Blue is the colour, hyper-converged is the game

EMC has launched the EMC® VSPEX® BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance that delivers compute, storage, networking and management powered by VMware EVO:RAIL and EMC software. The VSPEX BLUE hyper- converged infrastructure appliance enables customers to go from power on to provisioning virtual machines in under 15 minutes, offering impressive time to value when compared to other hyper-converged infrastructure offerings. The VSPEX BLUE scale-out infrastructure provides customers the ability to meet users’ changing demands at the speed of business and freedom from the burden of advanced IT forecasting.

Well suited for mid-market customers, VSPEX BLUE comprises common modular building blocks offering customers seamless linear scalability from one to four 2U/4-nodes. VSPEX BLUE is ideal for infrastructure consolidations, virtual desktops in large remote or branch offices and managed service providers.

The VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance simplifies IT configuration, management, and maintenance. EMC is delivering an integrated management experience for VSPEX BLUE customers. The VSPEX BLUE Manager extends the capabilities of the native EVO:RAIL Deployment, Configuration and Management (DCM) Engine, delivering a built-in support experience and Market providing customers access to select software titles and solutions from an EMC interface that leverages VMware EVO:RAIL’s clean and intuitive design principles.

VSPEX BLUE Manager
With the VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, EMC continues to break new ground, offering for the first time a one-stop Market to download value-added software, from EMC and EMC ecosystem partners to quickly and easily meet ever-changing business demands.

The EMC VSPEX BLUE Manager provides a seamless and harmonious end user experience that embodies the simplicity and ease-of-use functionality VMware EVO:RAIL customers expect. From the VSPEX BLUE Manager, users can conveniently access electronic services, such as EMC knowledge base articles, access a wealth of community sourced online and real time information and familiarize themselves with EMC best practices for optimal appliance operations. The VSPEX BLUE Manager also simplifies IT management by delivering patch and software update notification that can be installed automatically without interruption or downtime so that the appliance software is always up-to-date.

VSPEX BLUE Market
Within the VSPEX BLUE Manager EMC has added VSPEX BLUE Market store. The Market provides customer access to trusted solutions and technologies that are developed by EMC and technology partners that are pre-validated for the VSPEX BLUE appliance and then made available to download. In the first release of the Market, EMC has included download access to business continuity with EMC RecoverPoint® for Virtual Machines, VMware vSphere® Data Protection™ Advanced providing disk based de-duplicated backup and recovery that is optimized for virtual environments, and access to virtually unlimited hybrid cloud storage via the EMC CloudArray® Gateway.

EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS)
The EMC VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance also provides EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) that is built into the interface and provides end-to-end, consistent support via chat, community or phone with a single point of accountability for all hardware and software. With ESRS, EMC can periodically monitor the EMC VSPEX BLUE appliance and will be notified of failure enabling support to take preventative measures to help avoid downtime. When coupled with ESRS, EMC 24x7 Support is incredibly simple. All appliance issues regardless of whether they are hardware or software are handled by EMC.

Partner Ecosystem
EMC will focus initially on a select group of world-class EMC Business Partner Program distributors for the EMC VSPEX BLUE appliance including Arrow, Avnet, Networld, TD Azlan and Tech Data. Initial distribution partners have an established global reach, required manufacturing capabilities, and the necessary international certifications and capabilities.