Atlantis Computing Briefing Note
Hyper-converged architectures (HCA) could be an ideal solution for enterprises looking to equip their distributed data centers. HCA has the potential to consolidate the remote IT needs to a few servers. These distributed data centers typically come in two forms; either remote office/branch offices (ROBO) with no IT staff but good WAN connectivity, or micro-data centers with limited IT staff and bad WAN connectivity. What these data centers have in common are the IT challenges that need to be overcome. The distributed data center needs to be easy to operate, remotely managed, protected and cost-effective. The problem is that while HCA can provide consolidation, many don’t meet the challenges that distributed data centers create. Atlantis Computing recently announced a new hyper-converged solution, the HyperScale CX-4, for distributed data centers specifically designed to address these challenges.
Keep it Simple
The first step is to keep the implementation and support of the remote HCA simple. The Atlantis CX-4 is pre-configured with the organization’s networking setting. Also, there is no need for an external switch. A 10Gbe crossover cable connects the two nodes. Management of multiple offices is done remotely from the organization’s primary data center. Finally, Atlantis is the single point of support for both hardware and software.
Protected
The CX-4 solves the other distributed data center problem: how to protect remote data. First, the CX-4 nodes are mirrored. If one of the remote nodes fail the other takes over with no loss of data or downtime. The CX-4 also leverages Atlantis’ replication software to replicate data from the remote sites to the primary data center, backing it up with the organization’s backup solution. If the entire remote site fails, the system routes users to their data at the primary data center almost instantly and with little loss of data.
Cost Effective
The CX-4 is also affordable, coming in at $43k for a starter configuration including three years of 24x7x365 support. It is also upgradeable to the CX-12. As the organization grows, it can expand the system from a two node HCA to a four node HCA, maintaining 100% of their investment in the initial purchase.
StorageSwiss Take
We believe HCA’s would be a good fit for remote or distributed data centers. The problem is that the vendors did not fine tune their solutions for the use case. The result was that they were too complicated and expensive to solve the distributed data center problems. Atlantis’ HyperScale CX-4 is a system designed specifically for these remote data centers and is simple, reliable and budget-friendly.
Eleven years ago George Crump founded Storage Switzerland with one simple goal; to educate IT professionals about all aspects of data center storage. He is the primary contributor to Storage Switzerland and is a heavily sought after public speaker. With over 25 years of experience designing storage solutions for data centers across the US, he has seen the birth of such technologies as RAID, NAS and SAN, Virtualization, Cloud and Enterprise Flash. Prior to founding Storage Switzerland he was CTO at one of the nation's largest storage integrators where he was in charge of technology testing, integration and product selection.
