HP Converged Infrastructure
Delivering the data center of the future
An HP Converged Infrastructure innovation primer
A new window The optimum Converged Infrastructure delivers the
data center of the future that matches the supply of
IT resources with the demand for business applica-
of opportunity tions. The HP Converged Infrastructure does just that
– delivers a blueprint for building the data center of
Now is the time when leading CIOs are aggressively the future that helps you eliminate silos and integrate
investing in infrastructure innovation to bring in new technologies into pools of interoperable resources so
customers and tap new markets. However, this strategy you can achieve operational flexibility as business
is being challenged by the increased sprawl of tech- needs change. Built on leading innovation, industry
nology silos that is causing IT infrastructures to be standards, and customer choice, a Converged Infra-
inflexible, unmanageable, inefficient, and more costly. structure delivers new levels of simplicity, integration,
The good news is that IT is at an inflection point, where- and automation to accelerate outcomes that matter:
by new and existing technologies are coming back • Faster time to revenue
together – or converging – to create new opportunities. • Lower costs of acquisition and implementation
Convergence—the solution to IT resource sprawl—is one
of today’s mega-trends, and it is a good predictor of • Flexibly respond to business changes
tomorrow’s business infrastructures. Infrastructure conver- • Lower risks
gence breaks down manual processes and technology
HP has the expertise and technology leadership to help
silos and brings together all IT resources into adaptive
you transform your infrastructure—at your pace—by
pools of assets that can be shared by many applications
engineering your IT resources to work better together. IT
and managed as a service. At HP, we call this the HP
organizations that miss this opportunity by maintaining
Converged Infrastructure.
their current course will regret it. There may not be
another opportunity like this for a decade. So let’s take
a look at how you can evolve your infrastructure by
unleashing the potential that is already there.
Figure 1. A problematic ratio
IT organizations typically spend up to 70 percent of their budgets on operations and maintenance, leaving just 30 percent for business
innovation, such as deployment of new applications and services.
The state of IT Typical companies use a multi-tiered infrastructure
that relies on centralized (core) switches at the top,
aggregation/distribution switches in the middle, and
IT resources are sprawling. access switches at the bottom (network edge). This
For years, IT organizations have been adding servers, infrastructure requires that most data must be sent to the
storage, and networking devices to keep pace with mid- and upper-level switches to reach their destination.
applications and the terabytes of data they generate. These network switches are intelligent—performing
Over time, these IT resources became locked up in decision-making processes—but they are not high
countless technology silos, each devoted to a particular performance. Virtualized environments require a higher
application or line of business. To ensure service performance network infrastructure with intelligence
level agreements (SLAs), these silos have created moved closer to the edge of the network.
over-provisioning and underutilization, and have
become collectively difficult to manage. The result: IT’s 70/30 spending ratio is headed
More budget spent on operations and IT’s inability in the wrong direction.
to deploy new services, quickly. Inevitably, the
A recent InformationWeek survey1 found that IT
sprawl of underutilized IT resources leads to
organizations are typically spending up to 70 percent
diminished productivity, lack of space, complex
of their budgets on operations and maintenance. That
networking, and unnecessary facility costs.
leaves just 30 percent for business innovation, such as
deployment of new applications and services that can
Server virtualization has IT at an
make businesses more competitive. On the business
impending breaking point. side, executives are looking for improved business
To counter sprawl, IT organizations are dramatically outcomes, with application owners needing quicker
expanding server virtualization efforts. IDC reports that ROI and higher service levels from IT. But on the IT
6.3 million virtual machines were deployed in 2008, side, there is tremendous pressure to contain costs and
with the number of virtual servers expected to surpass the gain more value from existing investments. Too often,
number of physical servers in 2010. Server virtualization IT managers cannot meet the business organization’s
greatly speeds up server deployment and application needs, because they are confined by the sprawl of
growth, but removing these bottlenecks to application technology silos.
deployment leads to acceleration in data growth and
network traffic. As a result, storage and networking
infrastructures can’t keep pace with server virtualization.
Most of today’s storage environments have been
associated with specific application implementations
from their original date of deployment. The deployment
method has hardwired storage to servers and trapped
capacity throughout the infrastructure.
1. 2009 InformationWeek Analytics survey of InformationWeek 500 executives
2
HP Converged Open
Openness is also very critical. HP has always led the
Infrastructure—the charge for building products and technologies around
open standards. This ensures you don’t get locked in
solution to sprawl by providing you the choice of how you want to run
your data center. The Converged Infrastructure is built
The era of point products has driven interoperability that same way.
issues, increased complexities and rising resource
requirements across the data center. Technologies are Orchestrated
not optimized to work together, there are too many A Converged Infrastructure orchestrates the business
vendors to manage and too many help desks to call. request with the applications, data, and infrastructure. It
These issues have driven significant costs to users while defines the policies and service levels through automated
also creating uncertainty around building an IT workflows, provisioning, and change management
infrastructure that is responsive to future technology design by IT and the business. Orchestration provides
and business change. an application-aligned infrastructure that can be scaled
up or down based on the needs of each application.
The solution to sprawl is to break down the technology
Orchestration also provides centralized management
silos and bring all IT resources together into adaptive
of the resource pool, including billing, metering, and
pools of assets that can be shared by many applications
chargeback for consumption.
and managed as a service. This solution brings together
management tools, policies, and processes so resources
can be managed in a holistic, integrated manner. It also
Modular
brings together power and cooling practices so systems A Converged Infrastructure is built on modular design
and facilities work synergistically to extend the life of the principles based on open and interoperable standards.
data center. A modular approach allows IT to integrate new
technologies with existing investments without having
A Converged Infrastructure has five overarching to start over. This approach also gives IT the ability to
requirements. It is virtualized, resilient, open, extend new capabilities and scale capacity over time.
orchestrated, and modular.
Virtualized Benefits of an HP
Converged Infrastructure
A Converged Infrastructure requires the virtualization
of all heterogeneous resources: compute, storage,
networking, and I/O. Virtualization separates the
applications, data, and network connections from the
underlying hardware, thereby making it easier and
done right
faster to reallocate resources to match the changing HP is aggressively converging the industry’s leading
performance, throughput, and capacity needs of infrastructure portfolio and expertise across IT systems,
individual applications. This end-to-end virtualization management tools, and facilities into a simplified
improves IT flexibility and response to business architecture and common tool set based on current HP
requests, ultimately improving business speed and innovations and industry standards. The HP Converged
agility. A single operating environment needs to be Infrastructure matches the supply of IT resources with the
able to manage VMware®, Microsoft ®, Citrix®, and demand for business applications in an optimal way. By
UNIX® virtual machines. transitioning away from a product-centric approach to a
shared-service management model, your organization
Resilient can accelerate standardization, reduce operational
costs, and accelerate business results.
A Converged Infrastructure integrates nonstop
technologies and high availability policies. Because
diverse applications share virtualized resource pools,
a Converged Infrastructure must have an operating
Building a Converged
environment that automates high-availability policies to
meet SLAs. A resilient, Converged Infrastructure
Infrastructure
provides the right level of availability for each In order to increase the potential of a Converged
business application. Infrastructure, HP is delivering—and investing in—a
Converged Infrastructure architectural framework
consisting of the four core areas shown in Figure 2.
3
Figure 2. HP Converged Infrastructure architecture
The HP approach to Converged Infrastructure encompasses four key areas: HP Matrix Operating Environment, FlexFabric,
Virtual Resource Pools, and HP Data Center Smart Grid.
HP Matrix Operating Environment
A common management platform to
manage technologies from infrastructure-
to-application
HP FlexFabric
A common, wired-once, virtual
I/O network
HP Virtual Resource Pools
Virtualized compute, memory, storage
and network resources
HP Data Center Smart Grid
Intelligent energy management
across systems and facilities.
This environment is uniquely built from HP‘s infrastructure,
mission-critical, and business service software portfolios
to meet the demanding nature of heterogeneous
enterprise IT environments across multiple delivery
models (e.g., on-site, outsourced and over the cloud).
Key benefits
The HP Matrix Operating Environment transforms
application-specific processes and tools into a shared,
standardized environment that accelerates time-to-
HP Matrix Operating Environment service delivery and optimizes resource utilization for
The HP Matrix Operating Environment is a shared- all applications and business services. This environment:
services engine that provisions and adapts application • Delivers new services in minutes instead of months
environments on the fly. The HP Matrix Operating Envi-
• Optimizes the infrastructure confidently
ronment creates a common management platform that
unifies all the tools for infrastructure lifecycle management • Protects continuity and quality of services
into one command center, enabling your organization—
for the first time—to simultaneously control all elements of
an infrastructure needed to deliver a service. It helps you
accelerate the delivery of application environments in
a predictable and repeatable way that uses IT resources
and staff time most efficiently.
4
HP FlexFabric HP Virtual Resource Pools
HP FlexFabric is a virtualized, high-performance, low- HP Virtual Resource Pools deliver a common modular
latency network that consolidates Ethernet and storage infrastructure created from virtualized compute, storage,
networks onto a single fabric to dramatically lower I/O, and networking systems that can be combined,
network complexity and cost. HP FlexFabric moves divided, and repurposed to match any application
network intelligence away from the core switches and demand quickly and efficiently. Individual systems can
closer to the application, thereby simplifying complex be carved up to increase utilization, or interrelated
hierarchical network infrastructures. It improves flexibility systems can be aggregated together to present a large
and resource utilization by connecting physical resources pool that can be optimized for a variety of applications.
to the network once, and then dynamically remapping
connections based on application requirements. This For the first time, your business will be able to support a
unique, wire-once approach enables your organization shared-service model with a common pool of adaptive,
to easily flex connections and performance to meet virtualized resources based on standards that can be
changes in workload demand through a single optimized for all types of enterprise, cloud, and high-
management console. performance computing (HPC) applications.
For the first time, HP FlexFabric fully virtualizes network This enables your organization to meet the unique,
connections to allow your business to move applications dynamic requirements of a Converged Infrastructure
freely across or between data centers and deliver and shared-services model by increasing the scalability,
“network-as-a-service.” flexibility, and utilization of resources.
HP will deliver the FlexFabric vision by converging the Leveraging 25+ years of leadership in adaptive IT
technology, management tools, and partner ecosystems systems, HP is accelerating the creation of Virtual
of the HP Networking and Virtual Connect network Resource Pools by converging the capabilities of blade,
portfolios into a virtualized fabric for the data center. mission-critical, and scale-out systems across the ProLiant,
Integrity, StorageWorks, and HP Networking portfolios.
Key benefits
Key benefits
• Dynamically adapts network protocols and scales
capacity to match application demand on the fly • Increases total utilization by freeing and repurposing
trapped capacity to support applications
• Instantly migrates connections as applications move
across different resources • Enables resiliency and flexibility to support
applications on interrelated resources
• Provides predictable performance and quality of
service governed by security and service-level • Accelerates standardization to enable higher levels
policies of automation and increase productivity
• Protects investments through simplified integration
with existing systems, upgradability, and scalability
to meet future demand
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Based on HP’s unique expertise, which spans system
engineering, environmental management, and facility
design, the HP Data Center Smart Grid extends Thermal
Logic technology from IT systems to environmental
monitoring and control across the facility, and eventually
to third-party IT and data center systems.
HP Data Center Smart Grid Key benefits
The HP Data Center Smart Grid creates an intelligent, • Reduces operating costs required to power and cool
energy-aware environment across IT and facilities to IT systems
optimize and adapt energy use, reclaim trapped facility • Improves reliability by optimizing power and cooling
capacity, and reduce energy costs. The HP Data Center efficiency of IT and facilities
Smart Grid collects and communicates thousands of
• Provides insight and control over energy costs and
real-time power and cooling measurements across IT
environmental impact
systems and facilities to give you insight and control
over energy use. This enables more efficient use of • Extends the useful lifespan of facilities and other
existing capacity and capital investments, enabling capital investments
your organization to support business growth with
more applications and services within the same
energy footprint.
For the first time, your business can accurately visualize
and dynamically control data center energy use and
environmental impact across the entire data center to
increase power density, efficiency, and capacity use.
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Change the 70/30 Intellectual property
To create a Converged Infrastructure, you need a
spending ratio complete, integrated portfolio of servers, storage,
networking, management software, and energy
Our goal is to help your business devote more of your optimization—with purposeful IP designed for
IT budget to innovation for core business needs and convergence from the outset. Only HP has the deep-
spend less on operations and maintenance. rooted experience, a legacy of proven leadership in all
categories that matter, and the investment strategy to
HP Converged Infrastructure can improve IT productivity bring it forth. Our comprehensive portfolio allows you to
and service levels, allowing your administrators to move integrate and orchestrate your infrastructure—from the
at the speed of the business. A complex application desktop to NonStop servers and from your corporate
infrastructure can be up and running in four hours network to the Internet.
versus several weeks, which is typical today. The HP
Converged Infrastructure can improve disaster recovery
Open integration
by 80 percent, and it can fail over in as few as five
minutes. HP has a tightly coupled partnering strategy—based on
open integration—to deliver a Converged Infrastructure
HP Converged Infrastructure can significantly reduce the the way you need it. HP has a vast number of partners
size of the infrastructure, making it simpler to manage. who leverage our products and services. We have more
Networking can be wired once using 75 percent fewer than 180,000 channel partners worldwide, including
switches and 96 percent fewer cables. The compute major and emerging software and hardware vendors
infrastructure footprint can be reduced by 70 percent and system integrators. We work closely with these
while doubling utilization. This combination of results partners to deliver integrated solutions based on open
allows you to triple the capacity of your data center. standards. We deliver solutions that work with your
existing infrastructure and provide investment
This is what we mean by unleashing your potential.
protection for the future.
HP leadership Expertise
HP expertise has been developed from helping
To build a Converged Infrastructure with the attributes
thousands of customers transform to next-generation
previously described, you need a partner with vast
data center and technology infrastructures through end-
expertise that is guided by the ability to align business
to-end strategy, design, architecture, implementation,
applications with IT resources. That describes HP. We
and management. We have both the proven expertise
are the only company with everything it takes to deliver
and in-house resources to deliver your Converged
the full vision of a Converged Infrastructure. We have
Infrastructure in the best manner to meet your business
the intellectual property, open integration, global
and IT requirements. Our expertise begins with systems
reach, and expertise to make it happen.
and spans across the entire data center through our
acquisition of EDS and EYP Mission Critical Facilities.
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With HP Enterprise Services we have a strong technology to deliver an optimized infrastructure for
foundation for delivering outsourced or cloud deployment of our partners’ software applications.
environments. We manage more than 3 million square Each offering is tightly integrated and pre-tested, and
feet of data center space for over 1,000 clients. With brings together all the key hardware, software, and
HP Critical Facility Services (formerly EYP Missions services components.
Critical Facilities), we are one of the top companies in
And HP has the expertise to deliver your Converged
the world for planning, designing, and operating the
Infrastructure the way you want it - on-premise,
large-scale, mission-critical facilities that can support
outsourced, or via the Cloud. Ultimately, only HP can
a Converged Infrastructure. We have designed more
bring it all together to build the data center of future,
than 32 million square feet of data centers.
today, that delivers a whole new level of simplicity,
HP works closely with the leading independent software integration, and automation to accelerate business
vendors in the industry to deliver joint solutions for our outcomes that matter.
customers. These offerings demonstrate and document
the practical use of HP Converged Infrastructure
For more information
For additional information, refer to the resources listed below.
Resource description Web address
HP Converged Infrastructure www.hp.com/go/ConvergedInfrastructure
HP Solution Demo Portal www.hp.com/go/solutiondemoportal
Virtual Resource Pools www.hp.com/go/VirtualResourcePools
Data Center Smart Grid www.hp.com/go/DataCenterSmartGrid
FlexFabric www.hp.com/go/FlexFabric
Matrix Operating Environment www.hp.com/go/MatrixOperatingEnvironment
To learn more about the HP Converged Infrastructure strategy, portfolio, and architecture,
visit: www.hp.com/go/ConvergedInfrastructure
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