Data Center

3 Considerations in the Adoption of Hyperconverged Infrastructure

State and local agencies can produce efficiencies and maximize manpower with IT modernization.

Andrew Wall is a senior solution architect with CDW.

In state and local government, digital transformation efforts tend to snowball. One improvement leads to another, and the next modernization initiative opens even more doors.

This is exactly what is happening with hyperconverged infrastructure. Just a few years ago, many public agencies simply had too many legacy applications running on physical servers for HCI to be seen as a realistic option. But as states and cities modernize apps and other components of their IT environments, more turn to HCI as an alternative to traditional three-tier data center infrastructure. Here are three reasons why:

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1. HCI Is Scalable and Simple to Manage Solutions

HCI is highly scalable, so government agencies can easily add new nodes as storage or compute needs grow. This also means organizations don’t need to overprovision resources, which helps minimize wasteful spending. Some HCI vendors allow IT shops to purchase compute- or storage-specific nodes so they can scale up only the resources they need.

State and local governments typically must make do with a small number of full-time IT staffers. By allowing IT shops to manage their compute, storage and networking from a “single pane of glass,” HCI dramatically simplifies the management burden.

DISCOVER: How municipalities are making the most of HCI solutions.

2. HCI Is Proven to be Flexible and Cost-Effective

Virtual desktop infrastructure has been a popular choice among state and local governments in recent years, as the VDI model centralizes management and provides more flexibility for employee workstations. This has been beneficial for government and businesses alike during the COVID-19 pandemic as many employees shifted to working from home.

There are also a number of government-specific use cases — such as police patrol cars — for which VDI is a perfect long-term fit. Many organizations have found that hyperconvergence offers the best foundation on which to run their VDI environments, in part because of how storage and compute resources are pooled in HCI.

While HCI does require an upfront investment, much of the expense comes in the form of recurring, predictable subscription fees.”

3. HCI Is an Efficient Use of Resources

When HCI first hit the market, some state and local governments shied away from the solution, in part because of its premium price point. That cost has begun to shrink. Furthermore, organizations often find that the total cost of ownership for HCI solutions is lower than for traditional infrastructure, due to more efficient use of IT resources and staff time.

Also, HCI can help agencies shift away from a capital expense financing model toward an operating expense model. While HCI does require an upfront investment, much of the expense comes in the form of recurring, predictable subscription fees.

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