IT RESELLER – MARCH 2010
All is not well in the data centre
It
would appear that systems integrators, their virtual environment and 16 per cent
consultants or systems vendors would do looking at management suite suppliers.
well to advise company chief information Encouragingly, the promise of data centre
officers on improving data centre management. automation to reduce the cost of the data
Alarmingly, only 30 per cent of companies centre and improve alignment with business
reportedly see data centre operational cost as goals is recognised by 69 per cent of
a priority. Also, many seem divided on the best organisations. And although cost is the main
way to approach their data centre management factor, improving security by reducing errors
regime; with 58 per cent looking to the modular is the second most commonly mentioned
option and 42 per cent preferring reason for using data centre automation.
an integrated approach. And 25
per cent of organisations are European organisations would seem to have
still managing their servers and moved on in their approach to managing
storage manually, leading to their data centre, compared to when the
much higher costs compared IDC last surveyed on this subject in 2006.
with organisations that are using Chris Ingle, associate VP consulting at IDC,
some tools, such as automation. made the point that, in particular, virtualisation
and automation have brought ways to
The above figures are taken reduce cost and free up resources.
from the recent findings of “However, there is still considerable potential
International Data Corporation to reduce cost by improving management,”
(IDC) research. The IDC also he said. Justifying investment in improving
makes the point that the management is a challenge, Nathaniel
rapid growth of virtualisation Martinez, programme director in IDC’s
has changed the nature of Systems and Infrastructure group,
management, with diverse commented that, based on the survey,
challenges created. Overall, data centre managers seem much more
the prime concern – cited by 31 per cent of concerned with finding suppliers that can
respondents – is being able to integrate server, address security and availability problems
storage and network management. However, than with ensuring that their data centre
there are many complexities; for example, larger meets the requirements of their business.
data centres are more concerned with unifying
their physical and virtual management and Although the benefits of virtualisation and
smaller sites are finding integrating different automation are well documented, it would
virtualisation technologies into a single seem CIOs could gain better advice on how
management strategy to be essential. The to more effectively leverage the advantages
market for virtualisation on offer. After all, informed investment in
management is wide open, with such data centre improvements can not only
52 per cent of organisations potentially save money at an operational
relying on their virtualisation level but also enhance company performance
The magazine for resellers, distributors,
system integrators and OEMs
provider, 32 per cent using their and business success.
MARCH 2010
systems vendor to manage
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