<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
way	O
of	O
structuring	O
an	O
information	B-General_Concept
technology	I-General_Concept
(	O
IT	O
)	O
system	O
which	O
groups	O
multiple	O
components	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
optimized	O
computing	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Components	O
of	O
a	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
may	O
include	O
servers	O
,	O
data	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
devices	I-General_Concept
,	O
networking	B-Device
equipment	I-Device
and	O
software	O
for	O
IT	O
infrastructure	O
management	O
,	O
automation	O
and	O
orchestration	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
IT	O
organizations	O
use	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
to	O
centralize	O
the	O
management	O
of	O
IT	O
resources	O
,	O
to	O
consolidate	O
systems	O
,	O
to	O
increase	O
resource-utilization	O
rates	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
lower	O
costs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructures	I-General_Concept
foster	O
these	O
objectives	O
by	O
implementing	O
pools	O
of	O
computers	O
,	O
storage	O
and	O
networking	O
resources	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
shared	O
by	O
multiple	O
applications	O
and	O
managed	O
in	O
a	O
collective	O
manner	O
using	O
policy-driven	O
processes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IT	O
vendors	O
and	O
IT	B-General_Concept
industry	I-General_Concept
analysts	O
use	O
various	O
terms	O
to	O
describe	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
a	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
include	O
"	O
converged	O
system	O
"	O
,	O
"	B-General_Concept
unified	I-General_Concept
computing	I-General_Concept
"	I-General_Concept
,	O
"	O
fabric-based	O
computing	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
dynamic	B-Operating_System
infrastructure	I-Operating_System
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
addresses	O
the	O
problem	O
of	O
siloed	O
architectures	O
and	O
IT	O
sprawl	O
by	O
pooling	O
and	O
sharing	O
IT	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rather	O
than	O
dedicating	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
resources	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
computing	O
technology	O
,	O
application	O
or	O
line	O
of	O
business	O
,	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
creates	O
a	O
pool	O
of	O
virtualized	B-General_Concept
servers	O
,	O
storage	O
and	O
networking	O
capacity	O
that	O
is	O
shared	O
by	O
multiple	O
applications	O
and	O
lines	O
of	O
business	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
provides	O
both	O
technical	O
and	O
business	O
efficiencies	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
industry	O
researchers	O
and	O
observers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Writing	O
in	O
CIO	O
magazine	O
,	O
Forrester	O
Research	O
analyst	O
Robert	O
Whiteley	O
noted	O
that	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructures	I-General_Concept
,	O
combining	O
server	B-Application
,	O
storage	O
,	O
and	O
networks	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
framework	O
,	O
help	O
to	O
transform	O
the	O
economics	O
 [ of ] 	O
running	O
the	O
datacenter	O
thus	O
accelerating	O
the	O
transition	O
to	O
IP	B-Protocol
storage	O
to	O
help	O
build	O
infrastructures	O
that	O
are	O
"	O
cloud-ready	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
of	O
storage	O
and	O
compute	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
entity	O
is	O
known	O
as	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Decreased	O
complexity	O
,	O
through	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
pre-integrated	O
hardware	O
with	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
and	O
automation	O
management	O
tools	O
,	O
is	O
another	O
important	O
value	O
proposition	O
for	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
as	O
noted	O
in	O
an	O
IDC	O
study	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2012	O
,	O
the	O
open	O
source	O
analyst	O
firm	O
Wikibon	O
released	O
the	O
first	O
market	O
forecast	O
for	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
,	O
with	O
a	O
projected	O
$402	O
billion	O
total	O
available	O
market	O
(	O
TAM	O
)	O
by	O
2017	O
of	O
which	O
,	O
nearly	O
2/3	O
of	O
the	O
infrastructure	O
that	O
supports	O
enterprise	O
applications	O
will	O
be	O
packaged	O
in	O
some	O
type	O
of	O
converged	O
solution	O
by	O
2017	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
virtualizing	B-General_Concept
IP	B-Protocol
and	O
Fibre	B-Architecture
Channel	I-Architecture
storage	O
networking	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
offers	O
a	O
solution	O
to	O
these	O
challenges	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
can	O
serve	O
as	O
an	O
enabling	O
platform	O
for	O
private	O
and	O
public	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
services	O
,	O
including	O
infrastructure	B-General_Concept
as	I-General_Concept
a	I-General_Concept
service	I-General_Concept
(	O
IaaS	B-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
platform	B-Application
as	I-Application
a	I-Application
service	I-Application
(	O
PaaS	B-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
software	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
a	I-Architecture
service	I-Architecture
(	O
SaaS	B-Architecture
)	O
offerings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
characteristics	O
make	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
well	O
suited	O
to	O
cloud	O
deployments	O
.	O
</s>
