Best Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

How Many Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions Products Does G2 Track?

Total Products under this Category: 29

Category Stats (Nov 2026)

  • Average Rating: 4.49/5 The average rating of products in this category, based on all submitted ratings
  • Top Trending Product: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform) (+0.02%) - Among all products in this category, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform) recorded the largest rating increase compared to last month

Last updated: November 02, 2026

How Does G2 Rank Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions Products?

Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:

  • 30 Analysts and Data Experts
  • 4,700+ Authentic Reviews
  • 29+ Products
  • Unbiased Rankings

G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category.

G2 Grid® for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

G2 Grid® for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions plotting products by satisfaction and market presence

Highlighted products: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), VMware vSAN, VMware vSphere, Sangfor Cloud Platform, SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform), and HPE SimpliVity.

Underlying data: [Grid® JSON](https://www.g2.com/categories/hyperconverged-infrastructure-hci-solutions/grids.json?focus%5B%5D=vmware-cloud-foundation-vcf&focus%5B%5D=vmware-vsan&focus%5B%5D=vmware-vsphere&focus%5B%5D=sangfor-cloud-platform&focus%5B%5D=sc-hypercore-virtualization-suite&focus%5B%5D=nutanix-cloud-infrastructure-nci&focus%5B%5D=acronis-cyber-protect-cloud-now-acronis-cyber-platform&focus%5B%5D=hpe-simplivity)

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

VMware Cloud Foundation VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is the industry’s first private cloud platform to deliver public cloud scale and agility with on-premises security, resilience and performance, while lowering total cost of ownership. VCF accelerates customers’ digital innovation with faster infrastructure modernization, a unified cloud experience, along with stronger cyber resilience and platform security. VMware Cloud Foundation delivers a consistent private cloud experience across ANY Environment - whether it’s a customer managed data center, edge location or any cloud endpoint. VCF supports both traditional as well as modern workloads such as containers, AI/ML workloads and brings modern applications faster to the market with self-service IaaS consumption experience for the application teams. VMware Cloud Foundation integrates leading products including vSphere (compute), vSAN (storage), NSX (networking), VCF Operations and VCF Automation into a single solution, while providing access to high-value advanced services for Application and Network Security, App Platforms, Ransomware Recovery and Private AI. Core VMware Cloud Foundation Components • VMware Cloud Foundation Infrastructure Stack: Incorporates VMware’s industry-leading solutions – virtualization and compute through vSphere for compute, storage through vSAN, and networking by NSX. • VCF Operations Fleet Management: Automate the installation, operations, and lifecycle management of the VCF stack, streamlining deployment, configuration, and updating processes. • VCF Automation Orchestration: Deliver comprehensive operations, automation, and analysis, across the full stack infrastructure platform. • VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service: Built-in Kubernetes runtime that enables enterprises to run modern applications and traditional workloads on a single platform. How VMware Cloud Foundation Works • Workload Compute Platform: At its core, VMware Cloud Foundation leverages vSphere to create and manage virtual machines and containers, providing a flexible, secure, and scalable compute platform. • Storage Optimization: By integrating vSAN into the platform, VMware Cloud Foundation offers integrated, secure, scalable storage solutions that enhance resource efficiency and reduce operational complexity. • Network Integration: Leverages NSX to provide a secure, software-defined networking layer capable of handling the dynamic needs of modern cloud- based applications using virtual private clouds (VPCs) to isolate apps and users. • Automated Provisioning and Management: VMware Cloud Foundation Automation orchestrates key operational tasks in a cloud operating model, reducing the time and complexity associated with deploying, managing, and maintaining private cloud environments. How VMware Cloud Foundation helps you solve your toughest challenges • Infrastructure Modernization: VMware Cloud Foundation plays a crucial role in transforming traditional IT infrastructures into a more agile and scalable private cloud environment. This transformation is key to enabling organizations to deploy core Private Cloud use cases that deliver strategic outcomes that lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), improved efficiency and accelerated innovation. • Application Modernization: Update and transform legacy software to meet modern business, technology and infrastructure needs. Replace outdated, monolithic applications with modern technologies like containers, microservices, APIs, AI/ML and DevOps Automation - improving scalability, performance, security and user experience. • Security Modernization: VMware Cloud Foundation provides a consistent, secure platform with the ability to extend the security architecture even further with intrusion detection and recovery, addressing key challenges such as ransomware threats, disaster scenarios, and the need for advanced security architectures.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 695

How Do G2 Users Rate VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.3/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)?

  • Seller: Broadcom
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 1991
  • HQ Location: San Jose, CA
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    44,602 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ: CA

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: System Administrator, System Engineer
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Computer Software
  • Company Size: 38% Medium, 36% Large

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users appreciate the ease of use in VMware Cloud Foundation, simplifying management and improving operational efficiency.
  • Users appreciate the streamlined networking management offered by VMware Cloud Foundation, enhancing efficiency and reducing complexity.
  • Users value the centralized management and automation of VMware Cloud Foundation, streamlining complex infrastructure management effectively.
  • Users value the strong security integration of VMware Cloud Foundation, enhancing their overall infrastructure management efficiency.
  • Users value the easy integrations of VCF, enabling streamlined management and consistent performance across infra stacks.
Cons
  • Users express concern over the high costs and rising licensing fees, making VMware Cloud Foundation less accessible for smaller organizations.
  • Users find the difficult setup of VMware Cloud Foundation to be time-consuming and complex, hindering efficient adoption.
  • Users often find the complexity of VMware Cloud Foundation's setup and management daunting and time-consuming.
  • Users face a steep learning curve with VMware Cloud Foundation, making deployment and management challenging, especially for beginners.
  • Users face challenges with resource-heavy demands and inflexibility, making VMware Cloud Foundation less suitable for small businesses.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)?

VMware vSAN

VMware vSAN is VMware’s integrated, hyperconverged storage software in VMware Cloud Foundation, enabling a cloud operational model for storage within VMware's premier private cloud platform. vSAN, as a part of VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF), enables management of compute and storage with a single, integrated platform. vSAN delivers the agility, scalability, and performance essential for today’s dynamic applications and workloads. With direct integration into VCF and VVF, vSAN ensures unmatched storage efficiency, performance, and operational simplicity. vSAN empowers organizations to build, manage, and optimize private clouds using standardized storage building blocks, with the added flexibility to integrate seamlessly with edge and hybrid cloud environments.

Average Rating: 4.4/5.0

Total Reviews: 317

How Do G2 Users Rate VMware vSAN?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.8/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind VMware vSAN?

  • Seller: Broadcom
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 1991
  • HQ Location: San Jose, CA
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    44,602 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ: CA

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: System Engineer
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Financial Services
  • Company Size: 41% Large, 38% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of VMware vSAN?

VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere with VCF 9.1 is the enterprise workload engine that modernizes compute infrastructure with a future-ready, scalable infrastructure and simplified management that enables organizations to extract maximum value from their current server investments and hardware footprint, rather than requiring a total refresh. vSphere provides a powerful foundation for modern, AI and traditional workloads, while enabling intrinsic security out-of-the-box.

Average Rating: 4.5/5.0

Total Reviews: 775

How Do G2 Users Rate VMware vSphere?

  • Server Virtualization: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind VMware vSphere?

  • Seller: Broadcom
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 1991
  • HQ Location: San Jose, CA
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    44,602 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ: CA

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: System Administrator, Systems Administrator
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Financial Services
  • Company Size: 44% Large, 42% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About VMware vSphere?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users find VMware vSphere to be easy to use, making it accessible even without a virtualization background.
  • Users value the seamless integration and management capabilities of VMware vSphere for a complete virtualization ecosystem.
  • Users value the robust and stable features of VMware vSphere for managing critical workloads efficiently.
  • Users value the ease of management with VMware vSphere, enhancing efficiency in handling virtual environments seamlessly.
  • Users value the high reliability of VMware vSphere, enabling smooth management of virtual machines with minimal hassle.
Cons
  • Users express concern over the high cost of VMware vSphere, which poses challenges for smaller organizations.
  • Users express concerns about the licensing issues of VMware vSphere, finding it costly and complex for smaller organizations.
  • Users find the high licensing cost of VMware vSphere burdensome, particularly for smaller organizations with limited budgets.
  • Users are frustrated with the new pricing model after the Broadcom acquisition, impacting their experience with VMware vSphere.
  • Users are frustrated by the cost increase post-Broadcom acquisition, limiting long-term access for many small groups.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of VMware vSphere?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About VMware vSphere?

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Sangfor Cloud Platform

Sangfor Technologies is a rising global challenger in enterprise IT, helping organizations simplify Digital and AI transformation with secure, AI-enabled cloud infrastructure. Headquartered in Shenzhen (China), Sangfor serves over 100,000 customers worldwide across 100+ countries and regions. Sangfor has 22+ international offices across Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and Latin America regions. Sangfor Cloud Platform (SCP) is built for large and mid-sized enterprises, based on a business-centric HCI architecture that integrates compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and security into a unified, software-defined platform. Sangfor Cloud Platform enables organizations to build secure, scalable, and flexible private and hybrid cloud environments. With centralized management, intelligent resource scheduling, and elastic infrastructure capabilities, Sangfor Cloud Platform simplifies cloud operations and reduces management complexity through standardized and automated processes. Built on a secure, reliable, and scalable architecture, it enables businesses to efficiently run mission-critical workloads while supporting future growth and expansion. To strengthen data protection and business continuity, Sangfor Cloud Platform also combines built-in security and resilience capabilities, including anti-ransomware protection, high availability, disaster recovery, and automated resource optimization, with seamless integration to leading backup solutions from Veeam and Cohesity. Sangfor Cloud Platform is trusted by large and mid-market enterprises across APAC, the Middle East, Europe, and LATAM. It is recognized as a Leader in the G2 Grid® for Server Virtualization and Hyperconverged Infrastructure in the Summer 2026 report. Sangfor Technologies has also been widely recognized by Gartner for its innovation, market presence, and customer satisfaction across the cloud and hyperconverged infrastructure landscape: ▪ Sangfor Recognized as a Representative Vendor in 2026 Gartner® Market Guide for Cloud Infrastructure Sovereign Solutions ▪ Sangfor Technologies Ranked among Top 5 Largest HCIS Vendors by Revenue in Asia-Pacific in the 2026 Gartner® Market Share Report ▪ Sample Vendor for VMware Alternative in Hyperconverged Infrastructure by Gartner ▪ Strong Performer in the Gartner® Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer for Full-Stack HCI Software Whether you're modernizing legacy infrastructure, building a private or hybrid cloud, or seeking a powerful VMware alternative, Sangfor Cloud Platform delivers the performance, security, and simplicity needed to accelerate digital and AI transformation.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 130

How Do G2 Users Rate Sangfor Cloud Platform?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Sangfor Cloud Platform?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Manufacturing
  • Company Size: 48% Medium, 31% Small

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Sangfor Cloud Platform?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the ease of use in Sangfor Cloud Platform, appreciating its intuitive interface and straightforward deployment.
  • Users value the simple and practical integrated solutions of Sangfor Cloud Platform, enhancing management and efficiency.
  • Users highlight the consistent performance and stability of Sangfor Cloud Platform, enhancing their operational efficiency.
  • Users appreciate the easy setup of Sangfor Cloud Platform, making deployment and management straightforward and efficient.
  • Users appreciate the seamless networking integration of Sangfor Cloud Platform, enhancing their overall management experience.
Cons
  • Users face integration issues with Sangfor Cloud Platform, limiting flexibility and complicating the use of advanced features.
  • Users note limited features in Sangfor Cloud Platform, lacking advanced integration and support for modern storage solutions.
  • Users report performance issues with slow UI and delayed actions during heavy load on the Sangfor Cloud Platform.
  • Users find the poor documentation of Sangfor Cloud Platform challenging when seeking support or resources for setup.
  • Users find the complex documentation of the Sangfor Cloud Platform challenging, limiting support and ease of use.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Sangfor Cloud Platform?

SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite

Scale Computing™ was founded to fulfill an IT infrastructure need often hindered by the complexity, time, and resources that traditional virtualized IT environments demand. Today, Scale Computing delivers a platform solution for data center, edge computing, virtualization technology, and hyperconverged infrastructure to customers worldwide. Award-winning SC//Platform™ edge computing solution eliminates the need for traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. 1. Simplicity Engineered Eliminate mundane management tasks and save IT administrators valuable time. SC//Platform's simplicity directly impacts IT with higher productivity and lower costs. Using patented SC//HyperCore™ virtualization suite technology, the self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects problems in the infrastructure in real time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime even when local IT resources and staff are scarce. 2. Scalable Plan the perfect future by not predicting it. Simply mix and match old and new hardware and applications on the same infrastructure for a future-proof environment that can scale up or down as needed. The storage system avoids issues inherent in traditional network storage approaches (SAN and NAS). By embedding storage with the hypervisor, resources can be automatically pooled across an entire cluster, and new storage is automatically added when new nodes are introduced. 3. Secure SC//Platform is designed to be 'Secure by Default,' meaning security isn't an option—it's a fundamental component ingrained in every aspect of the system. This approach eliminates the need for extensive configuration or additional security layers post-deployment. Unlike alternative solutions that require a long and complex “security best practices” checklist, SC//Platform limits the potential for misconfiguration vulnerabilities. 4. Manageable SC//Fleet Manager™ edge orchestration software combines centralized management with cloud and local automation, allowing infrastructure and applications to achieve and maintain the desired state throughout the entire life of the environment. Zero-touch provisioning decreases the time of installation by 90% or more Secure Link allows access to the HyperCore UI for in-depth cluster management with the click of a button without needing expensive or complex remote access solutions such as VPN or RDP Real-time monitoring of all workloads across a global fleet of SC//HyperCore clusters is made even easier with a searchable and customizable view 5. Cost-Effective Reduce IT infrastructure costs in almost every way. Hidden IT infrastructure costs associated with downtime, management, maintenance, training, and consulting are reduced to almost nothing. For more information: SC//Platform - https://www.scalecomputing.com/sc-platform SC//Fleet Manager - https://www.scalecomputing.com/sc-fleet-manager SC//HyperCore - https://www.scalecomputing.com/sc-hypercore

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 331

How Do G2 Users Rate SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite?

  • Seller: Scale Computing
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2002
  • HQ Location: Austin, TX
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    361 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Phone: 877-722-5359

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: IT Manager, Systems Administrator
  • Top Industries: Primary/Secondary Education, Manufacturing
  • Company Size: 74% Medium, 14% Small

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of SC// HyperCore, simplifying snapshots and migrations for efficient management.
  • Users praise the responsive customer support of SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.
  • Users value the easy setup process of SC// HyperCore, enabling quick VM deployment and efficient resource management.
  • Users value the reliability of SC// HyperCore, enhancing performance and simplifying IT management effortlessly.
  • Users value the easily scalable nature of SC// HyperCore, appreciating the clear upgrade paths for their needs.
Cons
  • Users find the limited features frustrating, as essential tools like virtual networking and storage management are missing.
  • Users face challenges with VM management issues like importing foreign VMs and transitioning from other platforms.
  • Users express frustration with the migration issues in SC// HyperCore, leading to reliance on support and lengthy transitions.
  • Users note that keeping nodes under support contracts is fairly expensive despite receiving satisfactory product support.
  • Users find the limited customization options restrictive, wishing for more granular control over settings and interface.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About SC// HyperCore Virtualization Suite?

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Modern Infrastructure for Hybrid Cloud and Modern Applications Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) simplifies how organizations run virtualized and modern applications across on-premises, colocation, and hybrid-cloud environments. It combines virtualization, infrastructure management, networking, security, lifecycle management, and resilience in a software-defined platform—helping IT teams reduce infrastructure complexity, respond faster to changing business needs, and improve service availability. NCI can help organizations: - Reduce infrastructure and operational complexity by consolidating traditionally separate tools and processes. - Deploy and scale workloads more quickly through software-defined infrastructure and centralized management. - Improve resilience with built-in options for workload protection, disaster recovery, and protection against infrastructure failures. - Support application modernization with a platform for virtual machines, containers, and cloud-native workloads. - Choose the deployment model and hardware configuration that best fits their environment, including hyperconverged infrastructure and supported external-storage architectures from leading enterprise storage vendors. Key Capabilities - Integrated Virtualization: Nutanix AHV provides enterprise virtualization integrated with the Nutanix platform, helping simplify administration, automation, and workload mobility. - Unified Management: Nutanix Prism provides centralized visibility and management for infrastructure operations, including compute, storage, and virtual machines. - Application Modernization: NCI provides the infrastructure foundation for containerized and cloud-native applications, including supported Kubernetes integrations and services. - Network and Security Services: Virtual networking, microsegmentation, and centralized network management help teams control connectivity, isolate workloads, and apply policies consistently. Availability depends on the applicable Nutanix products and licensing. - Disaster Recovery and Resilience: Supported replication and recovery capabilities help protect workloads and data across clusters and, where configured, to public-cloud environments. - Lifecycle Management: Nutanix lifecycle management helps automate infrastructure updates, including coordinated upgrades across supported software and hardware components. Flexible Storage Choices When deployed as hyperconverged infrastructure, NCI can use Nutanix AOS to deliver distributed storage with policy-based management, data locality, and scale-out expansion. AOS is designed to provide predictable performance and resilience across supported hardware configurations. Organizations can also deploy NCI with integrations with leading external-storage platforms including Dell PowerStore, Dell PowerFlex, Everpure FlashArray, NetApp ONTAP, and Cisco FlashStack with Everpure storage. These integrations allow customers to continue to get value from existing storage investments while adopting Nutanix AHV, networking, security, disaster recovery, management, and automation capabilities. Nutanix has earned a 10 year average net promoter score of 90+ and is trusted by 32,000+ organizations worldwide. Visit Nutanix.com to learn more about how Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure can help you modernize, simplify, and reduce your infrastructure TCO. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

Average Rating: 4.5/5.0

Total Reviews: 299

How Do G2 Users Rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)?

  • Seller: Nutanix
  • Year Founded: 2009
  • HQ Location: San Jose, US
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    10,042 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ:NTNX
  • Total Revenue (USD mm): $1,307

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: System Engineer, IT Manager
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Telecommunications
  • Company Size: 44% Large, 38% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the ease of use of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, which simplifies IT operations and enhances efficiency.
  • Users value the simplicity and integration of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, enhancing management and operational efficiency.
  • Users appreciate the smooth scalability of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, simplifying management and enhancing operational efficiency.
  • Users appreciate the efficiency of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, making management and deployment fast and straightforward.
  • Users commend the ease of initial setup for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, enhancing their overall positive experience.
Cons
  • Users find the complexity of configuration and pricing for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure challenging, especially for beginners.
  • Users find the high cost of licensing for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure burdensome, especially for small businesses.
  • Users note the high licensing costs of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, particularly burdensome for small organizations and first-time users.
  • Users find the steep learning curve challenging, especially when configuring advanced features during initial setup.
  • Users find that Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure has limited features, making integration and customization more challenging than anticipated.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)?

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)

Acronis delivers the world’s most complete cyber resilience platform, combining backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, RMM, and business operations tools into a single, natively integrated solution. Built specifically for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT teams, Acronis simplifies operations with one agent, one console, and one license model. Automation, AI-driven insights, and multi-tenant management ensure that fewer technicians can manage more clients at lower cost. With predictable pricing and transparent billing, Acronis enables partners and IT teams to scale efficiently, comply with regulations, and deliver unmatched resilience. No other vendor delivers this level of integration, efficiency, and MSP alignment. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform) unites backup and next-generation, AI-based anti-malware, antivirus, and endpoint protection management in one solution. Integration and automation provide unmatched ease for service providers — reducing complexity while increasing productivity and decreasing operating costs. Acronis Cyber Platform is the single service provider solution that combines backup, anti-malware (including anti-virus, anti-ransomware, and anti-cryptojacking) and security and management capabilities such as vulnerability assessments, patch management, URL filtering and more. Now, service providers can eliminate complexity and make security a centerpiece of their offerings while increasing SLAs, decreasing churn, and generating more recurring revenue. Get upgraded security with integrated AI-based defenses that protect clients from modern threats, make smarter use of resources so your team can focus on clients, and earn new recurring revenue and higher margins that strengthen your business. Enriched with next-gen, full-stack anti-malware protection and comprehensive yet simple management tools, built on top of our industry-leading backup and data recovery solution, Acronis Cyber Platform simplifies onboarding, daily operations, and reporting, and combats advanced attacks with new use cases enabled by integration. Acronis Cyber Platform makes it easy to deliver the modern cyber protection your clients seek. Acronis is majority-owned by EQT.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 1,477

How Do G2 Users Rate Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)?

  • Server Virtualization: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)?

  • Seller: Acronis
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2003
  • HQ Location: Schaffhausen
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    1,923 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: Acronis is majority-owned by EQT

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO, Director
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Computer & Network Security
  • Company Size: 69% Small, 27% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, enjoying centralized management of backups and protections.
  • Users appreciate the convenience of centralized backup management with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, streamlining tasks effectively.
  • Users value the ease of backup with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, appreciating its efficiency and straightforward training.
  • Users appreciate the easy management of backups and protection features in one console, enhancing efficiency and reliability.
  • Users value the comprehensive security offered by Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, ensuring reliable data protection and quick recovery.
Cons
  • Users have noted a slow performance of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, particularly during peak usage and larger operations.
  • Users find the pricing relatively high, making it challenging to propose to customers in the African market.
  • Users find the setup and management complexity challenging, along with pricing that feels high compared to competitors.
  • Users often struggle with poor customer support, leading to confusion and frustration during setup and troubleshooting.
  • Users often face backup issues, including failures and unaccounted removals in the management portal, complicating their experience.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (now Acronis Cyber Platform)?

HPE SimpliVity

The HPE SimpliVity 380 gives IT leaders the agility and economics of the cloud with the control and governance of on-premises IT.

Average Rating: 4.4/5.0

Total Reviews: 22

How Do G2 Users Rate HPE SimpliVity?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind HPE SimpliVity?

  • Seller: HP Development Company
  • Year Founded: 1939
  • HQ Location: Palo Alto, CA
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    92,617 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NYSE: HPQ
  • Total Revenue (USD mm): $26,982

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 46% Medium, 33% Large

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of HPE SimpliVity?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About HPE SimpliVity?

VxRail

As the only fully integrated, preconfigured, and pre-tested VMware hyper-converged infrastructure appliance family on the market, VxRail dramatically simplifies IT operations, accelerates time to market, and delivers incredible return on investment.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 32

How Do G2 Users Rate VxRail?

  • Server Virtualization: 8.8/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.5/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind VxRail?

  • Seller: Dell Technologies
  • Year Founded: 1984
  • HQ Location: Round Rock, TX
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    124,254 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NYSE: DELL
  • Phone: 1-800-WWW-DELL

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 49% Medium, 32% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of VxRail?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About VxRail?

StarWind Virtual SAN

StarWind is the pioneer of hyperconvergence and storage virtualization, offering customizable SDS and turnkey (software+hardware) solutions to optimize underlying storage capacity use, ensure fault tolerance, achieve IT infrastructure resilience and increase customer ROI. StarWind has over 150 employees and caters to more than 400,000 customers worldwide. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) eliminates any need for physical storage by mirroring internal hard disks and flash between hypervisor servers. Thanks to its unique features, StarWind VSAN can be deployed on or integrated in any existing IT infrastructure. By acquiring a single solution, you will get a robust fault-tolerant storage pool, constant application uptime and endless scalability options with just 2 nodes. Key Features: - Allows to achieve high availability - Eliminates any downtime even if 1 or more nodes fail - Ties the cluster into a single storage pool - Overcomes HCLs and has no restrictions on sockets or features - Offers flexible scalability, up and out - Easy management through a web console or thick client

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 202

How Do G2 Users Rate StarWind Virtual SAN?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind StarWind Virtual SAN?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: IT Manager, Systems Administrator
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Computer & Network Security
  • Company Size: 49% Medium, 40% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of StarWind Virtual SAN?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About StarWind Virtual SAN?

StorMagic

StorMagic delivers right-sized, purpose-built virtualization solutions. Our software cuts through complexity, scales easily, and is trusted by organizations worldwide to stay operational, always. What does this actually mean, though? Technology that works with you, not against you. Simple deployment means you have more time to focus on other aspects of your organization. No hidden complexity. StorMagic is easy to manage, so your teams stay confident and in control. Manage multiple sites from a single location. Built for real people in real-world situations. Reliable IT for the challenges your organization faces. We value your budget and time. StorMagic offers a lower total cost of ownership and deploys within minutes. Get the most out of your IT infrastructure and your budget. StorMagic offers organizations two paths to reliable, purpose-built virtualized infrastructure: StorMagic SvHCI is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution that incorporates hypervisor, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking into a single software stack. With SvHCI, your organization can virtualize your entire infrastructure without the significant financial commitment required by other solutions on the market. StorMagic SvSAN is a virtualized storage solution that’s a component of SvHCI. If your organization is already committed to a virtualization partner but still requires highly available virtualized storage, SvSAN offers greater flexibility with unmatched affordability. SvSAN can be deployed on VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors. Both SvHCI and SvSAN provide high availability with a unique cluster architecture of just 2 nodes. Data is synchronously mirrored between the two nodes, meaning an exact copy is always available on either node. If one node goes offline, the StorMagic witness maintains the cluster's health, keeping stores open, production lines moving and services running until the failed node is restored. A single StorMagic witness located anywhere in the world can service 1000 StorMagic clusters simultaneously. Whatever your virtualization needs, StorMagic can solve your challenges. Having empowered IT teams since 2006, we will work closely with you, by being grounded in clarity and consistency to serve, and configure a solution for your needs.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 99

How Do G2 Users Rate StorMagic?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind StorMagic?

  • Seller: StorMagic
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2006
  • HQ Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    80 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Computer & Network Security
  • Company Size: 51% Medium, 32% Small

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About StorMagic?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of StorMagic, finding it simple to deploy, manage, and maintain.
  • Users praise the fast and efficient customer support of StorMagic, which consistently meets expectations and resolves issues effectively.
  • Users highlight StorMagic's dependability and high availability, making it a reliable choice for virtual storage solutions.
  • Users find the setup process easy, complemented by excellent support that enhances overall satisfaction with StorMagic.
  • Users emphasize the cost-effectiveness of StorMagic, highlighting significant savings compared to traditional solutions.
Cons
  • Users find StorMagic's features limited, lacking advanced options for larger clusters and enterprise needs.
  • Users find the difficult navigation of StorMagic challenging, especially without adequate IT knowledge for beginners.
  • Users find StorMagic not user-friendly, as its complexity demands significant IT knowledge for effective navigation.
  • Users find scaling issues with StorMagic, limiting its effectiveness for large clusters and advanced features.
  • Users face a difficult learning curve with StorMagic, as it requires careful planning and solid IT knowledge.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of StorMagic?

Huawei FusionCube Hyper-converged Infrastructure

The Huawei FusionCube hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) brings compute, storage, network, virtualization, and management into one tightly integrated package to achieve high performance, low latency, and rapid deployment. FusionCube leverages Huawei-proprietary built-in distributed storage engines to enable deep convergence of compute and storage, eliminating performance bottlenecks while allowing for flexible capacity expansion.

Average Rating: 4.3/5.0

Total Reviews: 38

How Do G2 Users Rate Huawei FusionCube Hyper-converged Infrastructure?

  • Server Virtualization: 8.3/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 8.8/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 8.1/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Huawei FusionCube Hyper-converged Infrastructure?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 36% Large, 36% Medium

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Huawei FusionCube Hyper-converged Infrastructure?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Huawei FusionCube Hyper-converged Infrastructure?

VMware HCI Software

Hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) allows the convergence of physical storage onto industry-standard x86 servers, enabling a building block approach with scale-out capabilities. All key data center functions run as software on the hypervisor in a tightly integrated software layer, delivering services that were previously provided via hardware through software.

Average Rating: 4.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 12

How Do G2 Users Rate VMware HCI Software?

  • Ease of Use: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)

Who Is the Company Behind VMware HCI Software?

  • Seller: Broadcom
  • Year Founded: 1991
  • HQ Location: San Jose, CA
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    44,602 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: NASDAQ: CA
  • Phone: +1 800 225-5224

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 42% Large, 33% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of VMware HCI Software?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About VMware HCI Software?

Azure Stack HCI

The Azure Stack is a portfolio of products that extend Azure services and capabilities to your environment of choice—from the datacenter to edge locations and remote offices. The portfolio enables hybrid and edge computing applications to be built, deployed, and run consistently across location boundaries, providing choice and flexibility to address your diverse workloads.

Average Rating: 4.2/5.0

Total Reviews: 10

How Do G2 Users Rate Azure Stack HCI?

  • Server Virtualization: 8.6/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 8.1/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 7.4/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 8.3/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Azure Stack HCI?

  • Seller: Microsoft
  • Year Founded: 1975
  • HQ Location: Redmond, Washington
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    232,750 employees on LinkedIn®
  • Ownership: MSFT
  • Phone: +1 (877) 276-2464

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Computer Software
  • Company Size: 42% Large, 42% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Azure Stack HCI?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Azure Stack HCI?

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance

StarWind is the pioneer of hyperconvergence and storage virtualization, offering customizable SDS and turnkey (software+hardware) solutions to optimize underlying storage capacity use, ensure fault tolerance, achieve IT infrastructure resilience and increase customer ROI. StarWind has over 2,000 employees and caters to more than 400,000 customers worldwide. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance (HCA) is a turnkey hyper-converged platform that merges compute, storage, network, and software into a small 2-node configuration. Thanks to having one on-prem node and one in the cloud, customers significantly reduce their TCO while increasing ROI without sacrificing any performance. StarWind HCA is hyperconvergence at its finest, achieving 99.9999% uptime, simplifying HCI orchestration and management, and more for an affordable price. Key Features: - Data Locality - Server-Side Caching - Multiprotocol - High Availability and Fault Tolerance - StarWind Command Center - Unified Support Umbrella

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 68

How Do G2 Users Rate StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

  • Server Virtualization: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • High Availability: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.3/10)
  • Ease of Use: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.8/10)
  • Storage Virtualization: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)

Who Is the Company Behind StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: IT Manager
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Retail
  • Company Size: 70% Medium, 20% Small

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?

Rachana Hasyagar
RH
Researched and written by Rachana Hasyagar
Updated November 14, 2024

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions Topics

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Learn More About Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

What are Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions?

Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions are a software-defined, unified system that combines server, storage resources, networking components, and management software. It combines traditional IT hardware into a unified platform powered by a software layer. 

Traditionally, IT hardware and software were treated in siloes. They can be viewed as pieces of a puzzle, where standalone pieces did not make much sense, but together they make a complete picture. But handling each piece and making sure how it fits together is a time-consuming task. Having separate components also means requiring different teams specialized in managing that particular component. This is where hyperconverged infrastructure comes in.

HCI software converge all these components and offer it as a single unified system. An application or workload uses a server CPU to compute or process information, data is stored in a conventional storage offering, and networking manages the communication between all different components in the IT infrastructure realm. With hyperconverged solutions, servers and storage resources are combined within a distributed infrastructure platform. The combination of server and storage and network is powered overall by a software layer.

A HCI solution converges the entire single data infrastructure components, which includes server, storage, networking, and virtualization. The solution acts as a single distributed platform running on standard servers that can scale and support flexibility as required. A software layer running across multiple server nodes is used to manage and distribute all the operating functions within the server cluster. Having software to act as a control layer helps improve performance and build IT infrastructure resilience.

Hyperconverged software systems are available in a variety of configurations, which include all flash or hybrid flash storage, with or without GPU cards. These myriad configurations provided by HCI solution vendors offer customers several different options that they can opt for to improve their IT infrastructure. Using these solutions allows customers to improve maximum input/output (I/O) throughput with reduced latency.

What can a user run on an HCI software?

One of the first applications that were run for HCI was a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution. At present, however, HCI solutions have developed and expanded to ensure more different and complex workloads are being run. Some of the key examples include databases, cloud-native applications, mission-critical applications, big data, VDI, remote office/branch office (ROBO), and collaboration applications.

The relationship between hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and cloud 

To support private cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, the underlying infrastructure needs to be designed in such a way that it supports cloud capabilities such as scaling up. Workloads thrive in an environment where they can operate continuously without any faults or errors. If a workload or application needs to scale up, then the underlying infrastructure needs to support this. This is where HCI solutions come in since it provides agility to leverage scale-out storage as required by the user.

What Does HCI Stand For?

HCI stands for hyperconverged infrastructure. This platform usually supports a single pane of view to ensure infrastructure management. HCI is different from converged infrastructure (CI). 

The main difference between HCI and CI is that the latter is usually preintegrated by a vendor and is still built on the same IT hardware components. In contrast, hyperconverged systems are built from the ground up, and the components cannot be separated since the elements are software defined. These software capabilities allow IT infrastructure to scale and be flexible as required by growing workloads. 

What are the Common Features of Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Software?

The following are some core features within HCI solutions that can help users in numerous ways:

Consolidation: Consolidation is a key feature of hyperconverged infrastructure. Data centers are stacked with numerous servers, storage solutions, and networks which can be replaced with HCI. Consolidation has several advantages such as reduction of complexity, compatibility issues, easier administration, and so on.

Simplicity and flexibility: HCI platforms ensure simplicity in IT operations. Complexities associated with managing and monitoring several IT hardware components are reduced.

Greater ability to scale: The ability of hyperconverged systems to scale as a business needs change is one of the key features of this software. Engineers can scale up their IT infrastructure capabilities in a matter of minutes using software-defined storage capabilities. By using HCI solutions, companies can ensure that their IT infrastructure is future proof since applications can scale up or scale out as required.

Space optimization: When traditional IT infrastructure is replaced by scalable blocks, data center footprint is drastically reduced. Since HCI solutions take up much less space, these are being looked at for edge infrastructure as well.

Predictability: HCI software keep track of every single application. The control is granular in nature, which means that HCI solutions are able to predict which applications would require more resources, which one performs better under different circumstances, and other possibilities. This predictable nature of HCI helps organizations to solve various challenges that they might face with regard to capacity utilization and resource allocation.

What are the Benefits of Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Software?

Lower costs: A key benefit of HCI software solutions is the lower cost involved in deploying this solution. A company does not need to spend on server, storage infrastructure, networking, and management capabilities separately since they only need to purchase the hyperconverged systems which combine all these commodity hardware. In addition, when a customer chooses to scale a traditional IT infrastructure environment (SAN environment), there are a ton of costs that need to be considered such as licensing costs, increasing power and cooling costs, and hiring costs since more specialists and additional employees are needed to handle the growing IT infrastructure. By choosing a highly scalable and flexible HCI solution, customers can obtain significant savings.

Improved IT efficiency: Since IT components are not in silos but are consolidated under a single hypervisor software layer, hyperconverged infrastructure eliminates any need for processing each component separately. There is no latency in communication between different components, helping to increase overall IT efficiency. In addition, the management structure is simplified since it is a single solution, which reduces complex maintenance and integration challenges.

Single pane of view: HCI solutions often come with a management pane that the user can use to view and control all HCI sources from a single control panel. The biggest benefit of having a unified view is that there is no need for different management tools and software separately to manage and monitor servers, storage, networks, and virtualization.

Faster deployment times: While opting for a HCI solution, infrastructure plans can be deployed within minutes. Once the infrastructure has been set, teams can immediately work on applications and workloads rather than spend time figuring out how to install IT infrastructure and face several technical challenges. In addition, HCI systems support infrastructure automation, governance, and smooth, consistent operations.

Virtualization: Virtual environments, virtual servers, virtual desktops are key use cases of HCI solutions. This is achievable since a key benefit of HCI solutions is virtualization. Virtualization is used for high-performance sensitive applications, where there is a need to deploy hardware. 

Software-defined data center: The HCI solution can support numerous hardware platforms offered by different vendors. The software capabilities of the HCI software ensure that the underlying hardware does not pose a problem to the user, but instead allows HCI solutions to be deployed anywhere.

Reduces complexity: Although the conversation lies around consolidating server, storage, and networking, there are numerous other hardware and software components that add complexity to the environment. These include cables, hypervisors, server frame and cabinets, network server racks, server enclosures, and others. Since HCI is a single-point offering, it helps to consolidate the data center by reducing its footprint.

Improved productivity: With the integration of HCI into an IT environment, users do not need to babysit the infrastructure to manage alerts, schedule maintenance, and identify upgrade or downgrade times. Instead, HCI is a self-healing solution. Upgrades are just a click away, can be done remotely, and there is no need to physically visit the data center to resolve any hardware issues.

Multicloud services support: HCI solutions make it simple to move data between multiple clouds, or from on premises to private and public cloud platforms. It simplifies the hybrid cloud environment.

Helps shift focus toward business priorities: When businesses have a solid, self-healing IT infrastructure in place, time and resources of the organization can be moved to other business priorities. HCI shifts the focus off infrastructure and more on using the infrastructure—either to automate applications, deploy methodologies to improve workload processing, integrating IoT practices, and several other value-added activities.

Who Uses Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Software?

IT team: A team of IT professionals will constantly handle the HCI solution for the firm. Under this persona, there are several roles which include but are not limited to hyperconverged or SAN administrator, IT admins, HCI solution architect, HCI solution specialist, and HCI engineer.

Virtualization administrators: Virtualization admins can extend the benefits of hyperconverged infrastructure to virtual workloads. Admins are provided flexibility when deploying and moving virtual workloads.

Developers and programmers: Although this persona is not directly using an HCI solution, they would ideally be impacted the most. Ideally, with the introduction of HCI solutions, software developers and engineers can expect their jobs to be more efficient since the underlying infrastructure has improved drastically.

Challenges with Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

HCI solutions can come with their own set of challenges. 

True integration is a challenge: Hyperconvergence integration happens at the hypervisor layer, and all the different components are connected together via the software. There is no further integration at an OS level or application level. In order to achieve true integration, third-party hardware, additional configuration, and expertise would need to be installed which defeats the purpose of HCI’s promise to reduce complexity.

Backlash from employees or IT teams: There are separate networking architects and IT teams to handle storage, CPU, virtualization, and other tasks. Using a HCI solution would ideally bring all these personas under one roof, leading to team reorganization. This could cause some hostility from employees who might feel that their jobs will be made redundant. Another challenge is identifying who would be in charge of the HCI solution since legacy infrastructures were in silos.

Vendor lock-in: To truly get the complete benefit of HCI solutions, buyers are often pushed to selecting a single vendor platform. This limits buyers from being able to add any future innovations that might come in the HCI space until the vendor integrates it as well.

Virtual machines integration: If virtual machines are being moved onto the new platform, it is imperative that the hypervisor being used at present will be supported on the new platform. The process of migrating virtual machines will be easier if the HCI solution supports multiple hypervisors.

How to Buy Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions

The main step before deciding to begin the HCI journey is to carefully evaluate the HCI requirements of the organization. This step is necessary to match business requirements with key features of HCI solutions and ensure that HCI is the best fit for the organization.

HCI software systems are comparatively less complicated than other IT infrastructure deployments. The reason for this is there is no need to replace any hardware, which is instead added. The first decision when planning to buy a HCI solution is to decide whether the solution will be deployed on premises or in the public, private, or hybrid cloud. This is an important comparison to be made since each type has its own pros and cons. For example, cloud services work on a subscription basis, but in the long run, it can be an expensive option. A vendor could have purchased an on-premises infrastructure component with the total amount.

A good suggestion would be to keep track of when data center hardware is being replaced. When old server products reach their end of life, instead of purchasing new servers, the vendor can opt for HCI solutions. While evaluating different HCI solution offerings, it is important to identify the storage aspect that is critical for the business. If a user needs their workloads and applications to be of high availability (HA), responsive and highly flexible, they can opt for all-flash based storage systems.

Compare Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions Products

Selecting the right Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) software involves several key considerations to ensure it meets your organization's needs. Here are some steps to guide you through the process:

Assess Your Needs:

  • Workload requirements: Determine the types of applications and workloads you plan to run.
  • Scalability: Evaluate how easily the system can expand in terms of resources like compute, storage, and networking without disrupting operations.
  • Performance: Focus on how each solution handles workloads under different conditions, paying attention to metrics such as I/O operations, latency, and throughput. 

Evaluate Features:

  • Integration: Assess how seamlessly the HCI solution can integrate with existing IT ecosystems, including compatibility with current virtualization platforms and management tools.
  • Storage architecture: Consider evaluating whether the vendor has a scale-out storage system that pools direct-attached storage (DAS) across nodes. Investigate the data optimization techniques, such as deduplication, compression, and erasure coding, which vary among different HCI solutions and affect both performance and storage efficiency. Additionally, confirm whether the system supports software-defined storage (SDS) capabilities to improve flexibility and resource allocation.
  • Management and orchestration capabilities: Comprehensive HCI software often offer a unified management console, facilitating centralized monitoring and control. Automation features and APIs available for DevOps integration can also enhance operational efficiency, shifting the focus toward cloud-native workloads and container support.
  • Resiliency and security: Consider the architecture's resilience and security features, such as replication factors, failover policies, and data encryption in transit and at rest—critical elements for business continuity and data protection.

Consider Deployment Options:

  • On-Premises vs. cloud: Decide whether you need an on-premises solution, a cloud-based one, or a hybrid approach.
  • Hardware compatibility: Verify that the solution is compatible with your current hardware or if new hardware is required.

Vendor Support and Reputation:

  • Support services: Choose vendors that provide robust support services and are known for being reliable. Also, consider looking into the vendor's roadmap for innovation and updates.
  • Reputation: Research vendor reputation and customer reviews on platforms like G2.com to gauge reliability and performance.

Cost Analysis:

  • Initial costs: Consider the upfront costs of the solution.
  • Operational costs: Evaluate ongoing operational costs, including maintenance and support.
  • Total cost of ownership (TCO): Evaluate the total cost of ownership while considering factors such as energy consumption, staff training, and licensing fees.

Compliance and Security:

  • Regulatory compliance: Ensure the solution complies with relevant regulations and standards.
  • Security features: Evaluate the security features to protect your data and infrastructure.

By carefully considering these factors, you can select an HCI software that aligns with your organization's needs and goals.

Cost of HCI Solutions

The cost of HCI solutions varies depending on the vendor, configuration, scale, and specific features required. 

Entry-level HCI solutions may start at around $25,000 to $30,000 for minimal configurations suitable for small to medium-sized deployments. These base configurations typically include enough infrastructure to support basic workloads and minimal scalability.

Advanced HCI solutions may range from $100,000 to over $250,000 for more robust deployments with higher performance, advanced features, and greater scalability needs. This range could include additional nodes, storage capacity, and advanced software licenses for features like enhanced data management, replication, and disaster recovery.

Ultimately, the price can escalate depending on the enterprise's specific needs, like additional compute resources, expanded storage requirements, integration with existing systems, and extended support or service packages.