SMB consumption propels sales of integrated data center solutions

Integrated packages of servers, storage and networking along with services make sense for SMBs writes Akhtar Pasha

Faced with the continued commoditization of servers, IT vendors have moved toward highly integrated unified compute platforms—a combo offering of blades/rack integrated with storage, networking and backup solutions at a price point of less than Rs. 5 lakhs which would include one or two blade servers, basic storage (IP SAN/NAS) with DAT drives, Ethernet ports and a choice of server OS.

Vendors tried something similar a few years ago with the launch of modular ‘data center in a box’ products without much success. This time, they are focusing on creating data center infrastructure for SMBs.

Building blocks for converged IT

Integrated systems are highly scalable, and they include computing, storage and networking systems, as well as business services management, automated orchestration and provisioning capabilities, even virtualization in some cases.

Leo Joseph, Vice President– Systems x, STG, IBM India/SA, explained, “We have seen significant traction for our Blade Center S (BCS) for an integrated packaged solution blade with storage and networking bundled into one during CY 2009 in the SMB space. We sold as many as 170 BCS solutions, which indicates a very high level of adoption.” Bharathi Cements is using BCS integrated with networked storage for 150 desktops across Cuddappa, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Viswa Infrastructure Solution is using IBM BCS to support Microsoft Dynamics and this gives it a single console for complete IT management across servers, storage and networking.

Prakash Krishnamoorthy, Business Manager, Storage Works Division, HP India, added, “We have seen a quantum leap in the number of engagements for integrated offerings with SMBs in the last eight months.”

Certified solutions for swift deployment

When it comes to buying servers and storage, SMBs lack the technical know-how to evaluate products and plan capacities in order to sustain growth. “Since most SMBs are proprietor run, they find it difficult to right size their IT requirement—servers, configuring NAS/SAN devices for higher uptime (RAID/Clustering) and recovery time/response time required for backup and failover. Many SMBs have started asking questions about server virtualization within the same box,” said Rajesh Dhar, Country Manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP India.

Additionally some SMBs have started separating their storage and servers and networks so that they can plan consolidation and virtualization and improve hardware utilization.

Krishnamoorthy said that an SMB would get a panic attack if it were to plan the server capacity for its business, which means that it would need to choose the best compute technology. Configuring storage (with RAID 0,1,5 capability), choosing best memory technologies, tapes and DAT drives and switches, each offered from multiple vendors can be quite a daunting task. “With an integrated offering, SMBs get a converged IT infrastructure at an aggressive price point ranging from Rs. 10-25 lakhs. Secondly, instead of dealing with multiple vendors for licenses and AMCs etc., SMBs have to deal with just one vendor for compute, storage, interconnects and networking with integrated solutions. Thirdly, SMBs get a better bargain in exchange with a price that is 8-15% lower in the case of integrated offerings.”

Vendor commitment is high

Dhar explained that earlier HP used to sell the TCO factor to enterprises. However, starting with H1 2009, it introduced products that were flexible to deploy, cut deployment time and this allowed it to move closer to customers by bundling products, eliminating inefficiencies in the supply chain and sizing the infrastructure. “There were lots of inefficiencies built into the vendor-partner-SMB customer chain as there is a third party involved which slows down the speed of deployment and increases overhead costs. A local SI has a cost element that gets tied to the sticker price of the products that SMBs buy,” said Dhar. The prepackaged solution eliminates all of those supply chain inefficiencies.

Dhar added, “We have built the entire solution stack for a data center and it is preconfigured for companies in various verticals. Since the solution stack is pre-tested and certified by us, it gives confidence to the user and the success percentage is higher for the SMB as it straight away reduces their deployment time.” For example, HP has the BL3000 Series storage blade meant for healthcare and education. Customers get 8-10 blade servers to start with and populate the same with MSA/EVA storage or LeftHand iSCSI storage and networking. They have a choice of platform between x86 (Intel/AMD) and Itanium platforms.

Joseph credits IBM’s BCS success story to its blade champion partners cracking into the SMB market in a big way. These partners carry necessary inventory and demo equipment to the customer’s place. A good chunk of revenues for integrated offerings are coming from retail, trading houses, manufacturing, education and media companies.

IBM BCS is an integrated solution (servers, storage and networking—all in a single 7U chassis) which can be managed using a single console. The SAS based SAN storage provisioned in BCS can be configured in 30 minutes using the Storage Configuration Manager which is bundled free of cost with every BCS.

Some customers are demanding infrastructure that is highly scalable, helps increase utilization and reduces power and cooling bills along with ease of deployment added Joseph.

Arunanghshu Basu, National Server & Alliances Manager, Dell India, said, “The problem lies in SMBs’ poor technical knowledge in right sizing the IT infrastructure (for compute, backup, network storage, networking) required by them. However, with an integrated solution, they get a pre-tested and certified configuration that works from day one with integrated server-storage and services.” Dell has bundling pre-tested applications on x86/Linux platforms that work with software from Microsoft, Red Hat and Oracle. For example, it has come out with a bundle for Microsoft Exchange using blade servers with storage. “This integrated bundled solution can be installed with a step-by-step guide for deployment (through a CD) within a couple of hours with minimum effort and professional help,” added Basu.

Dell took the approach of clubbing services along with an integrated bundle of products. Basu explained, “We bundled six servers (in 1U) with 10-16 TB of IP SAN that was virtualization (VMware) ready. We added our services portfolio and offered a free Health Check wherein customers can measure all the deliverables in six months. Many SMBs are engaging Dell for consulting and setting up their first data center or IT infrastructure.”

Being a pure play storage vendor, NetApp had a different view. According to Surajit Sen, Director–Channels, Marketing & Alliances, NetApp India there is traction for bundled products for creating fresh IT infrastructures by SMBs. Sen said, “We are also witnessing this trend favoring bundled solutions, especially in the education segment.” However, he felt that there was a flip side to the story. He continued, “In combo offerings such as storage being bundled with servers, it does not necessarily mean that the SMB gets a good deal. Customers may lose out on using best of breed solutions and that would mean compromising on performance and scalability. Additionally the perception by SMBs that they get a better deal in the combo offering is untrue. SMBs can get a much better deal if they negotiate storage and servers separately.”

Server vendors are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to lure SMBs for integrated offerings which are helping them garner additional revenues. It has become an instant hit among SMBs who are setting up their IT infrastructure or data center because of aggressive price points and service assurances.

akhtar.pasha@expressindia.com