Originally posted to LinkedIN Pulse by Thomas McKinney, CFM Director, Professsional Services at ThermFlo, Inc.
Over the past few years, I have supported dozens of “Edge” compute deployments. Every indication is that we have reached an understanding of the benefits of edge compute using hyperconverged infrastructure (“HCI”). Although somewhat slow on the initial uptake, we’ve entered a period of rapid adoption and rightfully so. Although not a great replacement for Big Data, HCI can be adopted to support virtually anything. HCI provides powerful compute where you need it, in nearly any flavor desired with data security on premise and direct access to cloud services. In essence, HCI / Edge deployment is a micro data center deployment with Software Defined capability.
In this article, we will explore some deployment considerations for IT transformation and more specifically, those associated with HCI / Edge. This will give you the thought leadership and tools necessary for a successful deployment. Keep in mind, stranded capacity of any kind is what we are trying to avoid. With careful planning, you can capture the cost of these ancillary support items and reap the benefit of high performance, high availability and reduced risk.
Assess
Any proper IT equipment installation begins with an assessment. If you are capable and experienced, you can certainly do this yourself. However, a paid assessment is generally worth every dollar spent. An experienced data center professional will give you detail and considerations that may otherwise be missed. Whether you perform the assessment yourself or hire a professional, below is a list of things to consider as part of any assessment.
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