EXPERT OPINION
Four common HCI
myths debunked
Despite the fact that
hyperconverged
infrastructure (HCI)
has gone mainstream
in the last few years,
there are still myths
that circulate and lead
to misconceptions and
confusion, even for
those that have various
HCI solutions already
deployed. Here, Alan
Conboy, Office of the
CTO, Scale Computing,
debunks the four most
popular HCI myths.
40
Issue 11
1.
HCI costs more than
building your own virtual
infrastructure
Firstly, the upfront cost of HCI solutions
differs between vendors and often by the
brand of hypervisor used in the solution.
Not to mention, while it is often true that
purchasing the individual parts needed
to make a virtualisation infrastructure
might be less expensive than purchasing
an HCI solution, that’s only part of the
cost of the solution. The true and total
cost of infrastructure goes far beyond
the initial purchase.
HCI solutions make virtualisation easier
to deploy, manage and grow in the
future, which is their most compelling
virtue. The ease of use and simplicity
it offers make for a dramatically lower
total cost of ownership over time. From
deploying in hours rather than days, to
scaling out seamlessly without downtime,
HCI eliminates many of the major
headaches that come with traditional DIY
virtualisation solutions.
HCI handles a lot of the daily tasks
typically associated with managing and
maintaining virtualisation infrastructure
using automation and machine
intelligence. The ease of use and reduction
of management time frees up resources to
work on other tasks and projects.
Savings can also include eliminating
hypervisor software licensing, depending
on the hypervisor deployed by or
supported by the HCI vendor. The savings
may vary by organisation, but nearly
always, the numbers bear out that the
good HCI solutions are less costly over a
three to five-year period or less.
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