If you were one of the 23,000 people who attended VMworld in San Francisco this week, there was not a doubt that VMware is targeting the Software Defined Data Center. This simplification and automation of the data center infrastructure will reduce costs and complexity and drive business agility. Hitachi Data Systems is in full support of this strategy and views this as a key enabler for the private and hybrid cloud, which we demonstrated at VMworld.
One of the most exciting demos at this event was Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) Pro, which is a converged infrastructure platform composed Hitachi Compute Blade 500 blade servers, HUS VM storage, Brocade switches which tightly couple with VMware vCloud Suite through Hitachi UCP Director software. Using the vCenter interface, we demonstrated how a Virtual Machine could be created, and all related Infrastructure would be automatically provisioned in one operation. Many amazed customers were able to watch as the appropriate server was selected for the VM; it was assigned to new VLAN’s, which were created on the most appropriate physical and virtual switches; and assigned storage, where a new VMware datastore creation was performed, complete with San Zoning, storage port selection, LUN creation, and dynamic tiering.
As if removing all of the complexity, human error, and time for these operations weren’t exciting enough, the UCP Pro team also demonstrated a second operation, in which Hitachi UCP Data Center Director was able to protect the VM by automatically configuring hardware assisted storage replication and VMware SRM to replicate to another UCP Pro in the Brocade booth on the other side of the convention hall. This was Software Defined Data Center in action. No other vendor on the floor could demonstrate this capability without linking and launching to different element managers.
This picture illustrates how the Software Defined Data Center supports the HDS private cloud.
Attending this event was Ed Weigner director of business development and global operations for oXya, an HDS customer who implemented UCP Pro for their cloud. oXya is a leading provider of technical services and hosting solutions with over 190,000 SAP users worldwide with offices in Paris, New Jersey, Montreal, Belgium, Shanghai and the UK. Ed said that it was Hitachi’s reputation for reliability, performance, and quality support that led oXya to consider UCP Pro due to the mission critical nature of their clients and the demanding performance requirements of SAP. It was when they saw the ease of installation and operations, they fully realized what UCP Pro could deliver. He shared that prior to UCP Pro it took several level 1 and 2 operations staff, in different areas to stand up an application and manage the infrastructure. Now it only takes one level 3 staff, saving time and reducing errors through the automation provided by UCP Director.
Additionally, attendees liked the quality of Hitachi engineering in the servers and storage of UCP Solutions. These are Hitachi Blade servers. When paired together with Hitachi storage, the efficiencies are even more impressive. And the fact that we OEM VMware and the Brocade and Cisco switches means that there is only one call for support from hypervisor through to the storage media. Packaging was seen as another advantage. Unlike the other vendors who sell small, medium, and large configurations, UCP starts with 500 VMs and scales to tens of thousands of VMs through modular, non disruptive growth. Installation of a UCP from the time it hits the receiving dock to being online takes two days.
Another advantage that attendees noted was the fact that our element management objects were now integrated into native VMware element managers. This means that our objects will integrate easily into future VMware functions and features since VMware will be likely to provide compatibility with vCenter. We already experienced this when VMware added Web Client to their Thick Client and CLI.
One question that I was asked often was whether the Software Defined Data Center would commoditize the infrastructure. My response is that the Software Defined Data Center requires the close integration of intelligent infrastructures in order to be successful. No matter how smart your software is, it cannot change a Mini Cooper into an Escalade for capacity or into a Porsche for performance. In a similar way the infrastructure hardware must be able to scale up for performance, scale out for capacity and scale deep for efficiency. Software is only as good as the hardware behind it. Conversely, the benefits of intelligent hardware cannot fully be exploited without software that can leverage them. It is the tightly coupled relationship between the two that results in true benefits and efficiencies.
Software Defined Data Center is a key enabler for the private cloud. And Hitachi UCP solutions are the best for both private and hybrid clouds.