HPE Takes On VMware With AI-Powered HCI

The next phase of software-defined infrastructure is artificial intelligence (AI) powered hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), according to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). And to this end, the vendor announced it started shipping its HCI product SimpliVity with Infosight, its AI-management tool, as well as one-click cluster upgrades and integration with its data protection software StoreOnce. “HCI already represents simplicity for the VM [virtual machine] administrator,” said David Wang, director of product marketing for storage at HPE. “You’re going to have faster time to market, you’re going to have easier management because you’re eliminating silos. But HCI hasn’t solved that problem of day two and beyond.” HCI improves resource efficiency by scaling compute and storage. But it still requires VM admins to react to unexpected disruptions and application delays, and also to make tradeoffs between efficiency and performance or resiliency and capacity as they scale their environments, he explained.