Not long ago, TechPulse conducted a poll on Converged Data Center Trends in real-world IT organizations. I thought that some of the responses were extremely interesting and shed some light on what’s going on today with the journey to the modern data center. Take a look for yourself to see what your peers are saying.
My take away from this poll is that businesses are facing a very dynamic mix of old and new challenges, and are looking at modern solutions to the business drivers facing IT today. Speaking as somebody with over 15 years of experience delivering data center solutions for customers in a wide range of technology sets – from servers, storage, virtualization, and networking to disaster recovery – I’ve been watching the incredibly rapid evolution of information technology with keen interest in recent years. Looking at some of these metrics from the TechPulse poll my IT “common sense radar” is going off like crazy as I notice opportunities for customers to leverage convergence to solve these business challenges.
Take for example the old challenge of Disaster Recovery. Did you know that a whopping 58% of those interviewed have not tested their disaster recovery plan in more than 6 months? More so, 23% have either never tested their plan or haven’t tested for 1-2 years, and a shocking 10% said they had no DR plan at all. Whoa. I’m not sure I would be able to sleep well at night as an IT Director or CIO knowing I have no disaster recovery plan, or that the plan isn’t tested well enough to be sure it will work when needed. Most organizations today are not just reliant on IT, they live and die by IT. If an extended power outage, accidental sprinkler discharge, or a true disaster like a flood or fire is all that’s standing between me and a Resume Generating Event (RGE), I would be looking seriously at getting a DR Plan or getting it tested. The good news here is that converged and hyper-converged technology is making it cheaper and less complex to implement DR in a way that the organization can re-leverage as an asset rather than a burden.
This naturally brings me to the Cloud – another model that’s helping customers solve the old DR problem with new technologies. I found the responses in the TechPulse poll around Private Cloud Strategy particularly insightful – 44% of respondents are pursuing some type of private cloud strategy while about 26% are not currently pursuing a cloud strategy at all. However, the largest single group – 30% – are focusing mostly on moving workloads to the public cloud. I think this shows that the adoption of cloud technologies, whether public or private, is definitely on the ascent. Companies without some type of cloud strategy will be at a competitive disadvantage moving forward, due to the fact that scalability, self-service, automation, and the cost benefits of leveraging a public infrastructure have all become essential components of a modern converged data center.
It’s an extremely exciting time for technology, as new innovations are solving business problems and creating opportunity like never before. However, the vast array of options and methods now available can make the journey to the modern converged data center seem daunting. Partners like Connection are helping our customers navigate the choices and challenges facing modern IT organizations every day. But just remember, wherever your business currently is on the path, there’s always a next step, and it never hurts to have a guide along the way. Have fun taking a look at the poll.
