Simplify Virtual Infrastructure Deployment and Management with EMC’s VSPEX BLUE

The status quo is something few if any IT leaders are being pressured to maintain. Instead, most are asked to tie IT in more closely with the objectives of the overall business while wringing everything they can out of budgets that aren’t exactly skyrocketing. Hitting those targets has made evolving away from the current state of things and changing the IT infrastructure a near necessity.

A way that many companies seem to be going about that is with hyper-converged solutions. These appliances can be used to ease resource-related challenges through provisioning and scalability, while optimizing IT environments by way of automation, ease-of-use and orchestration.

And the industry is booming. In 2014, the revenue growth rate of the hyper-converged solutions in 2014 was 150%, according to the white paper “EMC Launches VSPEX BLUE for VMware EVO:RAIL Hyper-converged Systems with Unique Feature Set Enabling IT Transformation.” When compared to the overall IT spending growth rate of 3–4% for the same period, it appears hyper-converged solutions are an area where IT leaders see real value in spending their budgets.

One of the new additions to the hyper-converged solution market is VSPEX BLUE. This solution differentiates itself from other hyper-converged offerings out there in a number of ways.

It combines industry-leading technology from EMC and VMware to create a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance which is easy-to-use, yet capable of delivering standout compute, storage, networking, and management solutions. Specifically, VSPEX BLUE is powered by VMware EVO:RAIL and it features additional services from EMC and VMware, including:

  • vSphere Data Protection Advanced with Data Domain Integration for disk-based backup with built-in deduplication
  • RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines (VMs) for local and remote DVR-like functionality
  • CloudArray to extend your storage capacity by leveraging cloud providers
  • Secure Remote Services (ESRS) for a seamless and reliable EMC support experience
  • VSPEX BLUE Manager for deeper hardware awareness and automated software update capabilities

VSPEX BLUE promises to allow customers to get up and running quickly, so they can immediately start seeing the benefits of the solution. Instead of requiring hundreds of steps and a significant investment of time, the journey from powering on the system to actually getting in there and beginning the process of provisioning virtual machines is almost entirely automated. This enables it to be completed effectively in just under 15 minutes. 

Once it’s operational, the appliance is also highly scalable so it can continue meeting the needs of users even as those needs rapidly grow and change at the whim of today’s business environment. VSPEX BLUE provides customers with seamless linear scalability from one to four 2U/4-nodes, making it ideal to manage the IT needs of mid-sized customers or customers whose operations are spread out across multiple locations.  

Also contributing to this scalability is the VSPEX BLUE Manager. This unique feature lets customers download new software from EMC and EMC’s partners to ensure their environments keep up with what users and regulators demand. Manager offers patch and updates notifications which can be automated to keep the software up-to-date and secure to avoid interruptions and costly downtime.

Security and recovery are both key components of VSPEX BLUE as well. It goes to great lengths to protect data, including features which cover local and remote recovery needs. For example: The Data Protection Advanced add-on provides individual disk backup, file-level recovery and more. Also, RecoverPoint for VMs brings advanced disaster recovery functionality to VSPEX BLUE. EMC’s CloudArray feature gives companies the opportunity to easily create hybrid cloud environments, giving them safe place to store their data offsite.  

Arraya Solutions has the experience and the know-how needed to ensure companies get the most out of their VSPEX BLUE deployments. Want to learn more about what VSPEX BLUE has to offer? Reach out to an Arraya account executive today or click here to check out our upcoming VSPEX BLUE event on March 25th! Don’t forget to follow Arraya on Twitter @ArrayaSolutions.

Arraya Insights