Gartner Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software Methodology

Core capabilities for HCI software are virtual compute, storage and networking, using a scale-out architecture combined with unified management.

In order to be included in Gartner’s 2021 Magic Quadrant for Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software, vendors must provide an integrated software stack that includes unified management and software-defined compute, storage and potentially networking. Vendors also needed to combine virtual machine (VM) and software-defined storage resources both running on the same physical servers. Additionally, companies needed to have storage and data management services integrated into the offering, as well as virtualize local, internal and direct-attached storage.

On the business front, vendors who made Gartner’s Magic Quadrant needed their product to have a minimum of 50 production customers; deliver complete Level 1 and Level 2 support either directly or through a service provider; and offer solutions for at least three different use cases.

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant ranks vendors on their ability to execute and completeness of vision and places them in four categories: Niche Players (low on vision and execution), Visionaries (good vision but low execution), Challengers (good execution but low vision) and Leaders (excelling in both vision and execution). In this particular Magic Quadrant, there were no vendors in the ‘Challengers’ category.