IBM's Fusion HCI offering is a purpose-built appliance combining compute, networking and an integrated storage system that provides a turnkey hybrid cloud data platform that facilitates rapid AI deployment. IBM has announced a significant new option for customers when configuring the hardware of a Fusion HCI System. In addition to the existing Lenovo server option, customers can now choose to build their Fusion HCI systems using Dell servers. This is a great option for customers who are existing Dell server customers, as well as customers who have regulatory requirements that restrict server hardware options.
The primary building blocks of a Fusion HCI System are the servers that provide the storage and compute resources. The Dell servers available for the Fusion HCI cluster are PowerEdge R660XL servers. These Dell servers can optionally include up to ten NVMe drives to create the storage cluster within the Fusion HCI system. Depending on the required capacity, 3.84TB and 7.68TB NVMe drives are available. Each Dell server comes with a pair of hot-swappable drives to house the OS.
Existing Dell customers looking for an easy-to-deploy, fully supported solution for a container-native hybrid cloud data platform should take the time to see how WWT and IBM Fusion HCI can help.