VMware is pleased to announce the next entrant in the Global Partner Appliance category, Hitachi Unified Compute Platform HCI Series. VMware vSAN has the industry’s largest HCI ecosystem, and recently introduced a new category, the Global Partner Appliance, to recognize partners that have added value on top of their ReadyNodes, or jointly-certified servers. Hitachi Unified Compute Platform HC Series factory-fitted, turnkey HCI solution that combines hardware, software, and virtualization for a faster time to production and simplified deployment, and it provides a single source of support for both hardware and software.
What is a Global Partner Appliance?
Global Partner Appliances (GPAs) offer customers two core benefits beyond ReadyNodes: simplified lifecycle management and unified support. Each hardware OEM in the category has created their unique lifecycle management tools that either integrate with VMware HCI or augment VMware HCI tools to offer simplified installation, deployment and maintenance of the HCI solution. Global Partner Appliances:
- Come Pre-installed with VMware HCI: VMware vSphere, vSAN and vCenter Server
- Include hardware vendor-built tools for lifecycle management, which can include day zero to day two operations, reducing time for routine activities. Many appliances offer fully validated updates to ensure compatibility for the hardware and software stack.
- Include single source support for both hardware and software, with a minimum of Levels 1 and 2 support
- May include additional capabilities. Some vendors may choose to include features beyond lifecycle management and unified support, such as deployment services and proactive support.
What is the Hitachi HCI Appliance?
As a fully integrated, pre-configured and tested VMware HCI Global Partner Appliance, Hitachi HCI Appliance delivers a turnkey experience providing IT organizations with an easy way to deploy hyperconverged infrastructure based on VMware vSAN. In combination with tightly integrated VMware and Hitachi management software and a single point of contact for support, Hitachi HCI Appliance provides three key benefits:
- Accelerated HCI cluster setup, deployment and provisioning
- Seamless update experience for hardware and software
- Single source support for quick resolution
Hitachi HCI appliance provides built-in automation for day 0-2 operations to set-up the HCI cluster or to add capacity later. Workflow orchestration with Hitachi HCI automates hundreds of manual tasks to dramatically reduce setup, deployment and provisioning time, accelerating IT delivery. Moreover, HCI appliances deliver high performance as the components are tuned for the most optimum output.
Infrastructure leaders expect a seamless firmware update experience. The Hitachi HCI Global Partner Appliance delivers automated updates to refresh systems’ firmware in a rolling manner for the entire HCI cluster without impacting the live operation. Updates are pushed over the air to let customers schedule their upgrades that match with their business cycle. Moreover, the firmware update is not limited to only the components inside the node. Hitachi’s management software, Unified Compute Platform Advisor, allows element management for top-of-rack switches for plain HCI environment and spine-and-leaf switches for VMware Cloud Foundation deployments. Hitachi HCI Appliance continuously monitors hardware components and gathers telemetry data to provide a frictionless operation. Analytics enable Hitachi customer support teams to improvise customer support for specific customer requirements.
Finally, Hitachi HCI appliance customers receive single number support for hardware, software, and the virtualization -streamlining the operations. Hitachi’s deep talent pool of VMware certified professionals, including VCDX, VCP, VCAP, and vExperts helps deliver an excellent experience to customers.
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