Regardless of industry, data is the lifeblood of strategic operations. The ability to access actionable insights from corporate information stores will be crucial to becoming a truly agile organisation that can face the challenges of the future.
To ensure that the on-premise data centre is both scalable and performant, CTOs have been choosing converged infrastructure. By unifying and commoditising hardware, they can accelerate installation as demand for capacity increases.
But for line of business applications where every millisecond matters, Converged Infrastructure (CI) and Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI) may not be the optimal choices.
The limitations of converged infrastructure
Converged Infrastructure changed the game for many CTOs by dramatically simplifying the process of specifying data centre hardware. Uniting various best-of-breed technologies under a common management interface, they know that each CI unit will “just work”.
However, CI is purely a platform on which to build virtual servers. Your teams will still need to install and configure operating systems, databases and software. And they will then be expected to support the various components that make up the CI stack.
Even if your business has the necessary skills and resources to manage the entire stack, the total cost of ownership of CI systems will be higher than expected.
The limitations of hyper-converged infrastructure
Still using components (networking, storage, processing etc) from different OEMs, Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI) systems have been designed from the outset for maximum interoperability and superior central management. As a result, HCI management is typically easier and cheaper, although the hardware costs a premium.
Despite this even tighter integration, the same fundamental problem is still present. As the name states, HCI begins and ends at the infrastructure layer. Your team still needs to complete the installation and configuration of the software and systems on which the business relies.
Physically adding capacity is easy – but preparing each unit for deployment is costly. As is the cost of ongoing management and administration. And without in-depth knowledge of the hyper-converged infrastructure components, can you be sure that the environment is fully optimised for your workloads?
The Oracle PCA difference
The Oracle Private Cloud Appliance (PCA), takes a different approach by integrating the entire technology stack into every unit. This ensures total integration between hardware and software for optimal performance.
PCA is also quicker and cheaper to deploy because there is no additional software installation or integration required. Dropping in new units to increase capacity is as simple as it sounds.
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance makes perfect sense for Oracle customers. The private cloud model has been pre-configured to deliver optimal Oracle Database performance out-of-the-box; immediately you benefit from improved data I/O. PCA is faster to deploy and more performant, so customers benefit from increased speed and efficiency at every point of the HCI lifecycle.
End to end control of the technology stack reduces your point of contact for vendor support to one – Oracle. Similarly, software patches and security updates cover the whole stack to ensure zero-downtime for maximum availability and minimum manual intervention.
Control the whole stack for optimal performance
HCI has simplified data centre expansion – in theory. In order to realise maximum benefits however, you need a solution that takes integration further than just the infrastructure layer, one that unifies the entire stack from bare metal to applications.
For Oracle customers the solution is clear. Oracle PCA fulfils the promise of HCI with the added benefit of complete control of the technology stack. Users can rapidly deploy cloud-like processing and storage functionality and benefit from reduced maintenance and support costs.
The performance advantages of an integrated technology optimised for their line-of-business applications and databases are already significant. But because Oracle PCA can be deployed and made operational more quickly, owners will simultaneously realise a greater return on investment and a reduced total cost of ownership.
If you want to learn more about Oracle PCA and how it could help your business meet the challenges of the digitally transformed future call us on 0121 486 1234 or email marketing@wtluk.com
Useful Links
ESG White Paper: Beyond the Limitations of HCI – Oracle Private Cloud Appliance X8
Staimer White Paper: Oracle PCA X8 Obsoletes Nutanix, Dell, Cisco, HPE, NetApp HCI & CI