HyperConverged

Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is a data center approach that combines compute, storage, and often networking into a single, software-defined system. In an HCI deployment, a cluster of industry-standard servers runs a unified software layer that virtualizes and centrally manages these resources. Storage is distributed across all nodes, avoiding external SANs or separate storage networks, and a common management plane handles provisioning, monitoring, and upgrades.

An HCI stack typically includes a hypervisor, a software-defined storage (SDS) layer, and a centralized management interface. Networking can be software-defined as well, enabling policies for connectivity and security. The architecture is designed to be scale-out: adding more nodes increases both capacity and performance, with data automatically rebalanced across the cluster. Data protection is achieved through replication or erasure coding within the cluster, providing redundancy and resilience.

Since its emergence in the early 2010s, HCI has evolved from a niche consolidation concept into mainstream infrastructure for virtualized workloads and private clouds. Notable offerings have driven market adoption, including Nutanix and VMware vSAN, along with vendor-integrated solutions from Dell EMC, HPE, and Cisco. HCI is commonly used for virtual desktop infrastructure, private cloud deployments, edge computing, and disaster recovery for smaller to mid-sized environments, offering simplified management and faster deployment compared with traditional multi-component architectures.

Key considerations when adopting HCI include potential vendor lock-in, licensing models, hardware compatibility, network requirements, and the need for robust data protection and backup strategies. While well suited to many workloads, performance and cost models should be evaluated against specific use cases and growth plans.