Fujitsu has introduced PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. Designed to harness the now generally available Azure Stack HCI operating system’s capabilities, this pre-configured hardware and software solution enables organisations to modernise their on-premises data centres.
PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI provides cloud-native features and cloud-like management, plus a direct in-built connection to Azure services to allow seamless hybrid IT environments. The latest addition to Fujitsu’s PrimeFlex line-up further extends Fujitsu’s comprehensive range of integrated solutions for modern, hyper-converged environments.
Microsoft has purpose-built the Azure Stack HCI operating system to give customers an easy path to hybrid cloud, with in-built Azure connectivity, subscription-based licensing, advanced features for disaster recovery through stretched clusters as well as Kubernetes capabilities.
The new operating system lets organisations connect their virtualised on-premises applications with convenient cloud-based services such as backup and recovery, monitoring, identity management, and security. Therefore, businesses can take full advantage of cloud computing while keeping sensitive data on-premises.
Delivered as an Azure service with familiar management tools, customers can easily manage hybrid workloads and scale IT infrastructures flexibly, and cap costs.
Fujitsu – as a Microsoft launch partner – is offering PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI to speed up implementation and enable hybrid cloud environments. This robust, ready-made architecture combines all the hardware and software needed to deploy hybrid infrastructures with Azure Stack HCI.
With fully-optimised and Microsoft-certified components for computing, storage, and network connectivity, the integrated system perfectly bridges the gap between on-premises and Azure to support traditional and cloud-native workloads.
PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI starts at two server nodes and offers the capacity to scale to a large enterprise’s needs. PrimeFlex is an intuitive choice for various uses, including branch office and edge deployments, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), high-performance Microsoft SQL servers, enterprise virtualisation, and containerised applications. Integrated high availability, disaster recovery, security, and cloud-based backup capabilities provide reliable data protection and eliminate business disruptions due to downtime.
Fujitsu also delivers Azure services as an Microsoft Global System Integrator and Cloud Solution Provider to their customers and now with the new HCI-OS service model, a more integrated approach can be delivered with Fujitsu’s hybrid and multi-cloud services for on-demand, self-service computing resources to migrate and modernise existing apps and to build new cloud-native apps.
Olivier Delachapelle, head of category management: product sales Europe at Fujitsu, says: “Hyper-converged infrastructures are the modern way to deploy IT in data centers, to remote offices and the edge. With this new addition to the PrimeFlex line-up, Fujitsu offers customers a more flexible hybrid cloud approach.
“Organisations can deal with changing business demand as it optimizes infrastructure costs, simplifies management, and delivers performance for multiple workloads. Microsoft Azure Stack HCI and PrimeFlex are hybrid by design: They provide a fast and simple way to extend an on-premises data center to the cloud, and take advantage of all the benefits the cloud has to offer.”
Talal Alqinawi, senior director of Azure marketing at Microsoft, comments: “Fujitsu PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI is an example of how our customers can extend their data center to the cloud and use the Microsoft Azure Portal to manage cross-cluster capabilities and add hybrid services such as Azure Backup, Azure Monitor and Azure Security Center. Customers gain access to a truly hybrid environment based on tested hardware and software and can continue to run Windows and Linux virtual machines in their data center or at the edge, using familiar tools, processes, and skillsets.”
Alongside the new PrimeFlex for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, Fujitsu will continue to offer an integrated systems solution for customers running Microsoft Windows Server 2019. This solution will now be sold under the brand PrimeFlex for Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct.
All Fujitsu PrimeFlex solutions are pre-tested and pre-integrated, making them quick to implement, easy to manage, and cost-efficient. With a full range of options for different requirements, organizations can build precisely the right infrastructure for their needs. Fujitsu provides consulting, installation, support services, and a single point of contact for all support requirements.