The Data Center Intelligence Group (DCIG) is updating its research into hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions. HCI vendors are invited to participate in the survey research taking place through December 21st, 2022.
DCIG intends to publish one or more DCIG TOP 5 reports based on this HCI research in the 1st quarter of 2023. DCIG TOP 5 reports help IT decision-makers save valuable time through a succinct analysis of available offerings.
HCI Background and Definitions
Traditional data center architectures revolve around the three pillars of compute, storage, and network. Each of these pillars requires different hardware and IT expertise. As a result of this complexity, such systems can take weeks and even months to design and fully implement.
From a hardware perspective, HCI products solve these data center challenges by combining compute, storage, and memory into pre-integrated standalone or rack-mountable appliances, usually consisting of 1-4 nodes. Some vendors offer disaggregated HCI (dHCI) offerings that may have storage as a separate module. Some HCI vendors target the enterprise data center, while others specialize in HCI for edge environments. Regardless of the form factor, enterprises may network these HCI appliances as a combined system using software-defined networking (SDN) features.
In addition, HCI hardware products feature a software layer for holistically managing servers, storage, networking, and virtualization resources for applications and workloads that run within them. Many HCI appliances are optimized or offered with popular HCI software platforms such as Nutanix, Microsoft Azure Stack, or VMware. Other companies offer their own proprietary HCI software or bundle software built on open source technology with their HCI hardware products.
As another option, some HCI vendors make a software-only offering available that can be licensed, downloaded, and deployed on commodity hardware or select OEM server platforms. These HCI software products are designed to discover, virtualize, and manage the compute, memory, storage, and networking of the underlying hardware components. A few HCI software vendors offer software deployment within select cloud platforms.
Market research indicates the global hyperconverged infrastructure market is forecast to rise by nearly a 25% CAGR through 2028. HCI’s simplicity and efficiency make these solutions attractive for enterprises looking to reduce complexity in their data center, branch office, and edge environments.
The HCI marketplace reflects a broad spectrum of vendors and their products. Based on a preliminary scan, DCIG has identified at least 50 vendors with either hardware or software HCI products. Some companies are clearly enterprise-focused, with many different HCI products for different use cases or HCI software platforms. Other HCI vendors offer more narrowly focused products for specialized use cases or market segments.
HCI Research Window Through December 18th
The survey data collection period runs through December 18th, 2022. DCIG bases its survey data on publicly available and vendor-provided information. DCIG will publish the results of its analysis in the 1st quarter as one or more DCIG TOP 5 reports. We will announce the release of each report via the DCIG website and newsletter.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROCESS
There is no charge to participate in the survey or be selected as a top solution provider.
The survey captures data on HCI vendor product offerings from an end-user perspective. It contains a mix of multiple-choice, check-all-that-apply, yes/no, and short answer questions. The survey instrument allows multiple people to contribute.
The DCIG TOP 5 HCI reports may focus on market segments, hardware, software, or use-cases. The reports highlight the positive aspects, similarities, and differences among the TOP 5 providers and the key capabilities that earned each vendor a TOP 5 award.
DCIG TOP 5 REPORT BENEFITS
IT Executives and managers will find the results of the independent research DCIG conducts in the HCI marketspace valuable through:
• Saving time discovering, researching, and analyzing HCI vendors for consideration
• Understanding essential factors enterprises should consider
• Identifying important differentiators between top vendors
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE
DCIG invites all hyperconverged infrastructure providers to participate in the survey research. HCI providers can ensure they receive a survey by contacting DCIG through the Contact Us page.
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH DCIG
DCIG announces the availability of new reports and webinars via its newsletter. Announcements include links enabling individuals to download the reports at no cost. To be notified of new DCIG reports, sign up for DCIG’s free weekly newsletter.
Technology providers interested in licensing DCIG blog articles or sponsoring reports, please contact DCIG for more information.