Fujitsu fast-tracks SDDC with VMware

Fujitsu is fast-tracking the creation of enterprise software-defined data centers (SDDC) with its Integrated System solution PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation. Customers can deploy a large-scale SDDC for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or virtual desktop use cases in just hours rather than weeks, as this new ready-to-run hyper-converged system includes all the required hardware and software.
PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation provides a turnkey solution for SDDC, giving enterprises the highest levels of IT system flexibility, efficiency and agility. PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation delivers enterprise-ready capabilities by combining certified Fujitsu hardware with VMware Cloud Foundation, which brings together VMware software-defined compute, storage and networking into a unified, easy to operate stack.
This latest addition to the Fujitsu PRIMEFLEX line-up of integrated systems is optimized for VMware’s enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds, and leverages certified Fujitsu PRIMERGY servers with Brocade VDX switches. PRIMEFLEX takes advantage of VMware SDDC Manager – VMware’s new lifecycle automation software included in VMware Cloud Foundation – to help shorten set-up time and reduce ongoing maintenance through the automation of operational tasks including system monitoring, software patching and updates.
Ease of implementation is one reason why enterprises are increasingly turning to preconfigured PRIMEFLEX systems. Customers are taking the fast track to productivity as they recognize that do-it-yourself approaches to building their own hyper-converged systems can be incredibly complex to deploy and manage.
Uwe Neumeier, Vice President and Head of Data Center, EMEIA Product Business at Fujitsu, comments: “Enterprise IT teams have to continuously respond to changing demands by delivering unprecedented levels of scalability and agility. They have increasingly turned to virtualization, first in the compute space, and now to fully virtualized, hyper-converged infrastructures that embrace software-defined storage and networking. For these environments, PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation provides for the fastest possible deployment of a fully software-defined data center infrastructure. This infrastructure can be deployed on premise or in a hybrid cloud service.”
PRIMERGY servers are the system bedrock within the Fujitsu PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation. Designed for virtualization and optimized for VMware, these PRIMERGY servers are part of Fujitsu’s x86 portfolio, which has a long and proven track record with VMware deployments and has led industry benchmarks for half a decade. Currently, the Fujitsu x86 portfolio leads 16 of 21 VMmark 2.0x benchmarks, which are recognized as a true indicator of performance in virtualization platforms.
John Gilmartin, vice president and general manager, Integrated Systems Business Unit, VMware says: “Data center infrastructure deployments are getting increasingly complex, making it challenging to keep track of all the elements. Fujitsu’s new PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation promises to provide the high-performance hardware platform that is optimized to bring out the best in virtualized environments.”
Brocade enhances the high-performance Fujitsu PRIMEFLEX infrastructure stack with a networking foundation based on the Brocade VDX family of high-performance, low-latency data center switches. Leveraging Brocade switches, VMware SDDC Manager is able to fully integrate compute, storage and networking into a holistic, software-defined hyperconverged system. This increases flexibility and agility, allows for seamless scale-out across racks and removes many of the network challenges associated with virtualization to create a critical foundation for cloud deployments.
Jason Nolet, senior vice president, Switching, Routing and Analytics Products Group at Brocade adds: “Brocade has been collaborating with Fujitsu and VMware to help enterprises deliver more responsive IT services through SDDC deployments. PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation is another milestone of our growing alliance. Together, we can help customers simplify and accelerate their route to virtualization so they can transform their infrastructure as well as their data center cost and operational structures.”
PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation brings additional flexibility to enterprises thanks to its huge scalability. Starting from a deployment of only eight servers, customers can scale to meet growing demands up to a total of 192 servers and 1.8 Petabyte of storage running approximately 9600 virtual machines. Ease of deployment reduces cost from the outset, but ongoing savings are realized thanks to automated update and upgrade services.
PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation joins a growing line-up of VMware-related solutions, alongside PRIMEFLEX vShape – a traditional converged infrastructure solution with external SAN storage – and PRIMEFLEX for VMware Virtual SAN, a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that comprises software-defined compute and storage.