Converged storage is a storage architecture that combines storage and computing resources into a single entity. This can result in the development of platforms for server centric, storage centric or hybrid workloads where applications and data come together to improve application performance and delivery. The combination of storage and compute differs to the traditional IT model in which computation and storage take place in separate or siloed computer equipment. The traditional model requires discrete provisioning changes, such as upgrades and planned migrations, in the face of server load changes, which are increasingly dynamic with virtualization, where converged storage increases the supply of resources along with new VM demands in parallel. Design considerations The goal of converged storage is to bring together server and storage and/or application and data to deliver services that are better optimized for target workloads. This can mean server and storage converged within a common hardware platform. For example, a blade server enclosure, applications and storage can be brought together within a server by virtualization. Server and storage can be managed as a resource pool, for example in infrastructure- as-a-service (IaaS). Common hardware platform Industry standard servers, such as those using Intel processors (x86), form the basis of converged storage. As these servers follow Moore’s Law and increase power and performance they have the capabilities to run storage workloads, in addition to being compute servers. Data centers can further consolidate and minimize the use of physical space and energy by using industry-standard –based blade server for both server and storage. Common software In server virtualization, multiple “virtual” servers operate on a single platform using hypervisor technology. These virtual servers could be running traditional server tasks, such as applications programming. By using storage controller software, these servers could also be made into data storage systems. This latter architecture is known as virtual machine-based storage. The storage software is often called a VSA−virtual SAN appliance or virtual storage appliance. VSA products from companies such as HP, Nutanix and VMware allow users to build storage-area networks using their existing servers. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) The goal of IaaS is to provide a pool of resources that can be quickly deployed to deliver new services. This requires a service designer to lay out the required characteristics for a new service or application and an orchestration (computing) engine to configure the underlying infrastructure to deliver the new service. Characteristics Scale-out architecture Scale-out architecture is