The promise of converged infrastructure (CI) — and these systems’ key selling point — is simplicity. Dell EMC says its latest CI systems, combining its storage arrays with Cisco compute, further simplify IT infrastructure by offering pooled resources and greater scalability.

Converged infrastructure is typically a large, rack-scale platform that combines compute, storage, and networking into a pre-integrated, turnkey product.

The new Dell EMC CI product, VxBlock System 1000, is a packaged system, which means companies can manage compute and storage in the same stack. And it allows customers to mix and match compute and storage options, giving them more choices of Dell EMC storage arrays and Cisco compute and networking products, compared to earlier versions.

The latest generation allows customers to mix four types of storage arrays: Dell EMC Unity, VMAX, XtremIO, and Isilon. Additionally, companies can now choose Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers, in addition to Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers, and a broad range of Dell EMC data protection products all in one system.

“On the Dell EMC side, we’ve offered the entire Dell EMC storage portfolio,” said Trey Layton, senior vice president, engineering, Dell EMC Converged. “VxBlock is about selling a transformational Dell EMC storage experience into the Cisco UCS ecosystem with very intimate integrations into VMware for virtualization. So we’ve doubled that flexibility dramatically.”

Compared to previous generations, the VxBlock 1000 increases server scalability by 56 percent, from 512 to 800 servers, and now supports up to 10 storage arrays, the company claims.

Additionally, these systems pool resources in a single system, allowing customers to allocate and re-allocate pooled compute, storage, and data protection resources to specific applications. This allows companies to adjust resources as workload requirements change, and it simplifies infrastructure management.

Pooling resources also increases data center efficiency. According to an ESG review of Dell EMC’s new CI, it prevents stranded capacity and increases return on investment while reducing rack space by up to 60 percent.