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Cloud computing works by building out a robust cloud architecture that connects businesses to compute, storage, and networking resources over a network. These resources can come from servers in a privately owned data center, from a cloud service provider, or a mixture of both public and private data centers. This allows operational tasks—including workloads, applications, and data storage—to be moved from on-premises infrastructure to cloud infrastructure, where they can be managed remotely with virtualization tools and cloud management platforms.

Data center modernization is the process of upgrading data center infrastructure to improve efficiency, increase performance, strengthen data security, and build in the flexibility needed to adopt new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and respond to market needs. Modernization can take many forms, depending on business goals and unique circumstances, and is an ongoing process that can require substantial investments. However, in many cases, the cost of maintaining legacy equipment or delaying modernization—reduced productivity, greater security ris

Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) virtualizes and integrates compute, storage, and networking into a single unified system with centralized management. This consolidation and modernization of IT infrastructure enables businesses to manage a growing volume of data and range of workloads with agility at a lower cost. This is opposed to a traditional, three-tier data center infrastructure, where servers, storage (SAN/NAS), and networking are siloed and separately managed.

HCI combines all aspects of the data center—compute, storage, networking, and virtualization—into a single software-defined platform made up of multiple nodes. All data center functions are virtualized and merged onto commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) server hardware connected over standard Ethernet. Server nodes are collected into clusters, which are pools of compute and storage resources, similar to cloud infrastructure. Data and software are then distributed across the cluster, which enhances availability, durability, and resilience.