Redpaper. IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers. Front cover. ibm.com/redbooks

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1 Front cover IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers Introduces IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System offerings for MSPs Discusses the IBM framework for MSP solutions Describes components of the IBM MSP solution stack Ilya Krutov ibm.com/redbooks Redpaper

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3 International Technical Support Organization IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers February 2013 REDP

4 Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Notices on page v. First Edition (February 2013) This edition applies to IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System. Copyright International Business Machines Corporation All rights reserved. Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

5 Contents Notices v Trademarks vi Preface vii The team who wrote this paper vii Now you can become a published author, too! viii Comments welcome viii Stay connected to IBM Redbooks viii Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services Managed service providers MSP solutions framework IaaS and the cloud enabled data center IBM cloud solution stack components Core infrastructure VM provisioning Cloud management IT Service Management IBM SmartCloud Desktop Infrastructure Chapter 2. IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System IBM PureFlex System IBM Flex System building blocks Management Compute nodes Storage Networking Enterprise Chassis PureFlex System and Flex System as a platform for MSPs IBM x86 reference configurations IBM Power Systems reference configurations Chapter 3. IBM SmartCloud solutions IBM SmartCloud Provisioning Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information IBM SmartCloud Cost Management Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information IBM SmartCloud Monitoring Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. iii

6 3.3.4 Related information IBM SmartCloud Patch Management Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information Tivoli Storage Manager Suite for Unified Recovery Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information IBM SmartCloud Desktop Infrastructure Solution value Solution overview Ordering information Related information Abbreviations and acronyms Related publications IBM Redbooks Online resources Help from IBM iv IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

7 Notices This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A. IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user's responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-ibm product, program, or service. IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not grant you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to: IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, North Castle Drive, Armonk, NY U.S.A. The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice. Any references in this information to non-ibm websites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those websites. The materials at those websites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those websites is at your own risk. IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the results obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their specific environment. Information concerning non-ibm products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-ibm products. Questions on the capabilities of non-ibm products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products. This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business enterprise is entirely coincidental. COPYRIGHT LICENSE: This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrate programming techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs. Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. v

8 Trademarks IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. These and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with the appropriate symbol ( or ), indicating US registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both: AIX BladeCenter Cognos DB2 Domino i5/os IBM Flex System IBM Flex System Manager IBM SmartCloud IBM Informix Lotus Power Systems POWER7 PowerVM POWER PureFlex PureSystems Redbooks Redpaper Redbooks (logo) Storwize System Storage System x Tivoli Enterprise Console Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack Tivoli The following terms are trademarks of other companies: Adobe, the Adobe logo, and the PostScript logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States, and/or other countries. Intel Xeon, Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside logo, and Intel Centrino logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of The Minister for the Cabinet Office, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Java, and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. vi IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

9 Preface Organizations are looking for ways to get more out of their already strained IT infrastructure as they face new technological and economic pressures. They are also trying to satisfy a broad set of users (internal and external to the enterprise) who demand improvements in their quality of service (QoS), regardless of increases in the number of users and applications. Cloud computing offers attractive opportunities to reduce costs, accelerate development, and increase the flexibility of the IT infrastructure, applications, and services. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the typical starting point for most organizations when moving to a cloud-computing environment. IaaS can be used for the delivery of resources such as compute, storage, and network services through a self-service portal. With IaaS, IT services are delivered as a subscription service, eliminating up-front costs and driving down ongoing support costs. Businesses can improve their competitive position by moving to these cloud-based technologies. This IBM Redpaper discusses IBM solutions for managed service providers (MSPs). This paper is for IT professionals who are involved in managed and cloud services solution planning. The team who wrote this paper This paper was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization, Raleigh Center. Ilya Krutov is a Project Leader at the ITSO Center in Raleigh and has been with IBM since Before he joined the ITSO, Ilya served in IBM as a Run Rate Team Leader, Portfolio Manager, Brand Manager, Technical Sales Specialist, and Certified Instructor. Ilya has expertise in IBM System x, BladeCenter, and Flex System products; server operating systems; and networking solutions. He has authored over 120 books, papers, Product Guides, and Solution Guides. He has a bachelor s degree in computer engineering from the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute. Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project: Kevin Barnes, Tamikia Barrow, Mary Comianos, Shari Deiana, Cheryl Gera, Linda Robinson, Diane Sherman, David Watts International Technical Support Organization, Raleigh Center Timothy Alpers, Paul Casterlin, Bruce Corregan, Mike Gare, Jonathan Hahn, Rich Johnston, Alex Peay, Marco Rengan, Xin Wang, Brooks York IBM Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. vii

10 Now you can become a published author, too! Here s an opportunity to spotlight your skills, grow your career, and become a published author all at the same time! Join an ITSO residency project and help write a book in your area of expertise, while honing your experience using leading-edge technologies. Your efforts will help to increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction, as you expand your network of technical contacts and relationships. Residencies run from two to six weeks in length, and you can participate either in person or as a remote resident working from your home base. Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at: ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html Comments welcome Your comments are important to us! We want our papers to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments about this paper or other IBM Redbooks publications in one of the following ways: Use the online Contact us review Redbooks form found at: ibm.com/redbooks Send your comments in an to: redbooks@us.ibm.com Mail your comments to: IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization Dept. HYTD Mail Station P South Road Poughkeepsie, NY Stay connected to IBM Redbooks Find us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Look for us on LinkedIn: Explore new Redbooks publications, residencies, and workshops with the IBM Redbooks weekly newsletter: Stay current on recent Redbooks publications with RSS Feeds: viii IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

11 1 Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services This chapter introduces managed and cloud service offerings, discusses challenges that managed service providers (MSPs) are facing, describes IBM framework for MSP solutions to address these challenges, and outlines IBM solution components that are used in the cloud-enabled data center solution for MSPs. The following topics are covered: 1.1, Managed service providers on page 2 1.2, MSP solutions framework on page 4 1.3, IaaS and the cloud enabled data center on page 6 1.4, IBM cloud solution stack components on page 10 Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. 1

12 1.1 Managed service providers Managed service provider (MSP) is a business that delivers a defined set of technology solutions or services to MSP clients with a pay-as-you-go model. MSPs are largely used by customers who want to take advantage of cloud technologies but lack the internal IT skills, resources, and time. For example, smaller hospitals might still be challenged with adopting electronic medical records. Many healthcare providers are turning to the MSP model, where an MSP can quickly help the small healthcare provider to build and manage a service to process patient data and make that information available securely. In this way, the healthcare provider has more time to focus more on the patient. Mid-sized businesses might also look for the possibilities to better control their capital spending, increase operational efficiency, and gain better market insights. These possibilities enable companies to be able to identify and deliver new products and services ahead of competition, generate new revenue streams, and provide cost savings without a need to make significant investments in IT. With an increased demand for managed services offerings, the number of MSPs and competition among them is also increasing, while the services that are offered become more commoditized. This change creates certain challenges in achieving revenue and profit growth, especially when the cash flow is limited. Today, MSPs need a clear competitive differentiation to be able to reach business goals and expand market presence. This approach might require a change in the entire MSP business model: a shift from the traditional managed or hosted IT approach toward cloud service delivery model. The competitive business considerations for MSPs include branding, differentiation, trustworthiness, efficiency, experience, and expertise: Brand value The objective of brand is to retain and strengthen the service provider s position even when other service providers emerge. The provider s brand is bolstered by the availability of both the correct quantity and quality of the managed services offered. Exclusivity, breadth of recognized services, and timely availability of new services enhance the perception of a market leading brand. Offering differentiation Many service providers have similar service offerings. Differentiation for the common offerings is based on customer experience in activities such as ease of product selection, ordering, and usage. Beyond the commonly available services, differentiation is enhanced by inclusion of interesting niche (and therefore higher value) products and vertical market enablement. Efficiency of delivery Cost and operational efficiency are key considerations in both initial and long-term competitiveness. Customers evaluate their return on investment (ROI) for the use of cloud services relative to other solutions, including on-premises solutions. Automation is a significant factor in delivering consistency in the cost to deliver cloud services and to realize efficiencies of scale. 2 IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

13 Customer trust Managed services are available from many venues. Customers consider trust a significant factor in selecting a provider, especially when the customers are generating financial transactions. Cloud computing deployments might be a complex environment, with third-party payment providers, and layered service providers. The cloud service providers that manage this environment in a trustworthy manner earn the trust of their customers while MSPs enable the flexibility of operating an aggregate business. Experience and expertise in cloud computing Cloud computing is a business of scale, with most initial deployments as targeted offerings. The typical business model envisions service provider scale deployment and transaction levels. To be positioned well, a service provider should provide the following capabilities: Ensure access control (secure user access). Offer a breadth of compelling services in each market segment that is selected to compete in. Provide an end-to-end delivery experience for users of cloud services. The management infrastructure of the deployment environment and support systems are key elements of supporting this scale of deployment. To address MSP business challenges, IBM is taking its collaboration with MSPs and its global ecosystem one step further by enabling MSPs to build innovative solutions and services on advanced technologies such as IBM SmartCloud, IBM PureSystems, and analytics. IBM also provides the MSPs with access to IBM experts that have deep technical skills at four new global centers of excellence. IBM offers an unmatched set of programs to support MSP marketing efforts to help MSPs build their brands, generate demand for their services, and grow their marketing skills. Additionally, IBM offers affordable financing options through IBM Global Financing to help MSPs acquire new technologies. IBM offers comprehensive initiatives for MSPs: Access to Global Centers of Excellence Global Centers of Excellence provide MSPs with access to deep technical expertise to develop innovative cloud services and solutions on the IBM open stack to address industry-specific client needs. In this way, MSPs can have hands-on technical expertise in building skills on technologies such as IBM SmartCloud, PureSystems, storage, security, and collaboration. MSPs can also have access to IBM Innovation Centers worldwide for joint client engagements. In addition, IBM plans to launch a virtual briefing center that provides an ongoing forum for MSPs to share ideas and knowledge around industry challenges that clients are facing today. Dedicated marketing and sales support IBM marketing and sales support is designed to help MSPs grow their businesses, build their brands, and create demand for their capabilities. Additionally, MSPs will gain access to IBM analytics capabilities to help them identify new customers and capture additional opportunities with their existing customers. Seizing the opportunity with PureSystems PureSystems provides a new, integrated, by-design platform for MSPs to tune hardware and software resources for data-intensive workloads. The integration of the PureSystems platform, coupled with the patterns of expertise technology and the flexibility to configure an application for either an on-premise or hosted environment, makes the PureSystems platform a natural choice for MSPs. Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services 3

14 Building on the advanced capabilities of IBM SmartCloud MSPs can take advantage of IBM SmartCloud, including an option to integrate the offering as a solution that is backed by IBM or under their own brand in the market to expand the services they offer. IBM can also work with new MSPs to design and develop their data center strategies, by using years of IBM experience in data center best practices. Financing options through IBM Global Financing MSPs can acquire new technology solutions and services to support their growth with flexible, affordable payment plans for IBM systems, software and services. A payment plan from IBM Global Financing can provide MSPs with low monthly payment options while avoiding large, up-front cash payments, the ability to upgrade their systems mid-lease and improve IT asset management. Expanding the ecosystem Members of IBM ecosystem, which includes independent software vendors, systems integrators, value-added resellers, and MSPs are collaborating with IBM to take advantage of higher value capabilities of IBM such as IBM SmartCloud, PureSystems, and analytics to build industry-specific cloud services. IBM developed an evolutionary approach for MSPs to build or transform their cloud-enabled data centers. It defines an MSP solutions framework for MSP growth, which spans from the basic infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings to the advanced business process as a service (BPaaS) expertise. IBM framework allows MSPs to build scalable, building block-based service delivery infrastructure that can support a broad range of services to satisfy growing diverse customer needs in a cost efficient way. 1.2 MSP solutions framework MSPs need a structured approach to implement a comprehensive set of solutions to deliver a rich portfolio of services, and thus grow the business. Solutions framework includes the following items: Service enablement platform This platform is a highly available foundation that includes core infrastructure (network, servers, storage, and virtualization layers) and infrastructure management (that is, service provisioning, monitoring, and usage based accounting). Managed/hosted services These traditional services are offered by MSPs in dedicated or shared environments. Cloud services Cloud computing drives significant new revenue streams and strengthens the customer relationship by broadening the MSP s portfolio of services. The expanded portfolio can provide capabilities, such as productivity, test and development, infrastructure, and business process services. 4 IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

15 MSPs build managed/hosted or cloud services on top of the service enablement platform. This framework is shown in Figure 1-1. MANAGED / HOSTED SERVICES Monitoring and Management Services Application Device Storage Hosted IT Services Managed storage Backup / recovery Security IaaS PaaS SaaS Managed storage Backup / recovery Patch management CLOUD SERVICE DELIVERY Application Integration App Server Development / test Analytics Server Patch management Help desk Mobile development ERP/SCM/CRM Network Help desk Virtual desktop Database Business applications SERVICE ENABLEMENT PLATFORM Infrastructure Management Provisioning Monitoring Accounting Core Infrastructure Virtualization Network Server Storage Figure 1-1 MSP solutions framework Cloud services offer attractive opportunities to reduce costs, accelerate development, and increase the flexibility of the IT infrastructure, applications, and services: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) IaaS delivers compute, storage, and network resources from the cloud service provider to customers or partners to operate applications and access those applications as services. The pricing model is typically based on a cost per unit of resources used. Platform as a service (PaaS) Platform as a service is usually an extension of the IaaS model, where charges are applied based on the resources used. Because PaaS includes additional services (development tools and services) and platform support (for example, application server or database), the cost per resource unit that is used is typically higher. This higher charge per unit that is used allows coverage of acquisition, license, and management costs. Software as a service (SaaS) SaaS application charging is often based on user value (for example, monthly per seat charge). SaaS applications run in the cloud and are commonly accessed by users through a web interface. The pricing model is typically based on a subscription model and can also include charges for functions used. Business process as a service (BPaaS) Many businesses develop business processes that interact with many applications to complete their tasks. For example, a payroll processing process interacts with timesheet, Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services 5

16 tax, benefits, and human resources systems to produce paychecks for employees. BPaaS provides the means to implement these business processes as services. BPaaS processes are managed in the same manner as SaaS applications. IaaS is the typical starting point for most MSPs when moving to a cloud computing environment. IaaS can be used for the delivery of resources such as compute, storage, and network services through a self-service portal. With IaaS, IT services are delivered as a subscription service, eliminating up-front costs and driving down ongoing support costs for clients. Managed storage, backup and recovery, patch management, help desk, and virtual desktop infrastructure services are among those that are expected to be in a most demand by the clients. 1.3 IaaS and the cloud enabled data center IBM defined the Cloud Computing Reference Architecture (CCRA) based on years of experience of working with customers who have implemented cloud-computing solutions. The IBM CCRA is a blueprint or guide for architecting cloud-computing implementations. It is driven by functional and nonfunctional requirements that are collected from many cloud-computing implementations. IBM CCRA provides guidelines and technical work products, such as service and deployment models, and has defined the overarching implementations as adoption patterns. An adoption pattern embodies the architecture patterns that represent the ways that organizations are implementing cloud-computing solutions. An adoption pattern can help guide the definition of your cloud-computing solution. The adoption pattern for IaaS, as defined by the CCRA, is called the Cloud Enabled Data Center adoption pattern. The Cloud Enabled Data Center adoption pattern contains prescriptive guidance for how to architect, design, and implement an IaaS solution. It also defines the core requirements and provides guidance on adding new capabilities as they are needed. A cloud-enabled data center has the following main benefits: Faster provisioning with lower cost By using high levels of automation in a shared environment, IT resources are made available faster, repeatedly, accurately, and cost efficiently. Establish a utility service A cloud-enabled data center provides a pay-as-you-use model, which can be used to measure and charge individual clients for their IT usage. Support dynamic scaling A scale-up and scale-down elastic infrastructure is required to support a business service. When a business experiences periods of high demand, a new IT infrastructure can be provisioned to meet temporary increases in workloads. The provisioned IT infrastructure can be deprovisioned when it is no longer required. This approach adds enormous flexibility to the IT environment and ensures optimal utilization of resources. Greater level of control and visibility Every task that is done by the cloud enabled data center solution is monitored and reported so that MSPs have greater visibility to the use of IT resources. 6 IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

17 The following list describes the key functional layers for the MSP s cloud-enabled data center, built on top of each other, starting with the simplest layer: Virtual Machine (VM) Provisioning This layer is the entry point in the IaaS cloud space. You can use it to start building a multitenant cloud infrastructure and model that delivers simple VMs (configured with the appropriate network and storage) that cover the most common business needs for cloud computing. Cloud Management This layer complements the VM provisioning layer by adding management capabilities that you can use to manage such requirements as service-level agreements (SLAs), security, resiliency, and capacity planning. It helps you further optimize the IT processes, manage complexity of virtualization and automation, and increase efficiency for both the infrastructure that provides the cloud and the cloud service itself. This layer addresses requirements in the area of reliability, availability, and basic security. IT Service Management This layer defines a cloud computing environment that integrates with the existing enterprise applications, systems, and processes. This integration is accomplished by including the cloud infrastructure and services in the enterprise IT management processes. Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services 7

18 Figure 1-2 shows a schematic view of these layers and their key capabilities. It also shows how these layers stack one on top of the other to build more sophisticated cloud enabled data center solutions. IT Service Management Problem and Incident Management IT Asset Management Service Desk Cloud Management Backup and Restore Virtualized Infrastructure Monitoring VM Provisioning Patch Management Capacity Management and Planning Endpoint Compliance and Management Increasing Capability VM provisioning and Onboarding VM Image Construction and Management Usage metering, accounting and chargeback Compute, Storage, and Network Virtualization layer Figure 1-2 Cloud-enabled data center components A cloud-enabled data center includes the following key components: Virtualization capabilities are provided through hypervisors. Hypervisors are a prerequisite function for the IBM cloud management solutions. VM provisioning encompasses the automatic policy-based deployment and configuration of VMs, properly configured with their storage and network requirements from a self-service catalog. This subsystem also includes components that allow creating standard virtual image templates and managing their lifecycle. Metering and chargeback measures services usage to help you understand who is using the services and how they are using the services. The service usage is the basis for eventually billing the user. By using monitoring, you can effectively manage the health status of a cloud infrastructure by providing the services that are necessary to deliver the expected QoS and SLAs. 8 IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers

19 Capacity management is used to project future cloud infrastructure needs to support planning for capacity growth, changes, or both. The backup and restore services are provided for the cloud management infrastructure and for the VMs and storage that are created by the IaaS solution. This feature helps with improving the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) aspects of an IaaS solution. Patch management and security compliance component helps to maintain and secure all the VMs that are created in your cloud environment. It ensures that the VMs are aligned to the latest upgrade and fix levels and are compliant with the required enterprise security policies. IT Service Management integrates the cloud services with IT management processes such as problem management, service desk, and asset management. The capabilities that are provided by each functional block are mapped to the appropriate IBM software components that are used to implement them, as described in 1.4, IBM cloud solution stack components on page 10. Chapter 1. Managed and cloud services 9

20 1.4 IBM cloud solution stack components Figure 1-3 highlights IBM solution stack components that can be used in the cloud-enabled data center (Figure 1-2 on page 8). They can be added, if necessary, to address specific customer needs. IT Service Management Problem and IT Asset Service Incident SmartCloud Management Control Desk Desk Management Cloud Management Tivoli Endpoint Backup Storage and Patch SmartCloud Compliance Patch Manager Restore Management Management and Suite for UR Management Virtualized Capacity Infrastructure SmartCloud Monitoring Management Monitoring and Planning VM Provisioning Increasing Capability VM VM Image SmartCloud provisioning and On- Provisioning Construction and boarding Management Usage SmartCloud metering, accounting Cost Management and chargeback Compute, IBM Storage, PureFlex System and Network Storwize V7000 ESXi, Virtualization KVM, PowerVM, layer Hyper-V Figure 1-3 IBM solution stack for the cloud-enabled data center Core infrastructure IBM PureFlex System is a comprehensive infrastructure system that provides an expert integrated computing system, combining servers, enterprise storage, networking, virtualization, and management into a single structure. Its built-in expertise enables organizations to simply manage and flexibly deploy integrated patterns of virtual and hardware resources through unified management. 10 IBM PureFlex System Solutions for Managed Service Providers