In-line with the SANs arrived the convergence of compute, storage, and networking on a pre-qualified turnkey appliance known as Converged Infrastructure (CI). It was known as, “data center in a box” and simplified all aspects of IT by seamlessly integrating all the system, network, storage, data protection and cloud management technologies into one engineered system. The deployment process was shortened with vendor validated solutions that reduced the time required to develop applications with trusted infrastructure and a single source of support.
Converged architecture contained a hardware-focused, building-block approach as the components were assembled on a siloed architecture sourced by multiple vendors. The configurations which were validated and delivered were rigid and had less room for hardware choices and incrementing resources later. Simplifying management of devices, automation, and Life Cycle Management (LCM) was quite a challenge. The progression towards improvising arose in the next generation of CIs known as HCIs.