If you’re headed to Cisco Live (and even if you’re not), discover how the new Citrix Ready-validated StorMagic and Cisco workspace appliance is helping companies compete at the edge… without compromising experience.
Edge computing environments often pose a unique challenge for the demands of VDI workloads. That’s because, while a robust infrastructure at each branch is necessary, it can often translate into a costly and complicated deployment. But, if you compromise on your infrastructure, odds are strong you’ll see related performance issues.
In an earlier blog post, I announced that StorMagic was joining the Citrix Ready HCI Workspace Appliance Program. Today, I’d like to talk about how this solution solves these issues and what we will be showcasing at Cisco Live, June 10-14, in Orlando, Florida.
For the past few months, we’ve been working with StorMagic and Cisco to address these specific challenges in a cost-effective manner, while providing a simple and efficient solution. I am delighted to announce that our partnership with StorMagic has produced a validated Citrix Ready solution that leverages a direct connection between Citrix Cloud and any user location. This enables the IT architect to quickly and easily deploy and manage the applications, desktops, and devices needed for edge computing environments. At deployment, the download and configuration of the Citrix Cloud Connector is automated through the StorMagic Workspace Appliance Connector Wizard, providing an efficient, stress-free implementation.
Things get a lot more interesting when we bring in Cisco UCS E-Series blade servers for an all-in-one hybrid cloud offering. This collaboration has led to the creation of a complete appliance designed specifically for VDI environments at the edge. StorMagic and Cisco have validated Citrix Cloud workloads on Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000s) with UCS E-Series blade servers in a 2U footprint. This makes it possible for organizations to easily obtain and deploy a complete solution that is uniquely suited for remote or branch sites requiring virtualized user desktops and/or remote access management capabilities to run on a hybrid cloud instead of in a corporate datacenter.
Another critical requirement for organizations running VDI workloads at the edge is uptime. With SvSAN delivering active-active mirroring between nodes, the Citrix workloads at each location benefit from high availability without requiring significant investment in additional hardware due to SvSAN’s light footprint. Most hyperconverged solutions on the market require a minimum of three nodes in order to achieve high availability; StorMagic requires only two. With their remote witness technology, up to 1,000 sites can be managed from one virtual server running anywhere in the world.
In addition, multi-site organizations can gain the benefits of an on-site hyperconverged solution, all contained within a highly availability ISR 4000 Branch Router from Cisco. This 2U device has the power to provide all the networking, server, and storage requirements for a remote site or branch office. This can save a substantial amount in hardware, software, and maintenance costs by simplifying the configuration and eliminating the need for external, physical SANs at each location.
Stop by the Citrix (#2107) or StorMagic (#1937) booths at Cisco Live to learn more!
