What should your data center look like? Latest research from Gartner and Forrester sheds some light on how many data centers your organization should have, as well as the kind of work your data center should be doing.
Are your data centers making you agile? Gartner found that many organizations have too many centers in too many countries. Having too many data centers can limit the company’s IT agility, as well as cause unnecessary expense managing multiple infrastructures. Limited flexibility and added costs can take away from the efficiency gains originally expected. The best solution, according to Gartner, is to limit the number of data centers to two on each continent. Though, the number may still have to be higher in industries that require geographical proximity and security (such as government services and financial institutions).
Are you using the right mix of generic and specialized infrastructure? Data centers that are concentrating only on producing software are no longer enough. According to Forrester research, organizations should aim to create business-defined data centers that are capable of serving a wide range of business applications rather than serve one specialized niche. This may change how companies search for service providers; they may look for providers with a wide range of capabilities. Although, specialization is not dead – Forrester suggests that 80% of data centers should have a generic infrastructure and 20% should remain specialized.
What is the best way to organize your data center?
1. Limit the number of data centers so that your IT remains agile and flexible and does not waste unnecessary resources.
2. Ensure that your organization’s data center infrastructure has a right balance of “business-defined” functions and specialized software functions (at least 20% specialized).
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