Computerworld — Faced with the continued commoditization of servers, IT vendors this year will try to differentiate their offerings by moving toward more highly integrated, unified compute platforms.

Data Center Definitions and Solutions

That means combining servers, storage and networks -- and related management software -- as a package deal, says Rockwell Bonecutter, data center technology and operations practice lead at Accenture Ltd. (ACN) Vendors tried something similar a few years ago with the launch of modular "data center in a box" products. But this time, they are thinking out of the box by focusing squarely on the core data center infrastructure.

Soup to Nuts

With integrated systems, you're not just buying a server; you're buying the entire infrastructure to go with it as a single, managed entity. The systems are highly integrated and highly scalable, and they include computing, storage and networking systems, as well as business services management, automated orchestration and provisioning capabilities. In some cases, those systems might include power delivery and cooling as well.

When combined with virtualization, converged systems can form the foundation of a private cloud-computing resource.

Bonecutter says the approach addresses real pain points for IT. "I'm spending the majority of my time meeting with CIOs about implementing cloud computing or [about] orchestration and provisioning," he says.

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s BladeSystem Matrix is a harbinger of what's to come, says Jim Ganthier, vice president of HP's (HPQ) industry standards group. He says Matrix lets administrators remove and reinsert blades between slots, while virtual connects ensure that storage and network resources move with them -- no reprovisioning required.

The systems also allow for workload balancing based on the need to optimize power consumption, usage or a combination of the two. With Matrix, he says, "your enclosure is your data center." But HP plans to implement the same model this year using rack-mounted HP servers with storage and switch gear.

IBM (IBM) has a similar approach. It wants to create a more efficient, integrated system that weaves everything together more tightly. But will CIOs be willing to buy all their storage, server and networking equipment from HP or IBM to make it work?

Tom Bradicich thinks so. The IBM fellow and vice president for architecture and technology for IBM's x86 servers says the interchangeability, or "fungibility," of the x86 platform is what made it so popular.

He says enterprises will be willing to trade some fungibility for a more efficient system -- albeit one in which the x86 system morphs to include some proprietary technologies and the customer buys the integrated package from IBM.

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