<s>
Hyper-converged	B-Architecture
infrastructure	I-Architecture
(	O
HCI	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
software-defined	O
IT	B-Application
infrastructure	I-Application
that	O
virtualizes	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
elements	O
of	O
conventional	O
"	O
hardware-defined	O
"	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HCI	O
includes	O
,	O
at	O
a	O
minimum	O
,	O
virtualized	O
computing	O
(	O
a	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
software-defined	O
storage	O
,	O
and	O
virtualized	O
networking	O
(	O
software-defined	O
networking	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
difference	O
between	O
converged	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	I-General_Concept
and	O
hyperconverged	B-Architecture
infrastructure	I-Architecture
is	O
that	O
in	O
HCI	O
both	O
the	O
storage	O
area	O
network	O
and	O
the	O
underlying	O
storage	O
abstractions	O
are	O
implemented	O
virtually	O
in	O
software	O
(	O
at	O
or	O
via	O
the	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
)	O
rather	O
than	O
physically	O
in	O
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
software-defined	O
elements	O
are	O
implemented	O
in	O
the	O
context	O
of	O
the	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
,	O
management	O
of	O
all	O
resources	O
can	O
be	O
federated	O
(	O
shared	O
)	O
across	O
all	O
instances	O
of	O
a	O
hyper-converged	B-Architecture
infrastructure	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hyperconvergence	B-Architecture
evolves	O
away	O
from	O
discrete	O
,	O
software-defined	O
systems	O
that	O
are	O
connected	O
and	O
packaged	O
together	O
toward	O
a	O
purely	O
software-defined	O
environment	O
where	O
all	O
functional	O
elements	O
run	O
on	O
commercial	O
,	O
off-the-shelf	O
(	O
COTS	O
)	O
servers	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
convergence	O
of	O
elements	O
enabled	O
by	O
a	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
HCI	O
systems	O
are	O
usually	O
made	O
up	O
of	O
server	O
systems	O
equipped	O
with	O
direct-attached	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Consolidation	O
of	O
all	O
functional	O
elements	O
at	O
the	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
level	O
,	O
together	O
with	O
federated	O
management	O
,	O
was	O
promoted	O
to	O
improve	O
data-center	O
inefficiencies	O
and	O
reduce	O
the	O
total	O
cost	O
of	O
ownership	O
(	O
TCO	O
)	O
for	O
data	O
centers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
potential	O
impact	O
of	O
the	O
hyper-converged	B-Architecture
infrastructure	I-Architecture
is	O
that	O
companies	O
will	O
no	O
longer	O
need	O
to	O
rely	O
on	O
different	O
compute	O
and	O
storage	O
systems	O
,	O
though	O
it	O
is	O
still	O
too	O
early	O
to	O
prove	O
that	O
it	O
can	O
replace	O
storage	O
arrays	O
in	O
all	O
market	O
segments	O
.	O
</s>
