UPDATED 22:00 EDT / APRIL 11 2012

NEWS

Convergence is a Gold Mine But the Riches are in the Platform

We’re about two years into a new time for the enterprise. This week it feels like we have reached a turning point that will define the next generation of infrastructure and platforms.

I spent the day at VMware, talking with the community who were there to celebrate Cloud Foundry’s one-year anniversary. The discussion reflects how the platform as a service (PaaS) movement will come to dominate infrastructure-as-a-service( IaaS) in the years ahead.

It’s this relationship that we often overlook. We see PaaS as one thing and IaaS as another. What they really have is a symbiotic relationship will come to define how customers serve their end users, build apps and make it all work to maximize data as best as possible.

Let’s start with a look at the microprocessor market. Last month, Intel introduced the Romley processor. It brings storage and server technology together. That integration validates this idea of a converged infrastructure. It shows that we no longer need to separate the two. The data flow dictates that storage has to be close to the server. The other aspect is the networking. Virtualization in a cloud infrastructure requires moving woekloads very easily. Moving physical servers just does not work. The network has to be virtualized to make data distribution possible.

In the morning I will attend an EMC event where the company is expected to move this convergence discussion a bit further with its VSPEX technology. From what I can gather, at its core is the transformation made possible by the Intel Xeon processor.

Oracle, HP, NetApp, IBM, Dell, EMC and Cisco will live or die under the convergence paradigm. Many say those that embrace the channel will prosper. I take another view. The greatest success will come to the convergence vendors that embrace the PaaS model.

My colleague Dave Vellante says convergence represents the next generation mainframe. That’s a correct summary. The role that new mainframe plays comes down to the data that runs on top of it. That data will come from PaaS providers and Data-as-a-Servie (DaaS) providers that will feed into IaaS environments.

The new IaaS is a real threat to the channel. They have been winning big deals for years selling storage and networking. Simplifying it all means over time that business becomes less meaningful.

Instead. the channel should be thinking more about how they can move higher up the stack. The best margins are in app development and arguably the integration of PaaS into IaaS.

We are at a turning point. Convergence is upon us. Differentiation will come to the vendor that offers the most to the channel. That means giving them the business to help customers scale down their data centers or even build smaller, more efficient infrastructures that have the latest and greatest converged systems.

But I think it means something even more. Give the channel the IaaS riches but also teach them the ways of the PaaS. Who does that best will be the greatest winner of them all.


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