Servers & Edge

There are cases where Infrastructure (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are either unavailable, or they do not meet application specifications, or they are simply too costly. In these instances, implementing an in-house (on-premises/edge) solution is the only way forward. Even in this relatively simple case, there are several alternatives, and solutions such as Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) are constantly emerging.

What is Edge Computing?

Edge computing is the opposite yet complementary trend to cloud computing. Moving to an IaaS or SaaS solution involves transferring all applications and workloads to a central location. In many cases, this central and therefore remote infrastructure leads to suboptimal results.

Edge is an umbrella term that includes workloads repatriating (or remaining) on infrastructure near where data is generated: within the organization and often even in branches or production spaces. In other words, it is the traditional on-premises infrastructure in servers, storage, and network with the capability to adapt and extend to the cloud.

IP Partners, a Gold Partner of both Lenovo and Dell, can offer you the full range of products and solutions concerning servers, SAN storage solutions, and network infrastructure, either with the classic three-tier architecture or as HCI.

What is Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and what are its advantages?

Traditional data centers manage servers, storage networks, and the access network as separate components using different tools. HCI brings these components into a single, software-defined environment.

An HCI solution consists of a number of interconnected nodes (servers) and management software. Expensive SAN systems are not mandatory for storage, nor networking requires anything special. The management software presents the entire infrastructure as a set of resources, and this results in significant advantages:

• Scalability: A key advantage and feature of HCI is the easy and instantaneous increase in resources by adding additional nodes. If you need more cores, memory, or storage space, simply add another node to the system.

• Ease of Management: By integrating all components of data centers into a single solution, management becomes simpler and more centralized.

• Cost-Efficiency: By condensing hardware and reducing the need for specialized devices or systems, businesses can achieve lower costs compared to a traditional virtualized architecture.

• Performance Increase: The tight integration of components leads to optimized performance, particularly when storage operations are local to the node where the application is running.

Lenovo, a leading company in high-performance server systems, and Nutanix, a pioneer and leader in the HCI space, have collaborated to produce the ThinkAgile HX series of nodes. IP Partners, a certified partner of both, is available to discuss and design the most efficient solution for your business.