Is converged infrastructure reaching its tipping point?

As technology has allowed businesses to grow and reach greater audiences, the ability to collect data, manage data, and perform a host of other technical operations becomes crucial to businesses of every kind. Netflix, for example, boasts of 30 million subscribers, which is even more than the popular cable network, Comcast. Even more prevalent, the ability to share this information around the world for better collaboration and development has taken many businesses to the next level. The world has clearly gone digital, creating a demand for greater speed and efficiency.

However, budgeting for the servers, applications, and the manpower required to keep up with the demand is notoriously expensive and time consuming, cutting into the profits this advantage earns. The solution to the problem is converged infrastructure, which allows businesses to combine their multiple systems into a single location that will respond to more condensed commands, execute with greater speed, and save both space and energy.

Converged Infrastructure Isn’t Just on the Rise, It’s at the Peak.

Especially in 2014, more businesses than ever turned to converged infrastructure to boost the productivity of their business. A few vendors in particular, ranging from highly popular in their field to lesser known, adopted the tool and are even expanding its use with hyper-convergence.

Around 40% of end users who already utilize converged infrastructure said they would be devoting more of their budget to its expansion and improvement; this is a result of the jump in profits its abilities have already provided. The VMware-Cisco-EMC made an impressive $1 billion in revenues thanks to converged infrastructure, followed by the newer but quickly maturing Nutanix vendor who boasted of $100 million revenue. HP ConvergedSystem, Dell Converged Solutions, and NetApp have also joined the ranks in becoming converged infrastructure vendors, with more following. Those who have not already joined are encouraged to utilize the tool to keep ahead.

Can It Go Any Higher?

With so many making the move, one must ask, has converged infrastructure reached its peak? One may think so, until the emergence of hyper-convergence, which has taken the advantages to the next level. By being more software-centric, it allows for faster and direct storage and executions, all by integrating storage, virtualization, networking, and more all into one. Converged infrastructure overwhelmed traditional servers and the like by being more compact and automated, and hyper-convergence does the same in return. For those who have made profits with the former, they are encouraged to devote those newly made funds into an upgrade, not only speeding up the process but also making them more compatible for the full switch to automation.

Dangers of Converged Infrastructure; Will That Hold It Back?

While converged infrastructure offers many advantages, there are some very key dangers with condensing.

Operating as a single unit, convergence allows IT experts to interact and modify the many pieces with a single command, rather than individually applying changes, making queries, or establishing directives with individual applications as was the norm before. This has allowed businesses to downgrade the size of their IT department to a select few professionals.

The trouble comes when a bug or other issue arises that does require individual attention. As no one person can possibly specialize in all the elements, the department is left at a disadvantage in addressing the issue. This requires the bug to be ignored, worked around, or for businesses to then hire on another specialist to approach the issue. Eventually this starts to stack up, which can cut into profits or result in a lull in productivity, countering the advantages.

However, the likelihood of these issues arising are far fewer than the advantages converged infrastructure allows. This makes many businesses still look to it as the top choice.

While converged infrastructure offers some dangers, it offers more benefits. Its compatibility with cloud computing allows businesses to not only take advantage of its primary purpose, reinventing data centers like never before, but also as a stepping stone to advancing their business’s potential in the modern age. With big name businesses taking ahold of it, and more having plans to adopt it in the near future, it’s clear that converged infrastructure has hit its stride and can only go up.