1. Vendor Landscape: Hyperconverged Infrastructure
Simplify and optimize IT operations for high-value and business-critical workloads.
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2. Introduction
Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is delivering web-scale capabilities to IT organizations of all sizes.
This Research Is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
Enterprises seeking to select a solution for hyperconverged infrastructure.
Enterprises with a hyperconverged infrastructure use case that includes:
Disaster Recovery (DR)
Public Cloud Integration
Understand what’s new in the hyperconverged infrastructure market.
Evaluate hyperconverged infrastructure vendors and products for your enterprise needs.
Determine which products are most appropriate for particular use cases and scenarios.

3. How to use this Vendor Landscape
There are two ways you can use this Info-Tech Vendor Landscape in your organization. Choose the option that best fits your needs:
Guided Implementation
“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”
DIY Toolkit
“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

4. Guided Implementation points in the Hyperconverged Infrastructure Vendor Landscape
Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your evaluation. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful technology selection.
Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points for the Hyperconverged Infrastructure Vendor Landscape:
Section 1: Shortlist Assistance and Requirements
Get off to a productive start: Discuss the market space and how vendors are evaluated. Decide on which deployment option suits you best and narrow down the options based on customized requirements.
Section 2: RFP
Interpret and act on RFP results: Review vendors’ RFPs and ensure the solution will meet your needs.
Section 3: Negotiation and Contract Review
Purchase optimization: Review contracts and discuss best practices in negotiation tactics to get the best price for your solution.
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This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project.
To enroll, send an to or call and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.

5. Market overview How it got here Where it’s going
All workloads/data went on the SAN. Organizations consolidated workloads and data on an all-purpose SAN that delivered the adequate/aggregate performance to the different workloads and data on the array.
Storage vendors realized the possibilities of converged computing. Most early HCI vendors began as storage vendors that started to realize the capabilities of on-board compute resources in running full enterprise workloads, rather than using those compute resources exclusively for running storage software.
The hyperconverged market is growing, fast. Start- ups and established storage and server vendors are delivering a variety of HCI options. Increasing competition has forced new and old HCI vendors alike to continue to deliver innovation at a competitive cost.
VDI was the biggest use case for hyperconverged. Workloads other than VDI were rarely considered for HCI. The market has matured, and HCI use cases are starting to emerge for many enterprise workloads.
Cloud-like experiences for the user. Public cloud providers like AWS and Azure are delivering agile and reliable infrastructure services as needed with a click of a button. On-premises infrastructure will be expected to deliver similar services and user experiences.
Vendor lock-in. HCI is introducing a new form of vendor lock-in. Hyperconverged introduces hardware abstraction and optimized compatibility between hardware and software. Most HCI vendors are taking away interoperability with other storage structures to optimize performance of workloads on their platforms.
Simple, scalable, and agile. The desire for cloud-like infrastructure will force the market to deliver a platform that is scalable, agile, and delivers resources through an easy to manage and automated environment.
Hyperconverged is going all flash. Reaching costs comparable to hybrid HCI arrays, as flash prices continue to decrease, HCI will exclusively go all flash. Soon, the all-flash HCI appliance will become the norm.
The future is cloud(like) infrastructure, and HCI is a big step in that direction. HCI has been a major disruptor of the commercial IT infrastructure market, particularly the storage market. For more on how to evaluate HCI’s potential for your organization, see Evaluate Hyperconverged Infrastructure for Your Infrastructure Roadmap.

6. Hyperconverged infrastructure vendor selection / knock-out criteria: market share, mind share, and platform coverage
With increased use of the public cloud, IT is in need of cloud-like agile infrastructure that can deliver on business needs. Hyperconverged infrastructure, which of late is moving toward all flash, simplifies IT operations by delivering cloud-like capabilities through an easy-to-use platform.
For this Vendor Landscape, Info-Tech focused on those vendors that offer broad capabilities across multiple platforms and that have a strong market presence and/or reputational presence among small and mid-sized enterprises.
Atlantis Computing. Atlantis has built a track record in software-defined storage and VDI.
Cisco. An existing leader in the enterprise server space, Cisco looks to gain ground on the hyperconverged market with HyperFlex.
Dell Technologies. A combined Dell and EMC entity, Dell Technologies is a leader in server, storage, and virtualization.
HPE. Already competing in the space with StoreVirtual-based appliances, HPE is bolstering its presence in the HCI race with the planned acquisition of SimpliVity.
Nutanix. The market share leader and pioneer of what we now call hyperconverged infrastructure.
Pivot3. With a history in clustered software-defined storage, video surveillance, and VDI, Pivot3 has expanded its offerings to a broader application of HCI.
SimpliVity. The second largest HCI vendor by market share, SimpliVity offers an easy-to-use platform and hardware- based compression and deduplication, which has made it a favorite of enterprise IT.
Included in this Vendor Landscape:

7. Hyperconverged infrastructure criteria & weighting factors
Product Evaluation Criteria
Criteria Weighting
Evaluated Features
The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality.
Evaluated Features
Architecture
The solution elegantly implements features and capabilities.
Vendor Evaluation Criteria
Architecture
Viability
Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long term.
Product
Strategy
Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap.
Reach
Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support.
Channel
Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong.
Vendor
Viability
Strategy
Channel
Reach

8. Table Stakes represent the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn’t even get reviewed
The Table Stakes
What does this mean?
The products assessed in this Vendor LandscapeTM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Table Stakes.
Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Table Stakes, some even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products’ capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here.
Feature
What it is:
Hardware offerings
The vendor must offer a physical hyperconverged solution.
Backup and DR (replication)
The solution implements backup and disaster recovery.
Flash offerings
The vendor must offer a hyperconverged solution that utilizes flash.
If Table Stakes are all you need from your hyperconverged infrastructure solution, the best differentiators become the vendor you choose and the price you pay. Dig deep to find the vendor that fits your organizational needs and budgetary constraints.

9. Advanced Features are the capabilities that allow for granular market differentiation
Scoring Methodology
Advanced Features
Info-Tech scored each vendor’s features offering as a summation of its individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given one point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points.
Feature
What we looked for:
The solution can be configured so that specific VMs or volumes receive guaranteed levels of performance consistent with user-set policies.
Quality of Service (QoS)
The solution supports native integration of container platforms, such as Docker and CoreOS.
Containers Integration
HCI supports the addition of nodes that work in concert to increase available compute power and capacity. Some scale higher than others.
Scale-out Capacity
The solution is designed to support VMware Virtual Volumes (VVol).
Virtual Volume Support
The solution strategically locates data and computing resources of a VM on the same host.
Data Locality
For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stoplights) in the Appendix.

10. Shortlist Assistance & Requirements
Arrange a call now: or call and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.
Prior to the Guided Implementation
During the Guided Implementation
Value & Outcome
Have reasoning as to why a new solution is being discussed.
Compile list of incompetencies and gaps.
An Info-Tech Consulting Analyst will discuss with you:
Reviewing the market and understanding the rationale behind the evaluation.
Deciding on a deployment method.
Feature analysis.
At the conclusion of the Guided Implementation call, you will have:
An understanding of the market situation.
A narrowed list of vendors with the customized evaluation tool.
An RFP template to distribute to vendors.

11. Adopt a hyperconverged solution that focuses on enhanced data protection and disaster recovery (DR) features
When used for high value and business critical data and workloads, it is important that your HCI solutions deliver superior data protection. 1
Data Protection
Exemplary Performers
Nutanix delivers built-in VM-centric disaster recovery and replication that feature easy-to-use two-click failover, continuous availability of planned events and unplanned disasters, and your choice of integrated disaster recovery options that meet your needs. 2
Why Scenarios?
Compatible with a wide variety of leading disaster recovery and business continuity software, Pivot3 leverages its patented Scalar Erasure Coding to deliver efficient and scalable data protection that does not require a 1-to-1 replication of data.
In reviewing the products included in each Vendor LandscapeTM, certain use cases come to the forefront. Whether those use cases are defined by applicability in certain locations, relevance for certain industries, or as strengths in delivering a specific capability, Info-Tech recognizes those use cases as scenarios, and calls attention to them where they exist.
With automated recovery that can be implemented on a per VM basis, SimpliVity RapidDR optimizes how data is safeguarded and simplifies enterprise disaster recovery by eliminating special purpose built backup and recovery tools.
For an explanation of how scenarios are determined, see Information Presentation – Scenarios in the Appendix.

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