Integrated stacks of hardware that combine compute, storage and networking appeal to IT departments on many levels: There's the hope of being able to just drop a rack into the data centre, along with the hope that there will be serious cost savings. With any luck, it will all come from one vendor (see below).
As the author notes, the concept isn't new but there are a number of startups hitting the market to give the idea new life. For example, last month we covered the debut of SimpliVity Corp., (whose products are imaged here) which sells an all-in-one array under its own brand.
With technologies like virtualization and software-defined networking, the idea of an integrated stack is alluring. It probably would appeal most to SMBs, but branch offices of enterprises could also see benefits.
If your organization has had any experience with this, let us know.