Does NonStop have a role in hyperconverged computing – just wait and see!
I have been following HPE in the press looking for connections between hyperconverged computing and how it may relate to NonStop. Responsibility for hyperconverged computing lies in one part of the Enterprise Group whereas NonStop lies within another part. And yet, at a high level, when it comes time for HPE to talk strategically, it’s focused on separate market segments with hyperconverged computing even as it talks up support for private clouds and high performance computing.
Here’s what I came across while pulling together a PowerPoint presentation for a client:
"HPE already offers a broad range of data center hardware that is aimed at an array of workloads. Along with its mainstream ProLiant servers, the company offers high-density Apollo systems for analytics and object-storage workloads up through its high-end Integrity Superdome, NonStop and HP-UX systems for mission-critical tasks such as enterprise relationship planning (ERP), data warehousing and data analytics ... The company's lineup also includes converged, hyperconverged and composable offerings."
- Published in eWeek (2016-08-11) HPE Buying Supercomputer Maker SGI to Bolster HPC Portfolio
“HPE will target the data center and cloud space it says represents a $100 billion opportunity, specifically in segments such as high performance computing (HPC), private cloud, all-flash arrays and hyperconverged computing. The enterprise IT leader also hopes to power its emerging Intelligent Edge businesses, which it foresees running campus, branch and industrial IoT applications ‘for decades to come.’”
- Published in Investopedia (2017-01-02) HP Enterprises’ Market Opportunities in 2017
In recent presentations to the NonStop community, the HPE NonStop team has included slides highlighting how important for the future of NonStop their work to bring a virtual NonStop (vNonStop) to market really is – more or less driven by HPE’s desire to be a major player in private clouds even as software-defined-everything is a mantra routinely repeated by all HPE executives. But the point here is – will the NonStop faithful see vNonStop making its presence felt in hyperconverged computing? In short, my response has now become, why not?
“When you consider the role of commodity hardware in a hyperconverged environment, however, keep in mind that the hardware takes a back seat to the software. In this environment, the software layer is built with the understanding that hardware can — and ultimately will — fail. The software-based architecture is designed to anticipate and handle any hardware failure that takes place.”
- Hyperconverged.org CLOUD IS ENABLING NEW APPROACHES
Sounds to me from the above description (and subsequent explanations) that yes, vNonStop sure does have a role to play and I am following the moves being made by solutions provider to the payments market, OmniPayments. They are among the earliest of solutions vendors testing their application on vNonStop and I am sure we will hear more about it shortly. But the point here for me is that as OmniCloudX gains traction even as a powerful SaaS option, what the HPE NonStop team is doing is taking baby steps towards a very compelling argument for keeping NonStop in the dialogue HPE is having about hyperconverged computing. And it is something I am going to track in the coming months.
So there you have it – we know HPE’s own IT has vNonStop deployed within HPE and we know solutions vendors are testing their products on vNonStop – cloud deployment isn’t far away and then it’s going to be just one more step to support the multi-tenancy, rapid provisioning, etc., we associate with hyperconverged computing, right?
What do you think? What are you observations? You can reach me at:
