Nutanix adds auto-scale capability to compute-and-storage cluster platform

Nutanix has updated its datacentre cluster platform with more powerful hardware and version 3.0 of its operating system, introducing the ability to automatically scale as extra blocks are added to the system, new disaster recovery options, and support for the KVM hypervisor.

The Nutanix platform was launched in Europe earlier this year and is designed to deliver a more flexible datacentre infrastructure by using tiered storage attached directly to each compute node, all tied together by the Nutanix operating system (NOS).

Now, the firm has announced new NX-3000 series nodes with more compute cores thanks to Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon chips, plus double the built-in PCI Express Flash storage which forms the top tier storage tier. The NX-3000 also gains a second 10Gbit/s Ethernet port, but keeps the 2U form factor of the existing kit.

Nutanix is also set to let customers choose whether they want nodes with greater compute capacity or greater storage capacity, depending on their requirements.

However, it is the NOS 3.0 software where most of the key new features have been added, including Dynamic Cluster Expansion, adaptive data compression that minimises processing overhead, and flexible disaster recovery support based on customer priorities.

"We really believe that this announcement solidifies or extends our market leadership position in the converged infrastructure market," Nutanix vice president of marketing Howard Ting told V3.

Dynamic Cluster Expansion means that customers can scale their infrastructure up by simply connecting extra Nutanix blocks, and the NOS platform will automatically detect them and make their resources available to the rest of the infrastructure, according to Ting.

This will help firms avoid the trap of stalled deployments for projects like virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which get stuck at the pilot phase because of the problems of scaling up after a successful trial.

"What normally would take days to weeks to rebuild the infrastructure, we can do it all dynamically, on-the-fly, and with no downtime," Ting claimed.

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• Topics
• Datacentre
• Operating Systems
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• Virtualisation
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