Enter VSPEX BLUE

In the IT biz, all forms of converged infrastructure are now the rage.

Rightfully so: their pre-integrated nature and single-support model eliminates much of the expensive IT drudgery that doesn’t usually create significant value: selecting individual components, integrated them, supporting them, upgrading them, etc.

How much easier is it to order a block, brick, node, etc. of IT infrastructure as a single supportable product, and move on to more important matters?  

A lot easier, it seems ...

Reference architectures have been around for ages.  I think of them as a blueprints for building a car, and not like buying one.  Some assembly required.  Useful, yes, but there’s room for more.

VCE got the party started years back with Vblocks: pre-integrated virtualized infrastructure, sold and supported as a single product — with their success to be quickly followed by other vendors who saw the same opportunity.

A group of smaller vendors took the same idea, but did storage in software vs. requiring an external array, dubbing themselves “hyper-converged”: Nutanix, Simplivity and others.  They, too, have seen some success.

Last August, VMware got into this market in a big way by introducing EVO:RAIL — an integrated software product that — when combined with a specific hardware reference platform from an OEM partner — delivered an attractive new improvement over the first round of hyper-converged solutions.

While EVO:RAIL had several partners who offered immediate availability, EMC decided to take their time, and do something more than simply package EVO:RAIL with the reference hardware platform.

Today, we get to see what they’ve been working on — VSPEX BLUE.  It’s not just another EVO:RAIL variant, it’s something more.

And, from where I sit, it’s certainly been worth the wait …

The Lure Of Convergence

Think of IT as a black box: money and people go in one side, IT services come out the other side.  To the people who actually pay for IT organizations, this is not an entirely inaccurate representation.

If you’re responsible for that black box, you continually ask yourself the question: what should I have my people be spending time on?  That’s the expensive bit, after all.

While there are many technical staffers out there who thoroughly enjoy hand-crafting IT infrastructure with the “best” components, it’s hard to point to situations where that activity actually creates meaningful value.  Worse, those hand-crafted environments create a long integration and support shadow, lasting many years after the decision has been made.

More and more IT leaders are coming around to the perspective that they want their teams to be focused on using IT infrastructure to deliver IT services, and not excessively bound up in design, integration, support and maintenance.  

If it doesn't add value, don't do it.

This is the the fundamental appeal of all forms of converged infrastructure: spend less time and effort on the things that don’t matter much, so your team can spend more time on the things that do matter.  The approach is now broadly understood, and the market continues to grow and expand.

Of course, IT infrastructure isn’t one-size-fits-all.  Any debate around what’s “best” really should be “what’s best for you?”.

EVO:RAIL

I think of EVO:RAIL as a fully-integrated vSphere stack with value-added management tools, packaged for use as an appliance.  The idea is to make the user experience as simple and predictable as possible.

Software is only as good as its hardware, so the EVO:RAIL program provides a narrow specification for hardware partners: 4-node bricks, prescribed processors, memory and controllers, disk bays, etc.  Partner value-add and differentiation comes in the form of additional software and services above and beyond a stock EVO:RAIL configuration.

Strategically, I think of EVO:RAIL as well within the “software defined” category: compute, network and storage.  In particular, EVO:RAIL is built on VSAN — the product I’ve been deeply involved with recently.

VSPEX BLUE

The hardware is an EMC-specific design, and not a rebadge.  If you've been following EVO:RAIL, the design and specs will look very familiar.  

VSPEX BLUE will be sold through distributors, who set street pricing.  For those of you who are interested in pricing, you'll have to contact a reselling partner.

When evaluating any new EVO:RAIL-based offering, the key question becomes — what’s unique?  After all, the base hardware/software is specified to be near-identical across different partner offerings.

In EMC’s case, there is quite a list of differentiated features to consider, so let’s get started, shall we?

VSPEX BLUE Manager

While EVO:RAIL itself has a great user-centric manager to simplify things, EMC has taken it one step further by making a significant investment in their own VSPEX BLUE manager that complements and extends the native EVO:RAIL one in important ways.

First, the VSPEX BLUE Manager provides a portal to any and all support services: automatic and non-disruptive software upgrades, online chat with EMC support, knowledge base, documentation and community.  

All in one place.

Second, the VSPEX BLUE Manager is “hardware aware”.  It can display the physical view of your VSPEX BLUE appliances, and indicate — for example — which specific component might need to be replaced.

It also directly monitors low-level hardware status information, and feeds it upwards: to vCenter and LogInsight, as well as to EMC support if needed. 

More importantly, this feature is tied into EMC’s legendary proactive “phone home” support (ESRS) which means you might be notified of a problem directly by EMC, even though you haven’t checked the console in a while :)

The VSPEX BLUE Manager also manages the software inventory.  It discovers available updates, and non-disruptively installs them if you direct it to.  More intriguing, there’s the beginnings of a “software marketplace” with additional software options from EMC, with presumably more coming from other vendors as well.

Bundled Software

Part of any potential EVO:RAIL value-add is additional software, and here EMC has been very aggressive.  Three fully functional and supported software packages are included with every VSPEX BLUE appliance, but with a few restrictions.

First up is EMC’s RecoverPoint for VMs.  Those of you who have followed me for a while know that I’m a huge fan of RecoverPoint: great technology and functionality, very robust and now runs nicely in vSphere (and on top of VSAN) protecting on a per-VM basis.

The limitation is 15 protected VMs per four-node appliance.  More appliances, more protected VMs.  Since full functionality is provided, your choice of protection targets is wide open: another VSPEX BLUE appliance, or something else entirely.

Next up is the CloudArray cloud storage extender, based on EMC’s recent TwinStrata acquisitions.  CloudArray can present file shares or iSCSI to applications requiring extra capacity, or potentially a file share between multiple applications — something VSAN doesn’t do today.

The back-end store can be any compatible object storage: your choice of cloud, an on-prem object store, etc.  The included license is for 10TB of external capacity per appliance, not including the actual physical capacity.

And finally, VMware’s VDP backup software (based on DataDomain/Avamar technology) is included.  The upgrade is to the full-boat VDP-A.  Stay tuned, though.

What I Like

For starters, EMC’s offering is entirely based on VSAN for storage.  There is no packaging with an external array, as NetApp did.  Since my world is very VSAN-centric these days, that’s a huge statement, coming from the industry’s largest and most successful storage vendor.

VSPEX BLUE Manager is a great piece of work, and adds significant value.  The fact that EMC supports the entire environment online (just like their arrays and other products) is a big differentiator in the real world.  The software bundle is attractive as well; demonstrating EMC’s commitment to the product and making it stand out in the market.

And then there’s the fact that EMC is obviously jumping into the hyper-converged marketplace with both feet.  Thousands of trained field people and a hugely influential partner network.  Global distribution and support.   An army of skilled professional services experts.  A very proficient marketing machine.  A large and successful VSPEX channel. The proven ability to move markets.

Those that just focus on the product itself will miss the bigger context here.

What’s Next For The Hyper-Converged Market?

If we’re being honest, the smaller startups had the nascent hyper-converged market to themselves in the early days. 

Good for them.

But now the big boys are starting to jump in with vigor: first VMware with EVO:RAIL, and now EMC itself with VSPEX BLUE.

One thing is for sure, the future won’t be like the past :)

 

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Comments

[Robert James]

No NSX right away but it's onthe roadmap. This is a non-starter for some of us.

[Chuck Hollis]

Understand where you're coming from. I'm sure the team is working hard in that direction.

[Mark Burgess]

Hi Chuck,

From a technical point of view I really like EVO:RAIL, but commercially it looks to me like it has been designed to be very niche (i.e. I do not really see who the target market is).

Specifically I see the problems as:

1. Why are the licences tied to the hardware?
2. Why are the licences Ent+?
3. Why can we not upgrade one node at a time?
4. Why can we not have different disk specifications/upgrade them?
5. Why such low end hardware (i.e. 6 core CPUs)?

If the above could be addressed it would be so much better.

I did cover this all in a blog in more detail at http://blog.snsltd.co.uk/vmware-evorail-or-vsan-which-makes-the-most-sense/

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

I posted the same thoughts on Chad's website so it will be interesting to see what you both think.

Many thanks
Mark

[Chuck Hollis]

The idea of EVO:RAIL is that it's an all-in-one appliance: hardware, software, support, etc. Utter simplicity -- at the cost of far fewer choices. For some people, that's a reasonable tradeoff.

That's distinct from the typical customize-your-own approach we already see in the market. All those choices also have the side effect of introducing additional complexity. Sounds that you're in the latter camp. All good -- same basic tech, different packaging.

However, I'm pragmatic here. I know that if the market ends up wanting something different than what EVO:RAIL does today, adjustments will inevitably be made.

[Mark Burgess]

Hi Chuck,

Surely the point of any product is to provide value to the customer and therefore sell on mass.

The decisions that have been made with regard to EVO:RAIL look like a sales prevention strategy.

As a minimum you need the ability to add one node at a time and bring your own vSphere, VSAN and Log Insight licences as required.

As an EMC and VMware partner based on the current solution it is very hard to recommend.

I just do not understand the logic in the decisions that have been made with regard to EVO:RAIL.

Who wins?

The customer? No, as the solution is poor value
The partner? No, as their customers will no want to buy it
Nutanix? Yes, as it will raise the profile of hyper-converged solutions

I assume by the tone of your response you do not disagree with me.

Also with regard to the EMC release it seems a bit strange that they would announce a product based on vSphere/VSAN 5.5 that includes VDP Advanced when the same week VMware announced vSphere/VSAN 6.0 which bundles the VDP Advanced features into VDP.

The world of EVO:RAIL just seems to be a mess, but as you say hopefully changes are coming (quickly I hope) which will rectify the problems.

Looks to me like the vRAM tax issue all over again.

Best regards
Mark