Converged Infrastructure (Global Market)

Converged infrastructure means bringing together server platforms, storage, network equipment, virtualization technologies, and a number of other resources into one integrated solution managed as a whole, rather than using separate administrative tools.

In IDC terminology, converged systems are integrated, manufacturer-certified hardware consisting of servers, storage systems, network devices, and management software. Analysts consider only those systems that include all four specified components. The software used in converged systems is designed to automatically search, prepare and pool physical and virtual resources related to computing, data storage and network functions.

Advantages:

• scalable failover cluster in the data center
• virtualization technology is being implemented
• resources are allocated quickly, flexibly

Problems:

• Selecting such a solution, especially storage, requires very good planning
• the bottleneck of such solutions is the storage system
• difficult to maintain
• solution is not suitable for branch offices

Hyperconverged vs Converged infrastructures (differences)

• resources are not discrete
• controlled by one software and hardware complex
• more easily scalable
• administration from one console
• Reduce the risk of data loss through distributed storage across all nodes

• A hyperconverged infrastructure is useful if you want to provide a fault-tolerant infrastructure in a specific location where downtime will entail significant costs.
• Implementing these solutions automates routine operations and reduces maintenance costs.

2024: Global Converged Infrastructure Management Systems Market Growth by 15% to $10.4 Billion

At the end of 2024, the costs in the global market for converged infrastructure management systems amounted to $10.4 billion. For comparison, a year earlier, expenses in this area were estimated at about $9 billion. Thus, growth was recorded at 15.6%. Industry trends are addressed in the Future Market Insights survey, which TAdviser reviewed in mid-September 2025.

Converged infrastructure involves combining computing resources, storage, network devices, and virtualization into one system. At the same time, all hardware components are pre-configured for solving specific problems, for example, database placement, creation of virtual desktops, support for specialized applications and services. One of the advantages of such a model is the ability to control processes from one point, which guarantees the consistency and reliability of the platform. Additional storage, server nodes, and switches can be integrated into the infrastructure with virtualization software.

The authors of the study call the ongoing digital transformation one of the market drivers: enterprises around the world prioritize solutions that provide flexibility, scalability and optimized management. The growing demand for real-time processing coupled with the introduction of cloud applications further reinforces the need for converged infrastructure management systems. In addition, security concerns and the need for regulatory compliance are forcing companies to invest in centralized infrastructure management systems.

Experts from Future Market Insights believe that in 2025 the costs in the market under consideration will reach $12 billion. The IT and telecommunications sector is leading in terms of converged infrastructure management systems with a 32.4% share: the dominance of this segment is due to the increasing demand for efficient data processing, rapid service delivery and scalable infrastructure solutions. Carriers are increasingly using converged infrastructure management to support bandwidth-intensive deployments of networks, 5G edge computing, and applications. In second place is the BFSI industry (banking, financial services and insurance) with 13.9%, followed by the sphere with formations 13.3%. Another 12.8% of expenses fell on the public sector, 11.9% - on the sphere. health care The contribution MEDIA and entertainment is estimated at 9.6%. The total share of all other areas is approximately 6%.

From a geographical point of view, North America leads with a share of more than 40%. Globally, the leading industry players are:

• Dell;
• Egenera;
• IBM;
• Avnet;
• Amazon;
• Microsoft;
• Hitachi Data Systems;
• Hewlett Packard Enterprises;
• NetApp;
• Melillo Consulting;
• Cisco Systems;
• CTC Global Pte Ltd.;
• CA Technologies;
• Conres IT Solutions.

In addition, as noted in the study, companies such as Nutanix, SimpliVity, Scale Computing, Pivot3, Skyport Systems, Coho Data, Sunlight, StarWind Software, Springpath and Hypergrid contribute to the development of the industry.

Future Market Insights analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR in the global converged infrastructure management systems market will be 15.9%. Thus, by 2035, costs may increase to $52.6 billion.^[1]

2018: Gartner Magic Quadrant

In February 2018, Gartner analysts introduced the "magic quadrant" of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) manufacturers. Companies were evaluated on two aspects: completeness of vision and ability to implement.

The leaders of the hyperconverged infrastructure market at Gartner were named companies, Nutanix,, and Dell EMC. VMware HPE

In addition, Huawei's FusionCube decision was noted, which, according to experts, is an expression of high recognition of Huawei's hyper-convertible offers from customers and consulting companies.

Magic Quadrant from Hyperconverged Infrastructure Vendors, Gartner Data

Above others in the "magic quadrant" is Nutanix, which Gartner calls the pioneer of the HCI market. By the beginning of 2018, the company has more than 7,800 customers. Specialists attributed the lack of experience in the field of traditional infrastructure to the weaknesses of the American vendor, which allows competitors to easily introduce their equipment into data centers. The researchers believe Nutanix should demonstrate greater productivity, especially in the entry-level solutions segment.

The disadvantages of Dell EMC, another leader in the hyperconverged infrastructure market, are the lack of key corporate features in the ScaleIO product line. In particular, this is about replication, deduplication and data compression - this is what Dell EMC places on third-party software. In addition, Gartner pays attention to the inability of the VxRail Manager solution to be used to manage multiple clusters.

Speaking about gaps in VMware products, customers surveyed by Gartner pointed out the unavailability of data processing functions in standard or hybrid configurations of the company's solutions. Some customers also reported stability and performance issues with VMware vSAN.^[2]

2017

Record volume of $12.5 billion - IDC

In 2017, the converged infrastructure market size reached a record high, which was largely facilitated by hyperconverged solutions, according to a study by Worldwide Quarterly Converged Systems Tracker, prepared by the analytical company International Data Corporation (IDC).

Experts estimated that in 2017, sales of converged systems in the world amounted to $12.5 billion, which was never the case - at least for the entire time IDC watched the market. Compared to 2016, there was an increase of 9.4%.

Converged Systems Market Segments, IDC Data

The number of organizations implementing converged systems continued to increase in 2017, "comments Eric Sheppard, Senior Vice President of Server and Storage Research at IDC. - While not all market segments rose last year, those that showed an upswing have provided companies with significant benefits associated with addressing the major infrastructure challenges facing data centers now.

The largest segment of the market under consideration remains the integrated infrastructure and certified reference systems. They are complete vendor-certified systems, including servers, data warehouses, network equipment, and software for managing basic functions. Such equipment accounts for almost half of converged system sales.

Major manufacturers of hyperconverged systems, IDC data

The fastest growing segment is hyperconverged systems, which differ from integrated solutions in a scalable architecture and the ability to perform all the necessary computing tasks and storage functions using the same x86 server resources. In 2017, global sales of hyperconverged systems jumped 64.3%, exceeding $3.7 billion. The largest manufacturers of such products are presented in the table above.^[3]

Integrated Systems Market Size of $10.2 Billion - Gartner

On March 15, 2018, the analytical company Gartner published some results of a study of the integrated systems market. Their sales in the world, according to experts, reached $10.2 billion in 2017. In 2018, an increase of 18.4% to $12.3 billion is expected.

The revenue of manufacturers from the implementation of hyperconverged solutions in 2017 amounted to $2.8 billion. Experts predict the highest growth in this segment, which will also be able to break into the lead.

Integrated Systems Market Segments, Gartner Data

In 2017, the largest revenues were recorded in the category of reference architecture - $3.1 billion. Implementation of integrated infrastructure systems and integrated stack systems was measured at $2.5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

Most integrated systems replace existing infrastructure and are suitable for cost reduction, flexibility, consolidation of IT resources and efficiency, "says Naveen Mishra, Research Director at Gartner. - However, by implementing them as part of a digital business initiative, IT organizations should look at how potential capital cost savings (capex) can be overridden by potential shifts in operating costs (opex).

According to Gartner analyst Julia Palmer, executives responsible for IT infrastructure and operations should change their thinking when evaluating integrated systems. They need the most flexible solutions as they have to adapt new workloads, integrate border and public cloud infrastructure, and reduce operational complexity.

Modern systems of the new generation are flexible software-defined solutions with artificial intelligence that meet the requirements of the digital business, she said.[4]

2016: $11.3 billion market size - IDC data

In March 2017, the analytical company International Data Corporation (IDC) published some excerpts from a study of the global converged systems market.

In 2016, sales of such equipment increased by 5.8% compared to 2015 and amounted to $11.3 billion. The volume of the segment of hyperconverged systems (their features are a scalable infrastructure and the ability to perform all storage and computing functions within one server on x86 processors) exceeded $2.2 billion, which is 110% more than a year ago.

Chart Showing Revenue Breakdown by Segment in Converged Systems Market, IDC Data

It's a time of change in the converged systems market, "says Eric Sheppard, director of research at IDC Enterprise Storage & Converged Systems. - We are watching the rapid growth in the number of products with new architectures, increased level of automation and intensive use of software-defined technologies. This growth was undone by a reduction in spending on traditional convergent systems and the conscious decision of a number of manufacturers to reduce their product portfolios.[5]

Read also

• Virtualization. Classification and applications
• Virtualization Systems and Projects Catalog
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
• Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Base Article
• Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) (Russian market)
• Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Global Market
• How to Deploy a Hyperconverged System in a Small Company
• Converged Infrastructure (Global Market)
• NFV Network Functions Virtualization
• DaaS Desktop as a Service
• Hardware Virtualization
• Five Steps to Successful Consolidation and Virtualization
• Top 10 events in the virtualization market in 2011
• Virtualization: 10 Critical Events in 2012

Notes