IBM Storge Fusion HCI is hyperconverged storage for containerized workloads running on the Red Hat OpenShift platform. The product was originally launched in late 2021 as IBM Spectrum Fusion HCI but renamed in 2023 when IBM removed the Spectrum brand from its storage software.
Like other hyperconverged infrastructure products, Storage Fusion HCI combines storage, compute and networking into a common x86 hardware infrastructure. But Storage Fusion HCI is different from most traditional hyperconverged infrastructure products because it was developed more with a focus on containerized workloads rather than virtual machines. Instead of a VMware virtual machine hypervisor, Storage Fusion supports OpenShift Virtualization and runs OpenShift on bare metal using the Red Hat CoreOS (RHCOS) operating system.
Another difference of Storage Fusion HCI is that it is file-based storage instead of block-based storage used by most HCI products
The HCI product is one of two versions of IBM Storage Fusion. IBM also sells Storage Fusion (formerly Spectrum Fusion) software-defined storage software. While Storage Fusion HCI ships as a turnkey appliance running on x86 servers, Storage Fusion SDS supports IBM Power servers or a range of x86 hardware appliances from IBM partners.
There are other difference between the Storage Fusion HCI and Storage Fusion SDS product besides HCI shipping on an appliance. IBM Storage Fusion HCI includes containerized versions of IBM’s Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition (ECE) and IBM Storage Protect Plus data protection software, plus IBM Storage Fusion Management software. It natively integrates with IBM Cloud Satellite and Red Hat ACM (Advanced Cluster Management).
IBM Storage Fusion HCI Product Review Includes:
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