EMC is confident it can lead the hyperconverged infrastructure space with the release of its VSPEX Blue appliance despite being late to market.
The new appliance which integrates with VMware's EVO: Rail software converged stack, EMC management software and a white-box server is the storage vendor's first foray into a high-growth market which includes Nutanix and Simplivity.
It the result of EMC's new converged infrastructure business unit, which combines the company's VCE and VSPEX soutions.
EMC general manager, business partner sales A/NZ, Chris Trevitt, said the channel-only offering was a major opportunity for partners.
"What's really exciting about the opportunity for our partners is the fact that this area is showing tremendous growth," he said.
"If we look at the converged infrastructure market, we expect it to be $17.8 billion by 2016."
Trevitt said the company expected to take a market leading position with the new offering.
"The main message with this announcement is EMC believes we are going to have the leading platform in hyper converged infrastructure market," he said.
"A channel only approach will provide our partners with the opportunity to sell into new customers.
"I think that's really key for this product and it shows EMC supporting the channel in Australia is incredibly strong."
According to a company statement, the appliance enables customers to go from power on to provisioning virtual machines in under 15 minutes.
Comprised of common modular building blocks, it offers customers seamless linear scalability from one to four 2U/4-nodes and is ideal for infrastructure consolidations, virtual desktops in large remote or branch offices and managed service providers.
It also simplifies IT configuration, management, and maintenance.
While the VSPEX BLUE Manager extends the capabilities of the native EVO:RAIL Deployment, Configuration and Management (DCM) Engine, delivering a built-in support experience and Market providing customers access to select software titles and solutions from an EMC interface that leverages VMware EVO:RAIL’s design principles.
In terms of the channel ecosystem, EMC will focus initially on a select group of EMC Business Partner Program distributors including Arrow, Avnet, Networld, TD Azlan and Tech Data. Avnet has sole distribution rights in Australia.
Initial distribution partners have an established global reach, required manufacturing capabilities, and the necessary international certifications and capabilities.
It is generally available February 17.
ESG analyst, Mark Bowker, said his company's research validates that early adopters of converged infrastructure were achieving benefits associated with improved service and support, ease of management, and an improved total cost of ownership.
"The VSPEX BLUE appliance will help enterprise IT accelerate the strategic imperative of virtualisation/migration to a hybrid Cloud," he said.
"The appliance is a simple, low-risk path to delivering virtualisation, and snaps well into an existing line of EMC solutions.
"It helps reduce TCO, and ensures availability and flexibility so that enterprise IT can achieve infrastructure excellence and connectivity to the cloud.”
EMC senior vice president, global sales, Gregg Ambulos, said EMC’s Business Partner Program is an ecosystem comprised of highly skilled and technical partners.
"Our distribution partners are uniquely qualified to help us address and meet the demands of the rapidly growing converged infrastructure space," he said.
"We are excited bringing the EMC VSPEX BLUE appliance to market solely through this channel, where we can leverage our distributors’ global reach and scale to take this highly differentiated product to market.
"This new approach will provide better growth opportunities for our partners, while continuing to provide innovative, industry-leading solutions to our customers.”
