Converged Infrastructure (CI) is being offered as a Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud service based on existing FlexPod and FlashStack deals with NetApp and Pure Storage.
Cisco+ is an as-a-service brand combining Cisco and partner products with unified subscriptions: either pay as you use or pay as you grow. It was introduced last year and started out with network-as-a-service (NaaS) products presented under a Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud rubric and led by Tier 1 partners. CI refers to combined rackscale systems made from Cisco networking gear and UCS servers and, originally, Dell EMC storage, as in VBlock and VXBlock.
It evolved to include the networking and servers with NetApp ONTAP storage in a FlexPod reference architecture scheme, and Pure Storage FlashArray or FlashBlade arrays in a FlashStack reference architecture. These were all bought with traditional perpetual license schemes.
So now we have FlexPod-as-a-service and FlashStack-as-a-service. Mike Arterbury, NetApp VP/GM for Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure & OEM Solutions, said: “FlexPod-as-a-service is now available as an integrated offer allowing customers to buy what they need, when they need it… Customers can now choose the FlexPod consumption model that matches their needs while leveraging our full portfolio of validated designs.”
AJ Kapase, VP Global Strategic Alliances at Pure Storage, added: “We are excited to combine our own Pure Storage as-a-service (STaaS)… with Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud to create FlashStack as-a-service (FSaaS)… Our joint customers can scale capacity up or down as needed, and only pay for the IT services they consume.”
Both of these bulk up the basic Cisco+ Hybrid Cloud offering, which has Hyperflex HCI as its storage component:
Cisco says we can expect to see more of its storage partners jumping aboard, and we understand Dell and Hitachi Vantara are likely candidates.
There is more information here.
