Systems Alliance Blog

I'm pretty sure data center managers dream of a day when the server platform (hardware or virtual) they buy can come from any manufacturer. And applications can be moved seamlessly from box-to-box with the click of a mouse. That dream is becoming more of a reality every day. HP and Cisco have created hardware platforms that allow application movement from server to server with a simple reboot, albeit only on their hardware. The hypervisor vendors, VMware, Citrix and Microsoft can move servers seamlessly from virtual server to virtual server with little or no downtime. Dell has taken this idea a step further with the Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM) product. With AIM, you can move a server “persona” between virtual and physical platforms with the same ease as HP and Cisco offer, but across heterogeneous hardware and hypervisor platforms. Sounds like a dream come true to me.

An AIM persona encapsulates a portable SAN and network server identity and combines it with a bootable shared storage image to enable cross-platform server mobility. They can run on bare-metal hardware or as a virtual machine in a hypervisor. Depending on your view of the value a particular hardware or virtualization software vendor brings to your environment, a solution like this could significantly change the landscape of your data center. Application migrations between hardware platforms can become as easy as bringing the server under AIM management and rebooting the persona into the new computing environment. Painful platform migrations become a thing of the past.

Another great use case for this technology?
The fast deployment of new applications. Envision a scenario where a new application is rolled out and the application owners and IT staff don't understand the server requirements to run the application properly. A virtualized infrastructure persona could be run on a server where the load requirements could be modeled and a determination quickly made whether the computing architecture was correct. If it wasn’t, shutdown the server, boot it on a smaller/larger server or in a virtual machine, and you have a completely new computing environment that is closer to your real-world requirements.

Implementing AIM functionality doesn’t come without some up front work. This technology leverages a shared storage network and in most cases, the ability to boot images from the SAN. Many organizations limit the servers they have attached to shared storage because of the additional expense, and very few implement boot from SAN. Environments where server capacity is dynamic, or quick recovery of a hardware failure is required would provide the most return on investment.

Ok, like all dreams you're going to wake up sooner or later, and then what? Well, how about scheduling a white-board session with our engineering team to evaluate opportunities for deploying AIM in your environment. Ping me here to schedule a session.

Will You Be Deploying the Longines Symphonette or the RCA Console with Hi-Fi Stereo in Your Data Center This Year?

Much has been made recently of the ongoing battle between Cisco and HP as they stake out a presence in the emerging market for consolidated infrastructure components. Cisco is touting its Unified Computing platform as a “virtual data center” and “ladder to the cloud,” while HP has introduced the Blade System Matrix that provides a “cloud in a box.”

Buzz-worthy indeed, yet the way forward for both Cisco and HP is a bit confusing, cloudy perhaps.

I have tremendous respect for John Chambers and his ability to continuously grow Cisco's business. Cisco, like HP, is now increasing its focus on products and services for markets beyond the enterprise. A growing portion of Cisco's revenue is coming from video conferencing and consumer products like Linksys routers, set-top boxes and Flip cameras... Yes you too can now experience a “Digital Crib” from Cisco. A broader revenue base is good for Cisco stockholders and maybe for enterprises that have made large commitments to Cisco and need to be confident about their future.

Likewise, HP continues to grow revenue outside of the data center with a heavy focus on consumer PCs, laptops, netbooks and printers, as well as specialized printers for commercial and industrial graphic arts production (see: http://h10088.www1.hp.com/cda/gap/display/main/index.jsp?zn=gap&cp=20000_4041_100 for a look at how graphics created with an HP Scitex printer were used to wrap a train, yes a train, to promote Disney's A Christmas Carol.

Against this backdrop of diversification, Cisco and HP are betting we'll embrace the concept of single, consolidated infrastructure for enterprise-class data centers.

Not so fast…
The Technical Architects at SAI spend a significant amount of time analyzing and debating the emerging technologies and products offered by our alliance partners and other industry leaders. As our team has looked at the “use cases” for consolidated infrastructure, they have raised questions about the implications of deploying components that are “in between” the current model of dedicated components and a future that may be populated with purpose-built IT appliances.

And here's where the Longines Symphonette (LS) comes in. Yes, back in the 1960s and 70s consumers were offered interesting combinations of TVs and stereo components in non-descript faux wooden cabinets – perfect for the easy listening sounds of the LS. These systems initially met with acceptance in the marketplace due to their positioning as a piece of furniture that captured all of your entertainment needs.

This did not last. In short order the quality of home audio components improved, new technologies were introduced (eight tracks and audio cassettes) and musical tastes evolved – how about the first time you heard Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. Consoles lost their appeal as purist disdain for moderate quality performance in each area lead to the eventual dis-integration of the components.

During the last two years, we have seen large enterprises make fast and significant progress ( increasing infrastructure utilization rates and decreasing capital costs and operating expenses) with faster and cheaper servers and storage coupled with virtualization tools. Against that backdrop, it's hard to imagine that the current crop of consolidated infrastructure components will gain ground. As these devices evolve to purpose built appliances, the dynamics may change. For now, best of breed individual infrastructure components appear to be a lower cost and higher performance solution.