International Computerware, a global datacenter consulting firm, today announced the introduction of the vCube, the first partner driven datacenter solutions platform.
The vCube design was developed around ICI’s intellectual property and vast experience in datacenter architecture and integration utilizing their proven consulting methodology nCubed: Now, Next, Nirvana.
The vCube is a “process driven” modular architecture built upon “proven technologies” making it the complete datacenter solutions platform. It is comprised of servers, switches, unified storage, virtualization, monitoring, information protection, and other modular components creating a simplified, flexible, and customer configurable solution.
Through ICI’s extensive industry leading partnerships, the vCube’s design provides a tailor-made compute platform that can leverage clients’ technology preferences, skills, and relationships. Jamie Shepard, EVP of ICI, said, “During ICI’s collaboration with customers on design it’s not our intent to compromise a client’s existing datacenter partnerships; rather, our aim is to integrate their server and switch layers into our vCube design.” From the results of an nCubed assessment, existing HP, Dell, or Cisco servers and Brocade or Cisco switches can be incorporated. The foundation of the initial vCube offerings consists of VMware’s vSphere Virtualization Platform, Apparent Networks PathView Network Monitoring Solution, EMC Unified Storage, EMC Information Protection Modules (Avamar orData Domain), and APC rack and power equipment. All vCubes are racked, configured, and tested at ICI’s Innovation Facility in Marlborough, MA.
As of this announcement, there are two vCube offerings immediately available for datacenter deployments. The Infrastructure as a Service (I.a.a.S.) vCube and the Desktop as a Service (D.a.a.S.) vCube. Both vCube offerings allow organizations to easily and cost effectively manage their own internal private clouds; Furthermore, ICI has included two “Best-of-Breed” technologies such as Akorri’s BalancePoint for the Infrastructure as a Service (I.a.a.S.) vCube and Liquidware Labs’ Stratusphere and ProfileUnity for the Desktop as a Service (D.a.a.S.) vCube.
The I.a.a.S. vCube provides organizations with a complete datacenter solutions platform that incorporates the ability to run VMware Virtual Machines, provision EMC storage via multiple protocols while connecting everything with a robust multi-Gigabit network enhancing all advanced features of the vCube. Alongside the fundamental features of the vCube the organization has built-in monitoring and backup capabilities in a 1 or 2 rack configuration. The I.a.a.S. vCube comes in multiple size configurations based on the number of max supported Virtual Machines. The I.a.a.S. vCube models are: I-vCUBE-96, I-vCUBE-192, I-vCUBE-384, I-vCUBE-576, I-vCUBE-768, and I-vCUBE-1152 maximum Virtual Machines. These models are based on proven technical assumptions which can be configured differently for any organization. To be able to monitor the entire stack including storage through the application Akorri BalancePoint has been included.
The concept behind the D.a.a.S. vCube is to enable an organization with a complete datacenter solutions platform that is based upon the ability to deliver VMware Virtual Desktops to all end-users in the organization. To be able to do this the vCube incorporates the ability to provision EMC storage via multiple protocols while connecting everything with a robust multi-Gigabit network enhancing all advanced features of the vCube. Additionally, the vCube has built-in monitoring and backup capabilities in one, two, or three rack configurations. The D.a.a.S. vCube comes in multiple size configurations based on the number of maximum supported Virtual Desktops. The D.a.a.S. vCube models are D-vCUBE-256, D-vCUBE-512, D-vCUBE-1024, D-vCUBE-2048, D-vCUBE-3072, and D-vCUBE-6144 maximum Virtual Desktops. These models are based on proven technical assumptions which can be configured differently for any organization. To be able to monitor the entire stack including storage through the application LiquidWare Labs has been included.
Alongside the Virtual desktop component the D.a.a.S. vCube includes VMware’s ThinApp for Application Virtualization. Through the use of ThinApp, ICI will help clients optimize their desktop infrastructure management by installing and updating their desktop applications from a centralized repository.
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