45% of IT decision makers reported they don’t understand the value of composable infrastructure.1
Composable infrastructure is being heralded as a new way forward, empowering IT leaders to build extremely flexible pools of computing, storage and fabric resources that can virtually support any type of workload. For developers, composable infrastructure promises the ultimate platform for provisioning infrastructure with a single line of code. But amidst this backdrop of optimism and fanfare, and as is the case with any new infrastructure solution, there is sensitivity about the risks and threats of embracing new technology.
While some concerns are related to the technology itself, others center around economic issues, operational considerations, and even matters of job security. However, when IT leaders dig a little deeper, they’re finding that composable infrastructure can actually deliver improved efficiencies, increased performance and new opportunities that span both development and operational organizations.
This technical brief discusses several misconceptions about composable infrastructure and offers further information and perspective to help IT leaders cut through the confusion and plan for the many benefits of this innovative new approach to enterprise IT infrastructure.
1. IT COSTS LESS TO RUN IN THE CLOUD
Most organizations employ the public cloud to help them save money, and assume that on-premises infrastructure is far more expensive to deploy, provision and maintain. Few businesses calculate all the direct and indirect costs associated with public cloud usage when they make this assumption. These expenses can add up quickly when you consider data transfer fees, unused or orphaned service capacity and the hidden costs of managing and securing cloud workloads and data. In addition, IT leaders sometimes underestimate the savings that can be achieved with composable infrastructure.
Due to its software-defined nature, composable infrastructure enables enterprises to closely and constantly match the needs of their applications with the perfect mix of computing, storage and fabric resources. In addition, its unified management console provides deep insights into the performance and utilization of the overall application ecosystem. These capabilities can significantly reduce costly overprovisioning that occurs in almost all data centers, while enabling intelligence-driven capacity planning for better long-term accuracy.
Composable infrastructure also allows IT organizations to reduce operational inefficiencies through templatedriven, frictionless provisioning and management. With composable infrastructure, templates define how the infrastructure functions while software-defined intelligence automates the process of making any necessary changes. This allows IT teams to deploy, tear down or re-provision infrastructure with a few clicks of a mouse. To further reduce operational friction, composable infrastructure’s powerful APIs enable developers to provision infrastructure for their applications via a single line of code. When weighing the costs of composable infrastructure and the cloud, it is important to consider not only the hardware and software costs, but the operational savings that can be achieved as well.
2. THE DATA CENTER WILL BECOME OVERLY COMPLICATED
For many IT leaders, composable infrastructure conjures up fear and uncertainty about the complexity it will bring. After all, it is a significant departure from today’s static, hardware-centric models, and it certainly will usher in a new era of change in the data center. But both conceptually and practically, composable infrastructure isn’t too big of a leap from the systems that currently power today’s businesses, and any change will be for the better.
Composable infrastructure leverages the same basic principles as today’s data center architectures. Storage, computing, and fabric resources will continue to exist, and they’ll need to be scaled and provisioned to match the needs of the applications they support. Adding capacity in any one of these areas can be simplified tremendously via composable infrastructure’s highly modular nature, and provisioning is about to become a whole lot faster and easier.
With composable infrastructure, IT professionals can add capacity wherever it’s needed by simply sliding new modules into the composable frame. The system intelligently auto-discovers new resources so they are ready for use in minutes. From there, operations professionals can allocate resources to new or changing application needs directly within the management platforms they use today. Additionally, development teams can access the resources they need via APIs within their own tools and templates that govern and simplify the process. And because provisioning takes place purely via software, it can be done without constantly reconfiguring or rewiring racks of equipment.
3. IT FORCES A CHOICE BETWEEN ONPREMISES AND PUBLIC CLOUD
IT leaders sometimes assume adopting composable means choosing a purely on-premises existence. This isn’t the case. Through its unified management capabilities and extensible APIs, composable infrastructure helps companies adopt hybrid IT models that utilize both on-premises legacy applications and public cloud resources to unlock new levels of cost efficiency and flexibility.
With composable infrastructure, IT leaders can view their entire application support environment from a single pane of glass. This allows them to analyze the cost and performance benefits of running workloads on their own infrastructure or in the public cloud, and enables them to move workloads between them as needed. This unlocks also allows IT leaders to choose the right platform for every application based on performance, security and governance requirements. It can allow developers to build well-defined spaces in either the cloud or on-premises to build and test new applications. In short, composable doesn’t create the need to make a choice between on-premises or public cloud-based operations. It allows them to use both in new and innovative ways—ways that make the most sense for the business need.
4. IT JOBS WILL BE ELIMINATED
As is the case with the introduction of any new technology, composable infrastructure will undoubtedly trigger changes within today’s IT organization. Even though it makes it easier to scale, manage and provision resources, it doesn’t mean that IT jobs will be going away.
For members of IT groups, composable infrastructure offers the opportunity to develop new skills and perform more meaningful work. IT professionals will play an increasing role in long range planning and technology/business alignment. They will interact more closely than ever with application teams to facilitate better DevOps workflows and ensure that applications are supported properly. Instead of losing their relevance, IT professionals will be freed from playing catchup to the infrastructure needs of fast-moving development teams, and gain a seat at the table where strategic business and technology decisions are made.
5. EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE OVERNIGHT
Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions surrounding composable infrastructure is that it will create an instant, fundamental shift in how the data center operates. For both development and operations teams, this can be a frightening thought. The journey to a fully composable data center can actually be made by taking multiple small steps.
Today’s leading composable infrastructure platforms are an extension of the storage, server and fabric product lines many vendors offer today, and they work side-by-side with those that have already been deployed. This gives IT leaders a choice between implementing composable capabilities across their data center on day one, or conducting smallscale trials with select applications and/or office locations.
Organizations can also choose to implement composable capabilities on a feature-by-feature basis. For example, operations teams might decide to provision infrastructure themselves via software for a time, before allowing development teams to self-provision via their own management tools or within their application code. This ability to phase in composable infrastructure’s advanced capabilities means that every organization can make the journey at its own pace.
CONCLUSION
Composable infrastructure signals the start of a new era for IT and development professionals, one that takes cost-efficiency, flexibility, and simplicity to new heights. As with any major technology shift, this new software-defined approach to application infrastructure brings with it a certain degree of skepticism, uncertainty, and misconception. While it might seem as though composable infrastructure is about to throw today’s data centers into a state of complete chaos, its thoughtful implementation guided by your strategic IT services partner, will actually make the process a seamless one.
By researching the misconceptions of composable infrastructure and arming themselves with the right information, IT leaders can begin moving past the risks and begin thinking about the opportunities it brings. Once they do, they are bound to realize that composable infrastructure is well worth the journey.
Sources:
1. IDG Research commissioned by WEI, June 20, 2017.
