Why should SMEs choose a shared infrastructure platform?

According to survey data, in China, the contribution rate of SMEs to national GDP is as high as 60%. However, there is little integrated solution platform optimized for the SMB environment in the IT market. These small and medium-sized enterprises, including film and television production and start-up e-commerce, spend a lot of time working in the office environment.

In the past, the basic rhythm of SMEs deploying IT environments was to purchase one or two servers that meet the needs of the enterprise at that time, then install and deploy them, and use them with various software and tools. As the business grows, the IT architecture is expanded in a physical way. That is to buy more servers. For reasons of cost and functionality, the newly purchased server is not the same model or the same brand as the previous server. In the disorderly expansion of IT architecture, the network switches and storage platforms are constantly changing and migrating. Finally, there are compatibility and interoperability challenges in a variety of complex devices, and management and maintenance have become a headache. It makes it difficult for enterprises to improve operation and maintenance efficiency, accelerate business growth, and meet future development needs.

SMBs need an integrated solution that includes two to four servers for virtualization and backup, shared storage with large capacity for high availability, and affordable I/O The device is also guaranteed to have simple system management. Simply put, SMBs need to organize all the devices in an IT environment, and integrate these elements into a compact chassis that can be placed under a desk or workbench or into a rack.

A shared infrastructure platform has emerged. The platform integrates server, storage, networking equipment and management functions in a single chassis, such as Dell's PowerEdge VRTX, which is a solution for small offices. This all-in-one server reduces the routine deployment and management of rack servers, not the data center, but the complete application of the IT infrastructure through a single box.

PowerEdge VRTX integrates four PowerEdge M-series half-height server nodes with 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch hard drives, up to 48TB of data and networking devices. The VRTX can also be mounted on a rack, taking up only 5U of rack space. In addition, in terms of user-friendly design, VRTX runs quietly and supports a wide range of office-grade noise.

All four server nodes have access to low-latency internal shared storage, which is critical for clustering and virtualization, including vMotion. VRTX allows each server node to be a single storage pool, assigning virtual disks to a single server node or across server nodes for real-time migration of virtual machines in a VRTX chassis without paying for cabling, powering, and managing the SAN.

In addition to cost, convenient management and efficient operation and maintenance are another major measure for SMEs. Since the shared infrastructure has assembled all the IT elements, all that is needed is a management tool. VRTX uses a modular architecture and adds management capabilities for a shared storage infrastructure. In addition, I/O features for managing switches and network components have been added, all of which are used from the same console.

Sharing an infrastructure platform is a good choice if you want to improve your office IT environment, making it simple, efficient, and flexible.