storage , servers & hardware
HARD TARGETS
Johan Pellicaan , MD EMEA , Scale Computing , looks at how companies can manage the hardware challenges of remote and branch offices .
IT departments face a variety of challenges but maybe none as challenging as the distributed enterprise . Businesses with multiple or remote locations that are separated both physically and geographically are often referred to as distributed enterprises . Examples include branch offices , retail and fast food chains , franchises and service centres . To function effectively , all of these locations must be networked together to share data and applications with each other and / or head office .
Like all businesses , distributed organisations want to ensure their IT infrastructure helps them remain competitive by meeting the demands for increased speed , performance and security of business applications . They may also have to address regulatory and compliance issues . The lack of IT staff on site can mean that productivity and cost are wasted frequently sending IT staff to the remote sites to troubleshoot issues .
One of the most common organisational structures for the distributed enterprises is a single large central data centre supporting dozens or even hundreds of small remote offices . The difficulties are both in the technological complexities of the multi-site environment and the staffing issues with some remote sites having limited or no on site IT expertise . These remote sites often need the same variety of application and data services that the central office requires , but on a smaller scale . Yet , to run these applications , branch sites need multiple servers , storage solutions , and disaster recovery .
Hyperconvergence Let ’ s take the technology piece first , because by answering that we can solve the staffing and expertise issues as well . The solution for the distributed enterprise is the turnkey appliance approach of true hyperconvergence .
A hyperconverged infrastructure ( HCI ) solution combines server ,