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Converged infrastructure

1 - Converged Infrastructure AdoptionConverged Infrastructure Adoption

Converged infrastructure has definitely crossed the chasm. Almost half of organizations (46%) report they are already using a converged infrastructure stack, and 44% are planning or considering adoption.

2 - Converged Infrastructure Adoption by VerticalConverged Infrastructure Adoption by Vertical

Converged infrastructure opportunities for solution providers span almost every vertical. Finance and technology companies, as usual, lead with 34.5% and 17.9%, respectively. Education comes in third, at 7.1 %. When it comes to consideration, manufacturing jumps from 3.6% to 8.6 %.

3 - Reasons for Moving to Converged InfrastructureReasons for Moving to Converged Infrastructure

The benefits of converged infrastructure are tough to ignore. More efficient provisioning of resources (70%) and more agility (66%) were the top reasons to shift to converged infrastructure, followed by lower operating costs, at 63%.

4 - Drivers of Converged Infrastructure AdoptionDrivers of Converged Infrastructure Adoption

Virtualization forces the converged infrastructure issue. In fact, 58% cited the adoption of VMware as the initiative to drive their adoption, while 33.8% attributed the shift to infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) technology.

5 - New Drivers of Converged Infrastructure AdoptionNew Drivers of Converged Infrastructure Adoption

Big data and custom applications create a new source of demand. While VMware still drives the need for new projects, at 30.1%, big data and custom applications ranked second (23.3%) and third (21.9%).

6 - Blade Count by Early Converged Infrastructure AdopterBlade Count by Early Converged Infrastructure Adopter

Blade server density is on the rise. Almost half (49.5%) are running 17 or more blades per server. Nine to 16 blades are being deployed by 36.8%.

7 - Reasons for Not Adopting Converged InfrastructureReasons for Not Adopting Converged Infrastructure

Inertia remains a powerful IT force. A full 41.2% said their existing IT infrastructure works just fine.

8 - Taking Charge of Converged InfrastructureTaking Charge of Converged Infrastructure

Multiple teams within the IT organization are driving converged infrastructure adoption. Almost 60% said the server team is in charge. The virtualization team was cited by 52.6%.

9 - IT Staffing ImplicationsIT Staffing Implications

The internal IT organization will be run by “data center engineers” with multiple skills. IT organizations plan to increase virtualization, server and networking staffing, but a full 70% expect to have a dedicated converged infrastructure unit by 2015.

10 - Top Converged Infrastructure Vendors ConsideredTop Converged Infrastructure Vendors Considered

Cisco and Hewlett-Packard generally face off most when it comes to converged infrastructure. Cisco UCS leads (64.6%), followed by Hewlett-Packard (58.2%), NetApp FlexPod (48.1%) and VCE Vblock (45.6%). However, 41.8% said they are considering building their own.

11 - Top Converged Infrastructure Vendors ChosenTop Converged Infrastructure Vendors Chosen

When Cisco UCS is added to NetApp FlexPod or VCE Vblock, Cisco dominates the category. Cisco UCS leads at 57%, followed by Hewlett-Packard at 41.8%.

12 - Converged Infrastructure Being Considered NowConverged Infrastructure Being Considered Now

There is a strong desire to build best-of-breed systems. A full 46.9% are still thinking about building their own, followed by 37% and 25.9% who are considering Cisco and Hewlett-Packard.

13 - Top Orchestration Tools for Converged InfrastructureTop Orchestration Tools for Converged Infrastructure

VMware extends virtual machine dominance into management. VMware vCloud leads at 44%, followed by Puppet Labs at 32% and homegrown scripts at 29.3%.

14 - Top Orchestration Tools Being ConsideredTop Orchestration Tools Being Considered

OpenStack gains a lot of mindshare. VMware vCloud still leads at 30.5%, but OpenStack is already at 29.2%, followed by Cisco at 20.8%.

15 - Converged Infrastructure Management Tools in UseConverged Infrastructure Management Tools in Use

No one tool dominates converged infrastructure. Half the respondents are using multiple tools they already own followed by 46.1% citing tools supplied by converged infrastructure vendors.

16 - The Converged Infrastructure Pay-OffThe Converged Infrastructure Pay-Off

Of the early adopters, 78.7% cite improved productivity and 73.3% report improved customer satisfaction.