Dell EMC does not take a one-size-fits-all approach. We recognize that customers will have different preferences based on their current infrastructure, IT staff, and operational model. So we’ve created a portfolio that allows us address a wide range of needs and requirements based on those preferences.
These options can be grouped into three basic product categories:
- VxRail appliance – the fastest growing hyper-converged system worldwide, VxRail dramatically simplifies IT operations while lowering overall capital and operational cost. This is perfect for people who require virtualized infrastructure but want a turnkey, customer experience that includes simplified lifecycle management, monitoring, reporting, and simplified support.
- VxRack SDDC – is the easiest and fastest way to stand up a VMware based software defined data center environment, it builds upon the appliance by including the physical networking as well as VMware’s industry leading NSX for unmatched scale. This allows customer to consume proven, validated, turnkey solutions that also include both physical and virtual networking.
- vSAN Ready Nodes – are for customers who prefer to maintain responsibility for software and hardware lifecycle management, but want to deploy vSAN with an optimized, pre-validated PowerEdge server. These are a great fit for organizations who want to build their own HCI solutions using pre-validated, tested and configured server nodes.
If I was to use an analogy to describe these three solutions I would compare it to furnishing a new home. vSAN ready nodes would be like going to iKEA for all your furniture. You would have to figure out what you want, order it, drive it home, put it together, and place everything around the house. VxRail would be like ordering all the furniture already assembled, then all you have to do is find out where you want to put everything. VxRack SDDC would be like having an interior designer buy and place everything for your whole home so you wouldn’t have to lift a finger. All you would have to do is come home and enjoy it.
I think where most confusion is when people compare vSAN Ready Nodes to VxRail, and think they are the same thing. When comparing vSAN Ready Nodes to VxRail, there are a number of reasons why a customer would lean more towards VxRail then a “Build it yourself” approach with vSAN ready nodes.
- Business Benefits
- VxRail offers the faster “time-to-value” then any of our other HCI solutions.
- Technical Benefits
- VxRail offers Hardware and Software automation for everything from the initial install to code or hardware upgrades. It is the simplest way to deploy and manage a vSphere environment, period.
- Operational Benefits
- VxRail manager offers a single pane of glass to manage, monitor, and upgrade all the infrastructure supporting your vSphere environment. Also with VxRail, you have a single number to call for support for everything from the Hypervisor down.
- Financial Benefits
- VxRail offers all of the hardware and software needed for a turnkey vCenter environment. Because of this there is deeper discounting on the overall solution then if it has to be pieced together from VMware and Dell EMC separately, lowering overall capital and operational costs.
In summary, for customers that have standardized on VMware software like vSphere or vSAN, the best options are the VxRail appliance and the VxRack SDDC rack-scale system. VxRail and VxRack SDDC are the only HCI offers that are jointly engineered with VMware – one team, one offer. And both are in sync with the vSphere, vSAN, vRealize, NSX roadmap. VxRail and VxRack SDDC have deep integration with VMware’s software stack, inclusive of Horizon, vRealize, VIO, VIC. They are the ULTIMATE vertically integrated, VMware focused HCI Appliance and Rack Scale system.