Full-stack HCI software provides a complete software solution that includes virtualized compute, storage and networking from a single instantiation designed to run on-premises or in a colocation environment. This market consists of those vendors that develop and sell hyperconverged infrastructure software that comprises the vendor’s own server virtualization, software-defined storage and network management tools. The full-stack software solution may also be integrated with a hardware stack as a complete offering spanning both software and hardware. In the last year, the full-stack HCI market has been heavily influenced by the positioning of storage virtualization and private cloud infrastructure looking to revirtualize compute, as well as considering alternatives to incumbent vendors.
Integrated systems combine server, shared storage and network devices, along with management software and support in a preintegrated stack. The integrated system market has four segments: integrated infrastructure system, integrated reference architecture, integrated stack system and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) segment. The overall HCI segment is further subdivided into Hyperconverged Integrated Systems (HCIS), which provides both software and hardware in an appliance model and the software only segment in which vendors provide the Hyperconverged software. This is then integrated with HW by a reseller or the end customer.