Nutanix + Cyxtera Partner to Offer Compute On-Demand

Rodney Foreman and Cyxtera Technologies • April 23, 2018 • 4 minute read

Hybrid IT, Colocation, Marketplace in Data Centers

There are many situations where colocation is preferable to running applications in the public cloud. This is frequently the case in regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services as well as in public sector, manufacturing, and retail. No matter what industry you’re in, there are plenty of reasons you might need full control over infrastructure and data.

Unfortunately, planning, procuring, and deploying new infrastructure can be a time-consuming process. It can take 3-6 months and eat up significant staff time and capital. To address these challenges, Nutanix and Cyxtera Technologies have joined forces to offer access to the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud on-demand, enabling you to deploy infrastructure quickly as you need it without giving up control.

Cyxtera is a leading global provider of colocation services with a diverse and distributed footprint of 50+ world-class data centers comprising over 2.6 million sq. ft. of data center space designed to handle the most demanding global workloads. Cyxtera is reinventing data center services with a suite of solutions that combine software-powered, on-demand availability and integrated cybersecurity capabilities.

As the leading provider of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and enterprise cloud solutions, Nutanix is uniquely positioned to provide the computing and storage needed for colocation on demand. A Nutanix X-Powered offering called Cyxtera’s CXD Compute Nodes offering is the result of collaboration.

The Nutanix architecture is optimized to support a wide variety of workloads—from VDI, to private cloud, to mission-critical enterprise applications—without the cumbersome management and constant performance tuning required with a traditional infrastructure stack. With hyperconverged Nutanix solutions integrated into Cyxtera’s on demand datacenter services, you can get access to Nutanix technology without having to purchase infrastructure.

As the newest addition to the growing lineup of Nutanix X-Powered© Service Providers, Cyxtera and its “Cyxtera CXD Compute Nodes offering” is well-positioned to help solve your infrastructure challenges. CXD Compute Nodes delivers benefits that include:

• Increased business agility and flexibility. Respond faster than ever to new requirements and react rapidly to business changes by eliminating the need to plan, procure, install, and deploy new infrastructure.
• Agile operations. Take advantage of on-demand deployment and consumption, speed time to market and run “headless” datacenter operations. The agile and simplified infrastructure management avoids the risks and loss of control associated with public cloud platforms.
• OpEx instead of CapEx. Eliminate the complexities of procurement, logistics, and capital equipment management with an OpEx model for infrastructure deployment.
• Continuous innovation. X-Powered infrastructure eliminates the need for planned downtime, so your operations don’t have to be designed around your service provider’s maintenance schedule. You benefit from immediate access to the latest Nutanix features and enhancements, improving performance and availability.

Cyxtera CXD Compute Nodes

Compute Nodes are a cornerstone of the Cyxtera Extensible Data Center platform (CXD), speeding time to market while lowering dedicated IT infrastructure costs 25-50 percent. Cyxtera is collaborating with Nutanix for hyperconverged CXD Compute Nodes for several reasons:

• Nutanix is a leader per the Gartner 2018 Magic Quadrant for Hyperconverged Infrastructure
• Nutanix solutions offer both performance and efficiency
• Nutanix provides automated provisioning and lifecycle management capabilities
• Unlike most other offerings, Nutanix is hypervisor agnostic providing great flexibility
• Nutanix shares Cyxtera’s commitment to infrastructure security and meshes well with other elements of the CXD platform

In addition to Nutanix HCI, CXD Compute Nodes provide:

• Dedicated physical infrastructure isolation to satisfy stringent regulatory requirements
• Intra-datacenter and metro SDN fabric allowing for seamless interconnection between colocation infrastructure and CXD Compute Nodes
• Physical infrastructure management services, eliminating the need for customers to send operations personnel to the datacenter
• Access to CXD Marketplace, providing diverse network connectivity from tier-1 network carriers and direct connect to public cloud infrastructure from SD-WAN providers

Cyxtera’s CXD Compute Nodes solution greatly simplifies the process of standing up new infrastructure. There’s a three-node minimum to start. After that you can add and remove nodes as needed. This is a great way to get fast access to Nutanix technology, with full control over the platform so you can install the hypervisor you prefer, provision VMs, and run your applications. Extend your existing colocation infrastructure, build distributed private clouds, or rapidly expand your public cloud business into new markets.

Everything running on the hardware is completely under your control, but with significant advantages over owning the infrastructure yourself. Cyxtera and Nutanix provide the “plumbing”; you control everything else. You never have to send anyone onsite; datacenter management tasks are eliminated, and power, space, and cooling are all included. The CXD platform provides a wide range of networking options to ensure you achieve the security your business requires.

For example, if you’re an enterprise customer you can start small, maybe only deploying a single application on your preferred hypervisor. Once you’re satisfied that CXD Compute Nodes deliver the performance, availability and connectivity you need, you can add workloads to the cluster, all for a single monthly fee. You can continue to grow your cluster(s) by adding additional nodes as needed and pay for them only once they are deployed.

Learn more about CXD Compute Node

If on demand data center services sound like a good fit for your infrastructure needs, you can find out more about the solution by visiting cyxtera.com/datacenter-services/cxd-compute-nodes

Views and opinions expressed in our blog posts are those of the employees who made them and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Company. A reader should not unduly rely on any statements made therein.