Converged systems have made quite a splash in the market in the last 24 months. By IDC’s last tally, converged systems garnered over $10 billion from Q4 ’15 to Q3 ’16. What makes converged systems and their tight integration and “packaging” of traditional datacenter components – compute, network, and storage – so attractive to end users?
It’s about cloud
Well, a primary reason is actually extrinsic to converged systems themselves, namely the relatively rapid adoption of cloud computing by enterprises and service providers. Even the casual observer knows the statistics, but they’re worth repeating in this context; we’re well beyond the cloud tipping point, with over 80% of companies committing to hybrid cloud by the end of this year. (IDC)
When asked why they are interested in cloud, most organizations often cite simplicity, efficiency, and agility. Guess what? Converged systems offer enterprises and service providers the ability to build out their as-a-service toolkit with these same exact attributes.
The VersaStack Way
VersaStack is a converged system – more specifically an integrated infrastructure offering – that hits these pain points head on. Launched one year ago by Cisco and IBM, VersaStack marries best-of-breed, enterprise class technologies, including Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus switches, and IBM Storage offerings. In the span of one year, it has already very successfully delivered on its value proposition to a diverse set of customers:
- Easy: integrated, pre-tested server, storage, and networking allow for simple deployment, and single-pane management eases operations
- Efficient: built-in storage efficiencies such as compression help cut costs, while auto-tiering allows administrators to focus on higher value-add operations
- Versatile: seamless scale-up and scale-out make it ideal for enterprise private cloud; external storage virtualization enables leveraging of existing storage
VersaStack is well-suited for IT organizations and solution providers seeking to move rapidly, while providing enterprise-grade, reliable services. It allows companies to create and transform data center infrastructure into pools of resources that can be easily allocated and re-purposed, measured, monitored, and charged.
From the mouths of customers
How are cloud customers using VersaStack? Here are a few examples:
- Medicat, a leading provider of healthcare IT software to colleges and universities via a SaaS model, relies on VersaStack to provision services six times faster, reduce response times from 300 ms to 1 ms, and lower TCO
Watch the webinar to hear from Medicat’s director of technology services
- i-Virtualize, a provider of cloud and on-premises computing solutions across North America, hosts its cloud infrastructure and cites simplicity and the agility to respond quickly to customer demands as significant benefits
- Dutch Cloud, a cloud services provider in the Netherlands leans on VersaStack as the building block for its new data center due its simplicity and enterprise class credentials.
Read more (in Dutch)
Dig into VersaStack
There’s plenty of material discussing how VersaStack can help organizations like yours with their cloud goals. Here are a few starting points:
Also, check out these blogs:
Datascopes 
