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Solutions & Services > Data Center > Converged Infrastruture

Converged Infrastructure

What is Converged Infrastructure?

Converged Infrastructure combines several traditionally siloed IT components into a single optimized solution. By converging servers, data storage, networking equipment and software, Converged Infrastructure solutions provide a scalable and more cost efficient way to quickly deploy a more simplified IT infrastructure.

Characteristics of a Converged Infrastructure include:

End-to-End Virtualization—Compute, storage, network and I/O
Resilient—Improved availability using less infrastructure
Open—Choice, flexibility, and interoperable
Orchestrated—Automated arrangement, coordination, and management of complex computer systems, middleware, and services
Modular—Replace or add any one component (module) without affecting the rest of the compute solution

How Will Converged Infrastructure Solutions Benefit My Organization?

Converged Infrastructure platforms deliver quantifiable benefits to an organization, including:

Faster delivery of IT services to end-users
Increased agility and scalability
Flexible consumption models
Less fragmented resources
Improved security and control

How Can I Help My Organization Embrace Converged Infrastructure Solutions?

Convergence is a cultural change, not just a technical one. A few key guidelines will help you smooth the way:

Culturally enable transformation

Prioritize objectives
Empower architectural leadership to influence tactical activities
Create transparency into diverse aspects of existing infrastructure
Communicate lifecycle purchasing and convergence alignment

Transform Planning

Link capacity to demand instead of component-based estimations
Transition from task-by-task to assembly line automation

When moving toward a Converged Infrastructure solution, here are some important considerations:

Understand what is possible:

Technical
Cultural
Operational

Identify the demands for infrastructure in upcoming projects
Develop architectural roadmap that matches convergence plan

What Comprises a Converged Infrastructure Solution?

These solutions are completely integrated and sold as a completely integrated IT offering, but they are comprised of the following technologies:

Networking	Typically large modular core switches
Servers	Blade servers
Virtualization Software	Hypervisor and management software
Data Storage	Network attached storage

This unified approach to IT infrastructure heralds the convergence of network and compute layers, which simplifies data center manageability and improves flexibility and utilization. It also allows IT to focus more on delivering services to end users, and less on how to piece together disparate IT components and make them work together.

Getting Started with Converged Infrastructure

Your CDW Account Manager and certified Data Center Architects are ready to assist you with every phase of choosing and leveraging the right solution for your IT environment. Our approach includes:

Data Center Workshop—The cornerstone of the Private Cloud Accelerator engagement, this half-day session with a Data Center Architect provides for:

Technical discussion of today’s data center optimization technologies and best practices
An overview of your current data center, including:

Application delivery methods and requirements
Disaster recovery and continuity requirements
Standards compliance
IT Governance

Identification of current challenges in your ability to provide quality IT services
Translation of your organization’s IT goals into a data center strategy

Discovery Workshops—Based on information gathered in the Data Center Workshop, CDW will recommend a series of Discovery Workshops to capture a complete and accurate picture of your current data center environment. Topic areas may include: Network, Server, Storage and/or Physical Environment. Discovery Workshops are led by Solution Architects highly specialized in the topic areas. The Solution Architects will document and address: