A big business can have lots of small offices, each needing information technology services. Providing the IT support they need effectively without maintaining an on-site presence in each location is challenging. Using hyperconverged infrastructure can help the IT team ensure each location has the technology it needs without being overwhelmed by the number of sites supported.
Remote Office IT Challenges
You can try to meet the IT needs of remote offices by installing servers at each site, but that only addresses the issue of capacity. Making sure IT runs smoothly at remote and branch locations also requires addressing these issues:
- High availability. Preventing downtime is especially important at a remote site where you don’t have tech support immediately available to respond to any problems.
- Performance. You’ll need the ability to easily expand capacity at the site to handle any additional demand and ensure users get good performance. Network performance at truly remote sites may be inconsistent.
- Backups. Monitoring backups doesn’t get major attention in a data center and remote site are even less likely to have the resources and skills to respond to a problem. If backups need to be used to recover a system, a remote office may not have the skills to manage the process.
- Support. Many remote offices don’t have technical staff on site. Support is provided remotely and there can be extended delays if resolving a problem requires an onsite presence.
The more remote sites a business has, the more the problems mount up.
Hyperconverged Infrastructure Reduces Remote Office Challenges
Cloud offers a potential solution for many of the remote office challenges, but for businesses that are reluctant to have data and processing controlled by a third party, using hyperconverged infrastructure instead of conventional servers and storage devices can alleviate the problems of managing infrastructure at a remote location. With predefined configurations of servers and storage that are designed to be easily extensible with low-cost standardized components, they simplify management and support.
- Compact. Hyperconverged systems tend to be compact compared to traditional systems, so they fit well in a small branch office that’s small in physical space as well as headcount.
- Highly available. Hyperconverged infrastructure is build around clusters of nodes, with built-in replication, redundancy, and automatic recovery when a component fails.
- Built-in backup. Data protection, backup, and disaster recovery are integrated into many hyperconverged platforms.
- Easy support. The standardization of hyperconverged systems makes support straightforward. Because servers and storage come from the same vendor, there’s only one call to make when support is needed. Dashboards and management tools support remote monitoring and operations, allowing remote sites to be supported by centralized staff.
Managed Hyperconverged Infrastructure Provides a Complete Solution
Managed Nutanix services from dcVAST make using hyperconverged infrastructure even more straightforward. Your hyperconverged solution will be supported 24×7 by the experts at dcVAST, ensuring remote sites receive the highest level of support. Contact us to learn how using hyperconverged infrastructure can standardize and simplify delivering IT to every location, no matter how remote.
