While converged infrastructure is a hot topic inside data centers these days, asking customers to change their server vendor allegiance to achieve it can be problematic for many solution providers.
To address that issue, Atlantis Computing has created Atlantis HyperScale, an all-flash storage appliance that it has combined with existing servers and networking components from vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Lenovo and Supermicro with Atlantis storage systems in the same rack.
Sold only through the channel, Atlantis HyperScale enables existing partners of those vendors to bring the benefits of hyperconverged infrastructure to customers in a way that allows them to choose their preferred server vendor, according to Bob Davis, vice president of marketing for Atlantis Computing.
“We want partners to be able to work within their existing server vendor relationships,” Davis said. “It takes about 40 minutes for a server partner to set up our platform.”
Atlantis HyperScale attaches a software-defined all-flash storage system based on Intel Xeon processors to traditional Intel Xeon-class servers running VMware or Citrix hypervisors. Priced starting at $78,000 for a 12TB all-flash four-server cluster, Atlantis HyperScale hyperconverged appliances cut data center infrastructure costs by 50 to 90 percent, according to the company. Part of that claim is based on the in-memory in-line deduplication of data that Atlantis Computing software enables before data is written to flash storage.
Market research firm Technology Business Research in a new report estimates that the global converged systems market will show a five-year compound annual growth rate of 18.4 percent through 2018, to create a $19.6 billion market.
To make it simpler for solution providers to tap into that market, Atlantis Computing is promising that it will serve as the single point of contact for around-the-clock maintenance and support for customers, including four-hour parts replacement. Every Atlantis HyperScale unit also comes with a three-year global end-to-end service and support program, covering the entire appliance, including the Atlantis software, hypervisor, solid-state drives (SSDs) and server hardware components.
Of course, navigating exactly who is in charge of acquiring hyperconverged systems inside a data center environment can be a challenge in a world where server, network and storage administrators tend to jealously guard their domains. However, given the new economic realities of the data center, along with a general shift toward flash for primary storage, starting the hyperconverged infrastructure conversation becomes easier with each passing day.
Michael Vizard has been covering IT issues in the enterprise for 25 years as an editor and columnist for publications such as InfoWorld, eWEEK, Baseline, CRN, ComputerWorld and Digital Review.