5 Big Ways Big Data Is Changing the IT Network
Most IT organizations have historically tended to manage Windows Server and Linux environments in isolation from one another, even though they run on the same classes of x86 server infrastructure. But as IT organizations continue to find themselves short-staffed, interest in unifying the management of Windows and Linux servers is increasing.
With that issue in mind, Unisys is taking advantage of the rise of software-defined data centers (SDDCs) to not only bring together the management of Windows and Linux servers, but also VMware virtual machines and Docker containers.
Brian Herkalo, director of global ClearPath product management for Unisys, says a new ClearPath Forward platform will pull together disparate IT environments under a common Unisys management framework. Previously, Unisys provided separate management frameworks for Window and Linux server environments. In addition, partitions within the ClearPath environment can be connected to up to 118 secure fabric pipes to isolate traffic between end users and any given set of applications.
Other new capabilities include an application programming interface (API) that enables the VMware vCenter Server to see Windows and Linux partitions in the ClearPath Forward fabric, while another API can be invoked to enable applications running in one operating environment to access applications, data files and other resources running on another fabric in the ClearPath Forward environment.
The Unisys Data Exchange capability also now enables applications to post data in near real time to Microsoft SQL databases and the native ClearPath Forward MCP DMSII or OS 2200 RDMS databases. Conversely, that same facility enables those databases to pump data out to an external analytics database in near real time.
Finally, Ethernet Gateway switching now connects ClearPath Forward systems directly to Ethernet backbones in existing data centers through secure fabrics.
Obviously, Unisys isn’t the dominant provider of x86 servers on the market. But Unisys does have a lot of experience working on mission-critical IT platforms that would appear to be making a timely appearance on x86 servers that, by any yardstick anyone cares to use, are becoming increasingly difficult to manage at scale.
