How the Pure Evergreen Storage Service Makes Flash Upgrades Simpler and Cost-Efficient

John Flores April 15, 2019

According to a new report from ResearchAndMarkets, the all-flash storage market will triple in size from $5.9 billion in 2018 to $17.8 billion by 2023, growing at an annual rate of 29.75 percent. Organizations are adopting all-flash storage solutions to meet growing demand for higher performance, constant uptime and energy efficiency.

Expanding use of flash in the data center for artificial intelligence applications, big data analytics, the Internet of Things and virtualization is also expected to drive increased adoption over the next few years. These technologies require a modern infrastructure that is capable of storing and processing large volumes of data to keep up with heavy workload demands.

In fact, many organizations are not only implementing flash but looking to upgrade older flash arrays to new technologies such as non-volatile memory express (NVMe). NVMe is a protocol that accelerates the process of accessing data from high-speed flash storage media. NVMe delivers faster response times and lower latency than legacy flash solutions. However, IT departments may have difficulty justifying investments in NVMe to replace all-flash arrays that are only a few years old.

The Evergreen Storage Service was developed by Pure Storage to help organizations future-proof their storage environment and overcome the expense and disruption of the traditional forklift upgrade model. The idea behind Evergreen Storage is to enable in-place upgrades that allow you to modernize and expand your storage as needed – including controllers, external host and internal array connectivity, and flash arrays.

Pure’s approach protects your investment by allowing you to upgrade to next-generation technology without repurchasing hardware or software licenses. Maintenance and support costs remain the same. Essentially, Evergreen Storage allows you take advantage of a cloud-like model in which software and hardware are continuously updated without large capital investments, data migrations or downtime.

Pay-per-use on-premises storage allows you to keep your storage infrastructure fresh, modern and worry-free through generations. It also extends the life of Pure’s existing Right-Size Guarantee as capacity requirements change. The Right-Size Guarantee ensures that you don’t purchase too much or too little storage capacity.

A Total Economic Impact study from Forrester offers insights into the benefits, costs and risks associated with an investment in a Pure Evergreen Storage Gold subscription. For midmarket organizations, the analysis points to risk-adjusted benefits of $1,705,119 over six years and operating costs of $721,476. This translates to a net present value of $983,643 and a risk adjusted ROI of 136 percent. Forrester projects an average of 33 percent in capital expenses and subscription fees compared to a forklift upgrade. When you factor in reductions in environmental, management and migration costs, the average costs savings jump to more than 50 percent.

Pure’s Evergreen Storage Service can be up and running in a matter of days, providing you with a scalable, on-premises storage solution that’s purpose-built for flash with tier-one, enterprise-grade capabilities. Let us show you how Evergreen Storage allows you to take full advantage of the latest flash storage technology as needed without the high cost, risk and disruption of a conventional upgrade.

Blogs

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. Acquires Datatrend Technologies, Inc. and Announces Organizational Changes

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. October 3, 2019

Datatrend Technologies, Inc. is a leading technology solution provider headquartered in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, focused on Next Gen Data Center, Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, Multi-Site IT Deployments, and ISV/OEM solutions.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 3, 2019 – TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA – Converge Technology Solutions Corp. (“Converge” or “the Company”) (TSXV:CTS) (FSE:0ZB) (OTCQX:CTSDF) announced today that it has acquired Datatrend Technologies, Inc. (“Datatrend“), a leading technology solutions provider headquartered in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Datatrend brings its customers and highly skilled teams made up of experienced technology experts, business consultants, and industry thought leaders to Converge’s fast growing platform.

Charlie Cox, CEO of Datatrend, will continue to lead the business alongside the existing Datatrend management team. Working with Charlie and his team, Converge will look to introduce its Software Enabled Hybrid IT solutions including identity-based enterprise blockchain, cognitive, cybersecurity, resiliency managed services and multi-cloud solutions to existing and new Datatrend customers while leveraging the Datatrend Hybrid IT solutions including Next Gen data center, Hybrid Cloud, infrastructure, multi-site IT Deployments and ISV/OEM solutions to Converge clients across North America.

For over 32 years, Datatrend has delivered technology infrastructure solutions from the data center to the edge of the network in order to help businesses with their digital transformation journey and drive impactful business results. Datatrend provides consulting, planning, designing, implementation, integration, project management and staffing for next generation data centers, multi-cloud environment, cabling and wireless solutions for multi-site rollouts and the Internet of Things, as well as for ISV’s, OEM’s and service providers.

“Datatrend has successfully built a reputation over the years as a leader in delivering technology infrastructure solutions from the data center to the edge of the network, while developing long-lasting personal relationships with our client base,” said Charlie Cox, President and CEO of Datatrend. “We look forward to working with Converge to help develop an organization that can better serve our customers across North America and are confident that this new business venture will be beneficial to all stakeholders involved.”

“We are thrilled that Datatrend is joining the Converge family of companies,” said Shaun Maine, CEO of Converge. “Their reputable team supports businesses across the nation with notable experience advancing large enterprise financial services, travel, and hospitality customers through their enterprise class configuration centers, project management skills and certifications. Datatrend strengthens our central geographical coverage, while its extensive experience with enterprise clients will prove valuable across the organization.”

Additionally, the Company is pleased to announce the following organizational changes as the Company plans for its Phase 3 consolidation of back-office operations and standardization of tools and processes. Cory Reid will lead this initiative as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) and oversee all of Finance, Operations, and HR, while concurrently leading integration initiatives for new acquisitions. Don Cuthbertson, co-founder of Converge, will continue to set technical direction for the Company and its cloud team as Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”). Don will also continue in his role as President of Canada while being at the forefront of new business models presented by Converge’s enterprise blockchain initiatives around identity.

Datatrend marks the tenth transaction completed by Converge since October 2017. Converge’s family of companies also includes Corus Group, LLC; Northern Micro, Inc.; 10084182 Canada Inc. operating as Becker-Carroll; Key Information Systems, Inc.; BlueChip Tek, Inc.; Lighthouse Computer Systems, Inc.; Software Information Systems LLC; Nordisk Systems, Inc.; and Essex Technology Group, Inc.

About Converge

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. combines innovation accelerators and foundational infrastructure solutions to deliver best-of-breed solutions and services to customers. The Company is building a platform of regionally focused Hybrid IT solutions providers to enhance their ability to provide multi-cloud solutions, blockchain, resiliency, and managed services, enabling Converge to address the business and IT issues that public and private-sector organizations face today. For more information, visit https://www.convergetp.com.

About Datatrend Technologies, Inc.

As a solutions integrator, Datatrend delivers IT solutions to help organizations leverage technology to drive impactful business outcomes. Datatrend does this by delivering technology infrastructure solutions from the data center to the edge of the network. By providing planning, design, implementation, integration and project management for next generation data centers, cloud environments, cabling and wireless solutions for multi-site rollouts and the Internet of Things, as well as solutions for ISVs, OEMs and service providers, Datatrend knows how to make IT matter for business. For more information, visit http://datatrend.com.

For further information contact:

Mary Anne Palangio Virtus Advisory Group
Chief Financial Officer Shareholder Inquiries
Converge Technology Solutions Corp. Email: converge@virtusadvisory.com
Email: investors@convergetp.com Phone: 416-644-5081
Phone: 416-360-1495

Notice to Reader: Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation regarding Converge and its business. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected” “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”. “estimates”, “believes” or intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Converge assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Press Releases

Converge-blog-infrastructure-performance-management-09242019.jpg-002-e1569442439353.jpg

How Infrastructure Performance Management Can Overcome Data Center Complexity

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. September 26, 2019

High-performance IT infrastructure and anytime, anywhere access to business resources aren’t just standard user expectations. They’re business necessities. However, increasingly complex IT infrastructure – more users, more devices, more applications, more systems – can make obstacles to availability and performance more difficult to pinpoint and address. Virtualization can help you reduce costs and consolidate infrastructure, but even virtualization adds a layer of complexity and abstraction that muddies the waters.

Utilization metrics, once considered an indicator of performance, have limited usefulness today. While utilization accounts for certain factors that can affect performance, infrastructure can have capacity to spare but still might not be delivering adequate performance. Also, most organizations use device-specific monitoring and management tools that are incapable of providing a complete picture of infrastructure performance.

The fact is, downtime, performance degradation, over-provisioning of infrastructure, and the creation of IT war rooms are typically the result of infrastructure complexity run amok. Real-time visibility, holistic monitoring and application awareness can help you overcome infrastructure complexity and the resulting symptoms.

True infrastructure performance management (IPM) requires an end-to-end view of infrastructure. IPM is the process of monitoring the health of all infrastructure systems and components to ensure infrastructure as a whole is performing at an optimal level.

An IPM solution tells you infrastructure response times and other important metrics. Rather than replacing device-specific tools, an IPM solution complements them by collecting data from all infrastructure components, including virtual machines, servers, switches and storage solutions.

IPM benefits both the business side and the IT side of the organization. Without IPM, you would have to rely on vendor claims, internal testing, and educated guesses to forecast performance. This approach increases risk and often leads to over-provisioning of IT resources. An IPM solution can help you optimize infrastructure capacity, increase utilization and accelerate infrastructure response times. It can also help you identify and quickly address infrastructure issues that could be slowing performance and hampering the user experience. On the business side, IPM can help you increase availability and performance, reduce costs and improve the customer experience.

Virtual Instruments recently introduced VirtualWisdom, which it calls “the industry’s most comprehensive infrastructure performance monitoring and analytics platform.” VirtualWisdom monitors, analyzes and optimizes infrastructure health holistically — across physical, virtual and cloud environments — to maximize performance and utilization.

VirtualWisdom knows which applications are running on which infrastructure components. It understands the level of performance your infrastructure is delivering for each application. It can tell which applications are causing strain on infrastructure. This makes it possible to proactively ensure the performance and health of the infrastructure that is supporting your mission-critical applications. You can also proactively troubleshoot issues and address them at the source before users and business operations are affected.

Using predictive analytics, you can accurately forecast compute, network and storage consumption and avoid reaching capacity limits. Workload infrastructure balancing continuously adjusts resources to optimize application performance and utilization. This typically allows VirtualWisdom customers to save 30 percent to 50 percent on infrastructure costs.

Don’t let complex IT infrastructure slow down the performance of important applications and drive up IT costs. Let us show you how the VirtualWisdom IPM solution intelligently monitors infrastructure health as a whole to optimize performance and availability.

Blogs

A Dynamic Network Perimeter Demands Robust Identity Management

John Flores July 31, 2019

In the days of the traditional “network perimeter,” security resources such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems were dedicated to defending that perimeter. If you could keep outside threats from somehow penetrating or circumventing the exterior wall, the network would remain safe.

The problem is that the traditional network perimeter no longer exists. Users can access IT resources from any location on any device, whether they’re working from home, at a coffee shop, or in a hotel room in another part of the country. Of course, IT resources often reside in cloud environments that also exist outside the traditional perimeter.

Thanks to mobile and the cloud, user identities are the new perimeter, one that is constantly changing and difficult to secure. Today’s dynamic network perimeter is “defined” when users attempt to access any on-premises or cloud-based environment. The only way to keep cyber criminals out is to effectively authenticate users and ensure that they only access resources their authorized to access. This is the job of an identity management solution.

Identity management is the process of identifying, authenticating, and authorizing users so they can access networks, systems, applications or other resources. The decision to grant access is based on an established user identity, which is matched with credentials provided by a user when an access attempt is made. Identity management then enforces user permissions that dictate which resources the user is permitted to access.

In addition to keeping unauthorized users off your network, an identify management solutions should allow you to provide access to customers, vendors, business partners and other third parties without compromising network security. Best-in-class solutions make it easy to onboard new users, manage existing users, and offboard users who are no longer authorized to access the network. Identity management also improves the user experience by enabling the use of single sign-on to access various systems with a single identity.

The business and security benefits of identity management are significant, but nearly all organizations are struggling with it to some degree, according to research from Vanson Bourne. In fact, 92 percent of respondents said they’re experiencing at least one challenge with identity management. Organizations are finding it difficult to integrate identity management with other security tools, and poor password practices are still a problem. Single sign-on helps with password issues, but it can also create security gaps because not all applications can be integrated with single sign-on solutions. Most respondents agree that multifactor authentication is critical to strengthening access controls, but it can also be difficult to implement.

Converge offers a comprehensive suite of identity management services to help organizations overcome these challenges. We can assist with Active Directory Federation Services deployment and upgrades, and the deployment and configuration of solutions for single sign-on, self-service password resets, multifactor authentication, and user provisioning and deprovisioning. For organizations that have multiple identity stores and directories, we provide consolidation and migration services to prevent security gaps that increase risk.

Identity management is critical to securing today’s increasingly dynamic network perimeter. Let us show you how our identity management services can help you control access to your systems and sensitive data while delivering the best possible user experience.

Blogs