often hide their inefficiencies by requiring customers to maintain more physical servers in a cluster than their compute demands truly justify. These platforms spread workloads across an unnecessarily large number of servers, compensating for their inefficiencies. When introducing a quad-processor server, which should theoretically allow for fewer servers, these inefficiencies become even more exposed.

Traditional licensing strategies often hide these inefficiencies behind twice as many servers as the customer needs. In this scenario, virtualization vendors profit from increased server counts and core-based licensing, while customers are left with an infrastructure that is neither fully optimized nor cost-efficient.

VergeIO and ioOptimize: A Common-Sense Approach to Virtualization

To truly take advantage of today’s powerful servers, organizations need a virtualization solution designed to optimize performance across dual—and quad-processor environments. This is especially important for environments in transition, where a mix of dual—and quad-processor servers may exist.

Server Based Licensing

VergeIO offers a server-based licensing model, meaning organizations are not penalized for using more powerful hardware. Whether your infrastructure includes dual or quad-processor systems, VergeIO scales seamlessly across both, helping you maximize your resources without the bloated costs associated with core-based licensing.

Optimize Your Infrastructure

What sets VergeIO apart is ioOptimize, which uses AI and machine learning to dynamically manage workloads, ensuring that your environment operates at peak efficiency. VergeIO’s built-in intelligence can adjust resource allocation in real-time, optimizing both computing and storage for the hardware available, whether running dual-processor or quad-processor servers. This adaptability helps organizations achieve better performance while keeping infrastructure streamlined. It also enables you to “sweat the asset” instead of replacing it, creating a situation that may make you less inclined to go to the cloud.

Scale-Down

Why Do Data Centers Still Rely on Dual Processor Servers

One of the most powerful capabilities of ioOptimize is its autonomous scale-down feature. For instance, a customer operating 12 dual-processor servers can replace them with quad-processor servers simultaneously or incrementally. ioOptimize will intelligently consolidate both VMs and storage, migrating them to the denser, more robust architecture. This process occurs automatically, requiring minimal administrative oversight. The system continuously reallocates workloads and resources, ensuring that the transition maximizes performance while reducing the number of servers. As a result, customers can reduce power consumption, cooling requirements, and data center space without interrupting operations.

The Common-Sense Solution for Modern Data Centers

With a practical focus on eliminating inefficiencies and leveraging modern hardware, VergeIO provides a clear path for data centers looking to optimize their infrastructure. The ability to fully take advantage of dual and quad-processor servers simultaneously—along with AI-driven management through ioOptimize and intelligent storage optimization—enables a scalable, cost-efficient solution that grows with your infrastructure needs.

Whether you’re looking to reduce your server count, lower your energy costs, or simply get more out of your existing hardware, VergeIO provides the flexibility, intelligence, and efficiency that today’s data centers need.

Conclusion

While quad-processor servers have been available for years, the natural barriers to their adoption have not been hardware costs but rather the inefficiencies and licensing models of legacy virtualization solutions. By leveraging AI, machine learning, and flexible, server-based licensing, VergeIO enables organizations to manage dual and quad-processor environments efficiently, taking full advantage of today’s most robust hardware.

Don’t settle for just a VMware alternative—uplevel your infrastructure with VergeIO, where common sense and advanced technology converge to optimize your entire data center.

Next Steps

  • Live Demonstration: Join VergeIO and analyst firm SmallWorldBigData as we explore how a VMware alternative, armed with the right capabilities, can help you extend server lifespans, affordably integrate power-efficient servers, and reduce energy consumption—all without sacrificing performance.
  • White Paper: Read how VergeIO employs machine learning and AI with ioOptimize to enhance hardware lifecycles, maximize performance, and decrease power and cooling expenses.
Why Do Data Centers Still Rely on Dual Processor Servers

Filed Under: Virtualization Tagged With: , ,

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Many IT professionals are considering alternatives to VMware to reduce licensing costs, but the sustainability benefits of efficient infrastructure software as it replaces VMware should not be overlooked. Infrastructure software that integrates storage services, server virtualization, and network services into a single code base can improve power and cooling costs, as well as resource utilization, to enable organizations to meet sustainability goals.

the sustainability benefits of efficient infrastructure software

By requiring less CPU overhead, these solutions can significantly increase processor efficiency, which enables more virtual machines (VMs) per server, thereby reducing the number of physical servers required. It also extends the operational life of servers. These benefits contribute to environmental sustainability and cost efficiency. An efficient infrastructure software solution can also eliminate vendor lock-in, ensure long-term hardware flexibility, replace dedicated all-flash storage arrays with server-class SSDs, and incorporate backup best practices into the core infrastructure software. Additionally, solutions can reduce power, cooling, data center footprint, and server acquisition costs.

Enhancing Server Performance and Reducing Physical Server Count

Integrating storage, virtualization, and network services into a unified software package can improve server performance. Such software can handle more workloads with fewer physical servers by optimizing resource allocation and management. This reduction in physical infrastructure leads to several sustainability benefits:

  1. Lower Energy Consumption: Fewer servers mean reduced energy requirements for operation and cooling, directly lowering the data center’s carbon footprint.
  2. Reduced E-Waste: Minimizing the number of physical servers significantly decreases the amount of electronic waste generated from obsolete hardware.
  3. Cost Savings: Lower energy consumption and reduced hardware needs translate to substantial cost savings in capital and operational expenditures.

Elimination of Vendor Lock-In with Efficient Infrastructure Software

Vendor lock-in has long been a challenge in enterprise IT environments, and it impacts the sustainability benefits of efficient infrastructure software. Traditional infrastructure solutions bind organizations to specific hardware vendors, limiting flexibility and driving up costs. An efficient infrastructure software solution mitigates this issue by providing hardware-agnostic capabilities:

  1. Freedom of Choice: Organizations can choose hardware based on performance, cost, and sustainability criteria rather than being constrained by vendor compatibility.
  2. Competitive Pricing: The ability to mix and match hardware from different vendors fosters a competitive market, driving down prices and encouraging innovation.
  3. Sustainability Through Longevity: Hardware-agnostic software can support older servers, extending their useful life and reducing the need for frequent hardware replacements.

Efficient Infrastructure Software Delivers Long-Term Hardware Flexibility

One of the significant sustainability benefits of an efficient infrastructure software solution is its support for long-term hardware flexibility. This capability allows organizations to extend the operational life of their servers well beyond the original warranties:

  1. Extended Lifespan: With the correct software optimizations, servers can remain functional and efficient for many years, delaying the need for new hardware.
  2. Reduced Resource Consumption: By prolonging the life of existing hardware, the demand for raw materials and energy associated with manufacturing new servers is minimized.
  3. Economic Efficiency: Extending hardware lifespan translates to reduced capital expenditure on new equipment and better return on investment for existing assets.

However, as servers age, the risk of hardware failure increases. To mitigate this risk, built-in server redundancy and seamless failover capabilities are essential. Efficient infrastructure software should include these features to ensure continuous operation if an older server fails. This built-in redundancy allows workloads to be automatically transferred to functioning servers without disruption, maintaining high availability and reliability. Such resilience ensures that the extended use of older hardware does not compromise the overall stability and performance of the IT environment.

Eliminating Dedicated All-Flash Storage Arrays

Traditional data centers rely on dedicated all-flash storage arrays to meet high-performance processing and storage demands. However, this approach can be resource-intensive and costly. By integrating storage services directly into the server infrastructure and utilizing server-class SSDs, organizations can achieve comparable, if not superior, performance with greater efficiency:

  1. Cost Efficiency: Server-class SSDs are typically more cost-effective than dedicated all-flash storage arrays, reducing initial investment and ongoing maintenance costs.
  2. Improved Resource Utilization: Integrating storage into server infrastructure optimizes the use of existing resources, enhancing overall efficiency.
  3. Environmental Impact: The production of server-class SSDs generally requires fewer resources than all-flash storage arrays, contributing to a smaller environmental footprint.
  4. Elimination of Separate Network Infrastructure: Efficient infrastructure software eliminates the need for a separate network infrastructure dedicated solely to storage traffic, such as Fibre Channel or iSCSI. By consolidating storage traffic over existing Ethernet networks, organizations can reduce complexity, lower costs, and decrease the physical footprint of networking hardware. This simplification also reduces power and cooling requirements, further enhancing the sustainability of the IT environment.

Integrating Backup Best Practices Into Efficient Infrastructure Software

Incorporating backup and data protection best practices directly into the core infrastructure software eliminates the need for separate data protection architectures. This integration offers several sustainability and efficiency benefits:

  1. Simplified Management: A unified approach to data protection streamlines management processes, reducing the need for additional hardware and administrative overhead.
  2. Enhanced Resiliency: Integrated backup solutions ensure that data is consistently protected and readily recoverable, minimizing downtime and data loss.
  3. Resource Optimization: By leveraging existing infrastructure for backup purposes, organizations can avoid the additional energy and material costs associated with dedicated backup systems.
  4. Elimination of Separate Storage Systems and Servers: The integration of the data protection architecture eliminates the need for separate storage systems to store backup data and separate servers to run the backup software. This consolidation reduces the overall hardware footprint, significantly saving space, power, and cooling costs.

The Requirements of Efficient Infrastructure Software

the sustainability benefits of efficient infrastructure software

Efficient infrastructure software must meet several essential requirements to support modern data centers effectively while promoting sustainability and cost-efficiency. These requirements include integrating essential components, multi-tenancy capabilities, data resiliency, high availability, and scalability.

  • Integration of Major Components: The software must integrate the three major components of the data center—storage services, virtualization software, and networking services—into a single piece of software.
  • Integrated Multi-Tenancy: The software should provide integrated multi-tenancy to eliminate the noisy neighbor problem and ensure fair resource distribution among different workloads.
  • Data Resiliency and High Availability It should integrate data resiliency and high-availability features for servers to protect against hardware failures and ensure continuous operation.
  • Scalability: The software must scale from as few as two servers to hundreds of servers, allowing it to meet a wide range of use cases from Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) setups all the way up to large Enterprise environments.

Conclusion

Verge.io’s VergeOS meets all the requirements for efficient infrastructure software and delivers on the sustainability benefits discussed. VergeOS integrates storage services, server virtualization, and networking services into a single, cohesive platform, ensuring seamless operation and high performance. Its built-in multi-tenancy eliminates the noisy neighbor problem, and its data resiliency and high-availability features protect against hardware failures.

In addition to these technical advantages, VergeOS offers significant cost savings. Its licensing model is per server instead of per core, enabling customers to purchase fewer, more CPU-dense servers. This approach reduces licensing costs and lowers the overall number of servers required, enhancing sustainability by reducing energy consumption and electronic waste. VergeOS is also software-based, which means you can use your existing hardware or purchase new servers from the vendor of your choice.

Organizations adopting VergeOS can achieve all the sustainability benefits while enjoying upfront savings compared to VMware. VergeOS’s ability to scale from two servers to 200 makes it versatile for various use cases, from small remote offices to large enterprise environments. By choosing VergeOS, organizations can meet their environmental goals and achieve long-term operational success.

Filed Under: Private Cloud Tagged With: ,

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BOSTON – June 18, 2024 – IT service provider Cloud Compliance Solutions, Inc. (CCSI) has upgraded its infrastructure with technology from Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream® Remote Desktop Access Platform, and VergeIO, the leading VMware alternative, resulting in significant cost savings, optimized hardware use, and enhanced operational efficiency, the companies announced today.

Founded in 2017, CCSI provides its clients with a complete suite of cloud-related IT and compliance services. As a single provider offering both critical services, CCSI delivers more accurate and cost-effective IT and compliance solutions that significantly reduce its clients’ operational and audit costs.

CCSI opted to replace VMware due to significant challenges, including affordability, scaling and performance for its multi-tenant platform that provides its clients Desktop as a Service (DaaS)/Next-Gen DaaS (NGDaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). CCSI’s growth had surpassed VMware’s capabilities, and it needed an option that could support denser environments with more powerful servers. Strategically, CCSI had concerns about VMware’s new licensing costs and models that required substantial upfront commitments and the uncertain future of VMware Horizon.

The transition to VergeIO and Leostream has transformed CCSI’s service portfolio, enabling it to offer more robust and scalable services with superior DaaS/NGDaaS, IaaS and DRaaS. With CCSI competing with providers like AWS and Azure, the upgrade allows it to remain price-competitive and provide better service and support.

“VergeOSs multi-tenant virtual data center technology and Leostream’s virtual desktop platform have empowered CCSI to provide customers with fundamentally better performance and efficiency,” said Kelley Allen, CCSI CEO. “This project exemplifies CCSI’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction with high-quality, affordable, and reliable IT solutions.”

The phased upgrade began with DaaS/NGDaaS and Leostream for remote desktop services including resource allocation, access control, and policy enforcement. In addition to secure user profile management and support for nearly all end-user devices and display protocols,the combined solution delivered on its promise of increased performance: boot times have dropped to seconds instead of minutes.

Next, CCSI shifted its IaaS offerings to VergeIO to create multi-tenant virtual data centers (VDC), which allows customers to manage the VDC as if it were on-premises technology, with CCSI as backup IT support. While CCSI is a de-facto IT team for many customers with limited or no full-time IT staff, VergeIO’s VDC technology allows CCSI to attract new clients whose IT teams want more control over their infrastructure.

The third phase, also enabled by VergeIO, expanded and simplified CCSI’s DRaaS capability so customers with on-premises IT infrastructure can fail over to CCSI’s infrastructure in a disaster. VergeOS VDC technology seamlessly replicates all components to ensure a successful recovery in CCSI’s data center.

“When industry-leading IT experts like CCSI choose your product for their own internal use, and to deploy to customers, it is the highest possible endorsement,” said Karen Gondoly, Leostream CEO. “This joint infrastructure combining Leostream and VergeIO has been battle-tested in multiple enterprises and we believe it’s the strongest, most feature-rich alternative to VMware, ESXi, and Horizon available today.”

“CCSI’s new architecture will provide long-term cost savings, starting with reduced upfront license costs, maintaining its existing investment in hardware, and enabling more virtual machines and desktops per physical server,” said Yan Ness, CEO of VergeIO. “More importantly, this modernized desktop, infrastructure, and disaster recovery platform has expanded what the company is able to offer its own clients, to truly do more for less.”

If you’re considering a VMware exit, we have the perfect opportunity for you to talk to someone who has made the journey. CCSI is joining VergeIO and Leostream for a live conversation with IT professionals about their switch from VMware to VergeIO/Leostream software on June 27th at 1:00pm EST. Register Here.

The Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform for hosted desktops and workstations offers a comprehensive solution for remote access to maintain productivity, control costs, and ensure security with strict authentication and authorization built on zero-trust concepts. Its connection management system eliminates clunky corporate VPNs with an ultra-efficient gateway that gives users access to only the specific resources they have permission to use, automatically, regardless of their location or device. The Leostream Platform shines even in environments that rely on complex, specialty applications like energy and science; large files such as media and entertainment; real-time performance like financial services; and bulletproof network security like government and defense.

About VergeIO

VergeIO is the leading VMware Alternative. Unlike hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), its ultraconverged infrastructure (UCI) rotates the traditional IT stack (computing, storage, and networking) into an integrated data center operating environment, VergeOS. Its efficiency enables greater workload density using existing hardware while improving data resiliency. The result is dramatically lower costs, improved availability, and greatly simplified IT.

About Leostream
The Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform embodies over 20 years of Leostream research and development in supporting customers with hosted desktop environments, including VDI, hybrid cloud, and high-performance display protocols. It provides the world’s most robust desktop connection management and remote access feature set, allowing today’s enterprises to choose the best-of-breed components to satisfy their complex security, cost, and flexibility needs while working with them as they evolve into tomorrow.

Leostream is a registered trademark of Leostream Corporation in the United States. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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JPR Communications

Judy Smith

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: , , , ,