What Does Converged Storage Mean?
Converged storage is a storage structure that blends storage and computation into a single entity. The strategy used in converged storage differs with conventional storage models, where storage and computation occur in different hardware entities.
Converged storage helps users build a storage pool based on modular building blocks. This can then be reconfigured or moved instantly to support various requirements. It is an innovative approach that minimizes the complexity, thereby allowing information technology (IT) to expand storage based on a "pay-as-you-grow" structure.
Techopedia Explains Converged Storage
In IT, storage demands are ever evolving, therefore organizations should employ a strategy to restructure storage so as to enable, instead of restricting, the delivery of IT services. Converged storage is an answer to such requirements.
Converged storage features the ability to:
- Safely host various applications in a single storage pool – It ensures that the ideal level of performance and resources are delivered for all applications.
- Geographically deliver storage resources – Then the data is moved among these resources, without interfering with the user access to that data.
- Use thin provisioning as well as other strategies to assign resources most economically.
- Reconfigure itself – This helps balance workloads and confirms the ideal data tiering without the need of manual intervention.
In converged storage systems, standard platforms make use of widely accessible x86-based hardware for streamlining operations and minimizing the expenditures.
One of the main characteristics of converged storage is the use of scale-out architecture. It is a blend of standard storage components and modular computers for creating federated storage pools. Using scale-out architecture leads to an overall improvement in bandwidth, computer power, and storage capacity. It also helps organizations offer prompt IT provisioning, enhance system availability, in addition to offering better utilization of resources.
Converged storage is able to support cloud computing’s multitenant architecture, where multiple machines or users gain access to the virtual and physical resources simultaneously.
