The easiest solution is often the best solution. Overly complex systems have a high probability of glitches or failure. Data centers are a massive jumble of wires, discs, wires, heat, noise, air and racks. Tom Offenbach, formerly of Amazon said on Quora “If you figure a typical rack consumes about 25 sq. ft of floor space and based on most power configs I've seen recently ( 2X 30amp 208v primary circuits ) has power capacity of 10kw per rack, each MW of critical power will enable the deployment of 100 racks.” We have faith that this is entirely correct – but even those without great technical knowledge can see that data centers are complex.
Financial institutions are just as complex, dealing with numbers on a screen instead of actual cash or gold. Financial institutions can’t afford the glitches and downtime complex data centers promise – when a glitch or power surge can mean losing trillions of dollars for millions of citizens. Financial institutions are deploying hyperconverged infrastructure, or HCI, at record rates, but why? Why is HCI the next big thing for finance?
1. Quick Deployment & Streamlined Management
Hyperconverged solutions typically deploy much faster than more traditional solutions, and fast is what Finance needs. It’s one of the few industries that never takes even an hour off – so any downtime is death to the institution. It’s appliance-based architecture simplifies the time consuming process of networking, meaning your new HCI is up and running in just hours – a critical element for each financial institution.
More traditional management platforms require an array of management consoles, making them hard to manage on a daily basis. Financial institutions are all about simplicity, making the single-pane-of-glass management found with HCI a hugely useful element. Many parts of HCI management can be automated, further freeing up administrators for more useful tasks.
2. Infrastructure as a Service
HCI provides options for infrastructure as a service, a service that has changed the IT infrastructure financial model. HCI and infrastructure as a service eliminate a high initial investment, allocates O&M responsibilities to a provider, and removes daily management tasks. Businesses are able to scale as needed with the help of their service provider, rather than making the changes themselves, and makes infrastructure into an operational cost.
3. Disaster Recovery
In March 2021 European-based OVH announced that their data center had burned in a massive fire in Strasbourg. In addition to the burned data center, two others were shut down because they were in the proximity. Several companies using the computing giant lost everything, even after being warned to put their disaster recovery plan in action by the CEO of OVH. Learn a lesson from OVH, and implement a disaster recovery plan today. Luckily, HCI provides built-in disaster recovery, already pre-integrated into the system.
4. Updating Hardware & Software
Imagine the rows of servers and data center technology. When one part breaks, you’d assume correctly if you said the hardware would need to be physically replaced. Imagine you are responsible for updating security software on 200 PCs? HCI consolidates server, storage, compute and total operation, making updates easier. HCI needs less surface area, making it easier, faster and cheaper to replace any broken or malfunctioning elements.
5. Reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Unlike the huge investment required of more traditional data centers, HCI actually reduces the TCO by allowing you to scale up and out, or down, as business needs dictate. Just eliminating huge power-sucking data centers will reduce your expenditure on air conditioning and power. The simplification of HCI means it requires less technicians to operate it effectively, saving your business money on salaries.
Sangfor HCI
Sangfor HCI provides incredibly simplified operation and a high-quality infrastructure, which can be deployed within just minutes, with very little manual operation. Through one single HCI server, financial institutions are achieving a high-performance 10Gbps virtual network throughput and next-level stability, with outstanding NFV functions. Sangfor HCI customers enjoy a reduced TCO with Sangfor’s pay-as-you-go program, allowing businesses to scale easily and quickly with less cost.
But don’t take our word for it! Check out a few HCI reviews from Sangfor customers on Gartner’s Peer Insights page. Sangfor believes our customers say it best, and hopes to help finance make their IT simpler, more secure and valuable.
