VMware is pleased to announce our first ReadyLabs Innovation Awards, recognizing the key contributors that make vSAN powered hyperconverged infrastructure reliable and highly performant. ReadyLabs works with dozens of OEMs, from component manufacturers to server OEM vendors, jointly certifying hundreds of ReadyNodes, ReadyNode configurations and ReadyNode components.
Key Differentiator for VMware Hyperconverged Infrastructure Customers
VMware vSAN is the market leading hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) with over 38% market share, according to the latest tracker from IDC. VMware uniquely entered the HCI market with a software-based hyperconverged infrastructure approach. ReadyNodes continue to be a popular deployment method for VMware HCI for two key reasons:
- Customers that prefer a server OEM vendor can maintain their relationship with that vendor when transitioning to HCI, as VMware offers ReadyNodes from every major server OEM
- Customers can customize their ReadyNode solution to their needs, choosing from hybrid to all-NVMe solutions; single, dual or quad socket servers; blade, rackmount or composable and more
Because of VMware’s heritage as a software-based solution, we recognized early on the importance of working with hardware OEM vendors to certify solutions to ensure hardware can meet the demands of HCI without compromising data availability, data integrity and product performance. ReadyLabs was created early on to carry out required testing to provide our customers confidence in ReadyNode solutions.
vSAN ReadyLabs engineering is responsible for ensuring that the ReadyNode hardware meets the demands of vSAN, that vSAN algorithms leverage the latest technological advancements in the hardware space, that development efforts go hand in hand in joint planning with all major OEM partners and finally, that the vSAN engineering team leverages cross-OEM relationships to drive the resolution of hardware related issues while building future ReadyNode roadmaps for vSAN.
Every ReadyNode is unique based on the combination of firmware, driver, and devices. The vSAN ReadyLabs team partners with OEM vendors to outline the latest hardware trends and roadmaps. Together we do risk assessment, create tests, debug issues, perform root cause corrective action of certification failures, and guide the development of vSAN capabilities accordingly. Once a ReadyNode is through this exhaustive process and fully certified, it is ready for mission-critical use by customers and chances of hitting potential issues have been minimized.
This allows customers to purchase and deploy a vSAN ReadyNode with confidence knowing that it has gone through the certification process of vSAN ReadyLabs and that they can call VMware support should they face any issues with a certified system.
The winners are…
VMware vSAN ReadyLabs recognizes three outstanding OEMs that we have worked with since ReadyLabs was formed: Intel, Broadcom and Samsung. Each OEM was selected based on their contributions to ReadyNodes, as measured by number of ReadyNodes with their hardware in the CPU, I/O Controller and Drive category.
Intel processors are the most common CPU in vSAN ReadyNodes, present in 99.7% of all ReadyNodes. Today, Intel processor based ReadyNodes are offered by every server OEM, from hybrid to all-flash configurations, and they include the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors, including the Cascade Lake series.
In the I/O controller category, Broadcom manufacturers the most common I/O Controller hardware, present in 70% of ReadyNodes. Broadcom’s I/O controllers help ensure our customers experience low latency storage access for business-critical applications.
Finally, in the Drive category, Samsung drives are the most common branded drive on the VMware vSAN Compatibility List. Samsung manufactures drives that meet a variety of customer needs, from low-cost spinning disks to high-performance, low latency NVMe drives for the most demanding and mission-critical applications.
We look forward to working with all our OEM partners as we continue to deliver innovative HCI features that help our customers grow their businesses.
Next Steps
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