VIRTUALIZATION HAS BEEN TOO SUCCESSFUL... SERIOUSLY?
The data center is in the midst of tremendous change. Organizations are implementing transforming technologies (for example: virtualization, cloud services, unified fabric) and achieving huge benefits. However, there is a downside to this success... too much success!
We understand this is difficult to wrap your head around but we see it every day. Think about it... an organization implements a virtualized data center which scales and is efficient and flexible. They see immediate efficiencies including lower facilities and power / cooling costs, increased hardware utilization, more responsive service levels and a faster deployment of business impacting solutions. The infrastructure is so easy to manipulate and so flexible in responding to business demands that the organization does just that... and sooner or later they have created a critical problem: too much complexity. The complexity of managing exponentially increasing numbers of disconnected physical and virtual compute, storage and network resources now must be addressed.
IT COSTS ARE EATING MY BUDGET
The reality is that most IT solutions are significantly under-utilized. Until recently, it was difficult, if not impossible to make full use of these assets which include network, compute and storage resources. This translates into significantly higher hardware, software and management costs. For example, if the average server is ten percent utilized, that translates into ten servers being required to support the workload that should be handled by a single server. This results in significantly higher costs and inefficient use of the organizations IT budget. This same comparison holds true for other technology areas including network and storage infrastructures.
INTEGRATING DISPARATE TECHNOLOGIES IS COSTLY AND INEFFICIENT
Building a production environment out of separate, or silo technologies, which are not designed to work together, is extremely costly in both initial capital costs and ongoing expense costs. Disparate systems require disparate support and maintenance personnel and unique maintenance contracts to fulfill organizational service level agreements to end users. All of this translates into higher than necessary IT costs.
AGILITY, RELIABILITY, AND ALIGNMENT WITH KEY BUSINESS INITIATIVES
Let's face it, all of us are being asked to do more with less. Within IT we have the same systems to support, but in most cases, we have diminished staffing levels. Something has to give. In many cases, it’s preventative maintenance, patches and upgrades, as well as projects that could add significant value to the organization. The result is a slower response to business requests and user support. In short, it’s an IT death spiral that is never ending. IT is perceived as not getting anything done, not adding value to the organization, and constantly asking for additional money just to keep the lights on.