Good news for businesses with cost sensitivities and limited IT space: HPE has just announced a new compact hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) that can be deployed simply and quickly, wherever distributed edge, virtual desktops, and all-in-one HCI solutions are needed.
Whether it’s deployed in datacenters or at the edge, and primarily leveraged for VDI, Tier 1 app support, or data protection, this 1 rack-unit model is a compact powerhouse. The HPE SimpliVity 325 combines high compute density with industry-leading data storage efficiency to deliver unprecedented cost effectiveness in one of the smallest footprints in the industry.
- Easily scalable: Customers can start with a small, medium, or large configuration and easily add new nodes in small, powerful increments from pilot to production scale with no disruption.
- Powerful capabilities in a compact form factor: Starting with the very first appliance, customers can take advantage of the full software capabilities of HPE SimpliVity including guaranteed data efficiency, built-in data protection, and global VM-centric management and mobility.
- Lower dollar per desktop cost: Doubling the virtual desktops per server provides businesses a 50% savings in cost per remote worker.
- Seamless integration into existing IT environment: Customers can mix HPE SimpliVity 325 with HPE SimpliVity 380 and 2600 models in the same federation across many sites, easily integrating the new HCI nodes into existing environments.
Customers are already reaping the benefits of HPE SimpliVity’s powerful, built-in data protection and single-click lifecycle management. Pitt Ohio, a leading transportation and logistics company in North America with 3,600 employees, originally chose HPE SimpliVity HCI to modernize their virtual server and desktop infrastructure. They now leverage the hyperconverged platform for many applications across their primary and disaster recovery sites.
“Our experience with HPE SimpliVity has been incredible,” states David Wunderley, Director of Emerging Infrastructure & Operations Support at Pitt Ohio. “We have large SQL databases, file servers, and virtual desktops that we can rapidly recover in minutes with ease and it’s made a huge difference for us. Every workload we’ve put on SimpliVity has been a positive experience and has improved our capabilities.”
Businesses provision virtual desktops overnight
The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected companies of every size, accelerating digital transformation and creating greater urgency around business continuity. With no prior notice, many IT organizations have been tasked with keeping applications and data available while they build out infrastructure to support remote workers. Businesses that didn’t have scalable foundations in place or budget set aside are now challenged with the immediate deployment of new solutions to accommodate the sudden demand for virtual desktops.
Knowledge workers can reliably run Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Acrobat on the hyperconverged platform, getting the same desktop experience from anywhere on any device, while the business manages the VDI system from a central server.
Migros Ticaret, a European grocery store chain, has deployed HPE SimpliVity for VDI. Murat Zobu, System and Cloud Infrastructure Manager at the retailer, relies on the HCI solution for backups and disaster recovery, but recently flexibility and scalability were the features he most appreciated. “Given the current global realities that require the ongoing expansion of remote-working capabilities… desktop virtualization has been decidedly valuable. We were initially running 300 virtual desktops and needed to spin up 700 more to give our employees the flexibility to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using HPE SimpliVity, we were able to do so in just 12 minutes.”
HPE SimpliVity also enabled Pitt Ohio to spin up their remote workers quickly when workload requirements changed. Wunderley was surprised at the platform’s efficiency. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we moved the majority of our corporate users to work from home. We doubled our concurrent WFH VDI user count overnight with no performance impact.”
Wunderley knows the intelligent infrastructure has helped to set his business up for what comes next. Support for the latest AMD EPYC processor doubles the virtual desktops and allows more elastic scale at half the per-seat cost of comparable solutions. Customers like Pitt Ohio will be able to stand up as many as 300 remote workers per 1u of rack space, and scale from 300 to 1,800 virtual desktops in just 6u – less than a foot of rack space. “I am excited about the new higher density HPE SimpliVity 325,” says Wunderley. “The 1 rack-unit form factor will help VDI environments like ours make the most of performance and availability in an extremely small footprint.”
These resources provide more detail on HPE SimpliVity:
- Listen to my podcast with Calvin Zito on Around the Storage Block
- HPE has validated the latest HPE SimpliVity 325 with the de facto standard in benchmark solutions, LoginVSI
- See all the Validated by LoginVSI certifications for HPE SimpliVity solutions
- Learn how HPE SimpliVity can help you streamline IT operations: Buyer's Guide to Hyperconvergence
- Use cases for HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged infrastructure: Gorilla Guide: HCI Use Cases
Meet HPE blogger Chuck Wood, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, HPE Storage and Hyperconverged
Chuck is responsible for product marketing for HPE SimpliVity, leading hyperconverged solutions for software-defined, dynamic datacenters. He blogs about his professional passion - demonstrating excellent customer outcomes based on HPE SimpliVity.
Connect with Chuck on LinkedIn. Find him on Twitter @chasypwood .
