Avnet Plans To Integrate Hyper-Convergence Solutions Using Cisco UCS, SimpliVity

Avnet said Monday it's working with Cisco Systems and startup SimpliVity to deliver fully-configured hyper-converged infrastructure solutions with the vendors' technology to U.S.-based solution providers.

Avnet will integrate solutions consisting of SimpliVity's OmniStack hyper-converged infrastructure software on Cisco's UCS servers.

The Phoenix-based distributor also plans to start integrating SimpliVity's hyper-converged infrastructure solutions with Cisco servers.

[Related: 23 Powerful Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Products]

The solutions, which are scheduled to be available Aug. 1, will be based on one of three primary pre-validated configurations, said Cheryl Neal, vice president of Avnet’s data and networking business in the Americas.

Channel partners can also control certain parts of the configuration such as memory, giving them a palette of about 50 different possibilities, Neal told CRN.

Cisco and SimpliVity have been working together since 2014 on jointly developing and selling hyper-converged infrastructure solutions, combining SimpliVity's software stack and proprietary hardware card and Cisco UCS servers. Sales via the Cisco platform have since become a major part of SimpliVity's business.

Avnet's relationship with SimpliVity focuses exclusively on the Cisco UCS platform, Neal said. "Avnet will be a single source for partners working with Cisco and SimpliVity," she said. "We are leveraging our relationships to get the solutions integrated faster and shipped complete from Avnet."

The pre-validated solutions were designed by SimpliVity based on application requirements and number of users, Neal said. "Partners can change things like memory as long as the changes are within the parameters of the pre-validated configuration," she said.

Avnet has been configuring converged infrastructure solutions such as VCE Vblocks for some time, and is qualified to configure the joint Cisco-SimpliVity solutions, said Jamie Shepard, senior vice president for health care and strategy at Lumenate, a Dallas-based solution provider that works with all three companies.

Avnet has a history of configuring solutions for solution providers and providing the support its partners need, Shepard told CRN
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"Avnet is not just selling components," Shepard said. "The company has configuration teams that understand the solutions. They've been integrating our solutions for a long time, and are the only company to configure VCE Vblocks outside of VCE."

Partners depend on Avnet's ability to integrate SimpliVity OmniStack solutions with Cisco because they trust Avnet to do it right, Shepard said. "My engineers are afraid to integrate these solutions," he said. "They are concerned about having the right parts, and the right ports."