Data Center Strategies for the CIO
Converged infrastructure is an approach to managing a modular data center that relies on a specific vendor and the vendor’s partners to provide pre-configured bundles of hardware and software. Converged infrastructure is sometimes called “infrastructure in a box” or less charitably, “vendor lock-in.”
Cisco Systems' Unified Computing System, a virtualization hardware offering that combines Cisco servers and networking with VMware vSphere and EMC storage, is often cited as an example of a converged infrastructure.
The goal of a converged infrastructure is to simplify data center setup and management by minimizing compatibility issues. While the approach is well-suited for new data centers, it may not be as useful for established data centers that have invested in products or technologies that are not part of a vendor's bundled package.