Is a hyperconverged infrastructure a good fit for your IT environment?

This article is adapted from "Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) - Is It Right for Your IT Environment," by Barbara Holmes, published in Trends in State Courts, 2023.

When considering the replacement of aging information technology (IT) infrastructure, hyperconverged infrastructure may be a good option for large-scale implementations. Courts managing numerous servers and a large network should consider this approach.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Who should read this?

• IT managers & administrators: Understand HCI and how it can simplify and improve operational efficiency
• Cybersecurity officers: Learn how HCI can enhance the court's cybersecurity and disaster recovery posture
• Court operations managers: Learn how HCI can impact court operations and service delivery
• Budget, finance & procurement professionals: Assess the cost-effectiveness and ownership advantages

Why this guidance matters

HCI is a crucial component in the evolution of IT infrastructure, particularly for organizations like courts, which face unique challenges due to outdated systems, budget constraints, and increasing demands for data management and cybersecurity.

Download the Trends in State Courts  article

What is HCI? 

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) is a technology that integrates computing, storage, and networking into a single system designed to improve the efficiency and management of IT infrastructure. It simplifies management by reducing complexity and compatibility issues that arise from using components from multiple vendors. 

Importance of HCI in the modern IT environment

HCI systems allow organizations to scale resources easily by either adding hardware components (scale-up) or additional HCI nodes (scale-out). HCI is particularly beneficial in environments with numerous servers and networks — like courts — because it offers better scalability, performance, and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional IT infrastructures. 

Additionally, HCI underpins the ability to create private and hybrid cloud solutions, providing a flexible approach to managing IT resources while enhancing security and resiliency against cyber threats.

Digital transformation is driving technology to rapidly evolve toward application modernization to be more agile with microservices-based processes. This architectural pattern of evolution drives the need for an infrastructure solution tailor-made for application modernization and inherently supports hybrid cloud deployments.

HCI challenges & considerations

While Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) presents several advantages for courts, it also comes with challenges and considerations that must be carefully evaluated. 

• Large databases: HCI may not be suitable for large databases requiring dedicated storage, as its architecture is primarily designed for horizontal rather than vertical scaling
• Complexity of migration: Courts must also consider the complexity of migrating existing data and applications to an HCI environment; this process can be lengthy and requires thorough planning to avoid disruptions
• Need for training: Integrating new technologies may necessitate training for IT staff
• Research & assessment: Courts should undertake comprehensive research and assessment before committing to HCI solutions, as the competitive HCI vendor landscape can complicate decision-making

Ultimately, a detailed evaluation of the court's specific needs and existing infrastructure will help determine if HCI is the best fit for achieving agility, cost-effectiveness, and improved service delivery.

Conclusion

Replacing infrastructure is never an easy task, and it must be thoughtfully planned and architected. 

In the long term, HCI supports overstretched IT resources that may exist in courts. The interoperability of an HCI implementation provides a more seamless approach to standard upgrades and expansion.

In addition, when properly implemented, HCI provides more flexibility for IT to improve its cybersecurity profile while allowing IT staff to be more responsive to support end users.

HCI breaks down silos and pools resources into a single resource that is easy to manage and control. The more 'invisible' infrastructure can be, the better. HCI extends that invisibility into the storage domain.