It was announced today in a press release by Gridstore that they have been approved into the Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track Program. This is a major step forward by the industry towards accepting HyperConverged Technologies.

Below is a sample illustration of a 6-node HyperCoverged Appliance from Gridstore. This configuration can come with over 100 TB of usable SSD Flash Disk.

It is amazing to see how far things have come.

D.

See below for the Press Release from today:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — (Marketwired) — 07/14/15 — Gridstore®, a leader in hyper-converged all flash infrastructure for the Microsoft Cloud-Inspired Data Center today announced certification of the Gridstore HyperConverged Systems in the Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track program. This program ensures that the Gridstore systems meet all of the specifications for delivering a Windows and Hyper-V based private cloud solution for the data center. Gridstore has also announced immediate availability of two higher density flash options that pack 96 2.9GHz cores of compute and 92TB of SSD storage into a 2U package. Gridstore now provides a range of All-Flash HyperConverged solutions to meet both Tier 1 and Tier 2 computing needs — while using the economics of hyper convergence to make the All-Flash datacenter a reality.

The Gridstore HCI is one of the only HyperConverged solutions delivered solely for the Windows platform, allowing it to take full advantage of bare metal performance, integration with the Windows operating system and application stack, and now Fast Track certification. All Gridstore systems use Windows Server 2012 R2, Hyper-V, and integrate with System Center and Windows Azure Pack, and have been validated by Microsoft for the Private Cloud Fast Track program. The Gridstore HCI is easier to manage than traditional or converged infrastructures, takes less physical space and power thus reducing overall TCO. Now with a cost effective All-Flash solution, the system delivers the performance necessary to meet the range of application needs while allowing incremental growth from just 3 nodes to hundreds.

The Gridstore High Density All-Flash HyperConverged Infrastructure delivers the following advantages over traditional converged infrastructures:*

  • 75% smaller data center footprint to run the same number of VMs
  • 6X faster VMs with All-Flash compared to Hybrid-storage architectures
  • 65% lower cost VMs
  • 73% lower energy consumption

*“All-Flash HyperConverged Infrastructure Transforms Data Center Footprint and Economics”

By offering a range of SSDs in both capacity and performance, Gridstore can deliver a solution that meets the price / performance requirements for any of the Tier 1 or Tier 2 application needs in the data center. Starting with a high performance 960GB SSD for the demanding Tier 1 applications and growing to either a 1.92TB or 3.84TB SSD for the Tier 2 solutions, an organization can build a variety of solutions for Databases, to VDI, general purpose infrastructure, and remote / branch office systems. Coupled with choosing the right CPU to deliver the compute performance and density, Gridstore delivers an All-Flash HyperConverged Infrastructure for the next generation data center.

Private Cloud Fast Track is a collaborative effort between Microsoft and its hardware partners to deliver validated, pre-configured solutions that reduce the complexity and risk of implementing a private cloud based on Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center. The Fast Track program provides flexibility and choice of solutions.

“Making infrastructure simpler but still powerful is a core promise of our HyperConverged Infrastructure,” said George Symons, CEO, Gridstore. “The Private Cloud Fast Track program validates our approach to provide customers one of the highest performance, lowest cost and most flexible solution for their Microsoft-centric data center.”

“We’re happy to have Gridstore as part of the Private Cloud Fast Track Program,” said VijayTewari, Principle Group Program Manager for Private Cloud Solutions, Microsoft. “As one of the only all-flash hyper-converged systems purpose-built for Hyper-V, it shows the commitment Gridstore has for helping our joint customers transform their datacenters for today’s cloud-first world.”

“Datacenter density has become a critical buying criteria for many enterprises and service providers. Reducing the datacenter footprint by 4X while driving down the cost per VM by 65% and the energy to power those VMs by 73% is a massive TCO savings. And what is truly outstanding is when you factor in that these VMs are running 5-6X faster.” Kelly Murphy, Co-Founder and CTO. “When it comes to Private Cloud infrastructure — Gridstore clearly demonstrates the economic advantages of All-Flash HyperConverged over traditional converged infrastructures.”