The Data Center Scenario:

The Intelligent Data Center

Rakesh Kumar
Naveen Mishra

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The future data center will focus not on workload, but on workflow …

And not on where the work is located but on what the work is doing.

How do YOU create INTELLIGENCE

#GartnerSYM
in your data center?
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Key Issues

1. What are the drivers for the intelligent

data center?
2. How will the intelligent data center evolve?
3. What will be the long-term impact on data
center organizations and strategies?

#GartnerSYM
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Key Issues

1. What are the drivers for the intelligent

data center?
2. How will the intelligent data center evolve?
3. What will be the long-term impact on data
center organizations and strategies?

#GartnerSYM
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Challenges for the CIO
What It Means for the Data Center Team
New markets,
Planning Evolving new Long-term Increasing
for the demand for opportunities, capital cost on opex
unknown IT resources constant constraints optimization
change

2014 India CIO Technology Priority

1 MOBILE
2 BI/ANALYTICS
3 INFRASTRUCTURE & DATA CENTER
4 ERP
5 CLOUD
6 NETWORKING, VOICE AND DATA COMMS.
7 SECURITY Infrastructure and operations
8 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT transformation will be the first
9 COLLABORATION step toward digital business
10 CONTINUITY
11 COST/EFFICIENCY
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12 DIGITALIZATION/DIGITAL MKTG.
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Eight Critical Forces Affecting Enterprise Data
Centers — The Data Center as a "Living Organism"
Processor/System Architectural Operational
Design/Power Topology/RTI Processes/Tools
Watts, cores, threading Server density Remote management
server, storage, networks Server types Utilization
Virtualization Change/configuration
Skills/HR

Facilities
COST RISK DR/BC
Modification Synch./asynchronous
Power — supply, cost Data management
Cooling — design High availability
Structures — floors Data center distribution
External supplies/grid

Consolidation O/S, Application Capacity

Rationalization Changes Growth
Footprint System z, Linux, Windows Footprint increases
New technology SOA, legacy applications colocation, outsourcing

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Drivers

• External factors, mobility, data growth, analytics

• Data center topology — app and industry
specific, network services
• Pace layering
• D/C economics, capex versus opex,
hosting, cloud
• One size does not fit all
• Software-defined everything
• Global IT service continuity
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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Data Center Design Challenges

Computing Power Floor Space Energy Consumption

Server, Storage, and Networks

Facilities Design Data Center Economics
Virtualization
Growth and Expansion Global Energy Prices
Different Workloads
Location and Cost Green Legislation
Multicores

Obsolescence Cost BAD "Green" Credentials

Limits Growth PUE and DCIM Tools

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Data Center Strategy Using
Pace-Layered Application Strategy

+
Off-Premises Systems of -
Data Centers Innovation

Governance
Change

Systems of
Differentiation

- On-Premises Systems of
Record
Data Centers +
of CIOs currently have
45% a second fast/agile
mode of operation
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Source: 2014 Gartner Annual CIO Survey
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Key Issues

1. What are the drivers for the intelligent

data center?
2. How will the intelligent data center evolve?
3. What will be the long-term impact on data
center organizations and strategies?

#GartnerSYM
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Today's Data Center Silos

Applications Independent
Provisioning
and Support:
Virtual • Virtual machines
Compute Network Storage
Appliances • Server adapters
• Storage partitions
• Networks
• Appliances

How It Effects IT:

• Delayed time to service
• Added complexity
• Problem identification and
resolution

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Intelligent Data Centers —
Software-Defined Everything
Workloads Today's
Policy Engines:
• Platform-specific.
• Job schedulers.
Virtualized
Server • Manual correlation across tiers.
Tomorrow's
Software
Policy Engines:
Virtualized • Non-platform-specific.
-Defined
Storage
Network • Focus is workloads and workflow.
• Platform agnostic.
Implications:
• Inherited policies cascading down.
• Energy policy standards.
Virtualized • Automated data sharing
Data Center between engines.

The future data center will focus not on workload, but on workflow …
#GartnerSYM
And not on where the work is located, but on what the work is doing.
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 Intelligent Data Center v2.0
SDS Customized DC Modules
Tailored Facilities
SDI
SDN Multizone DCIM
SDC
Multitier
Software-Defined Optimized
Data Center Resources

Global Topology
IT Service Continuity (IT-SC)

Nonstop Hybrid
Multisourcing
BCM Demand Data Center Data Center
DRM Cloud Services
RTO Driven
Internal, Hosted, Hybrid, Cloud
New Operational New Infrastructure
Models Models

Bimodal IT Integrated Systems

DevOps
Disaggregated Systems
Web Scale IT Open Source Infrastructure
Agile
Web-Scale IT
ODMs
The future data center will focus not on workload, but on workflow …
#GartnerSYM
And not on where the work is located, but on what the work is doing.
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Eventually — Hybrid Data Centers

• Granular growth strategy

• Move noncritical work
to free space, or move
critical work to improve
availability
• Use colocation or cloud
as a growth vehicle
• Incremental opex growth,
long-term capital deferral

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Key Issues

1. What are the drivers for the intelligent

data center?
2. How will the intelligent data center evolve?
3. What will be the long-term impact on data
center organizations and strategies?

#GartnerSYM
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
The Intelligent Data Center Organization

• Business-IT agility
• Relationships with
third-party suppliers
• Speed of change
versus quality of
change:
− DevOps
• Hybrid support
• Impact of nexus:
− Data scientist
− BYOD, new devices

#GartnerSYM Source: Adapted From Leading Teams (J. Richard Hackman)

© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
The Intelligent Data Center Manager
Overall IT Budget

Run the Business Grow Transform

Run the Business of I&O Grow Transform

Portfolio of Projects
Run the Business of I&O: Grow: Transform:
• DR • New D/C • Cloud
• Process Improvement • New • SDDC
• Infrastructure Change Architecture
• New Tools
• Consolidation

Portfolio Manager Finance Manager

Diplomat
#GartnerSYM Risk Manager Marketing Manager
© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
New Roles and Skills Will Emerge Over
the Next Three Years
Mobile Technology: Cloud:
- Channels manager - Cloud engineer/architect
- Mobile UI designer - Cloud security specialist
- Mobile developer - Service manager
- Mobile user support - Solution manager
Social Computing - Vendor/Contract manager
and Collaboration: Big Data and Information
- Behavioral practitioner Management/Analytics:
- Collaboration analyst - Big data specialist
- Community leader/manager - Customer insight analyst
- Media manager - Data scientist
- Social computing developer/engineer - Information architect
- Taxonomy analyst

What happens to your existing talent?

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Prepare for the Disruption
in the Vendor Landscape
Disruptees: Disruptors:
• Server Vendors: • Server Market:
- IBM, Dell, HP, Fujitsu - Cisco, VCE, Lenovo
• Storage Vendors: • Storage Market:
- 3PAR, EqualLogic, Nimble, Compellent
- EMC, NetApp, HP, Hitachi
Technologies, Pillar
• Networking Vendors: • Networking Market:
- Cisco, Juniper Networks, Brocade - Huawei, HP, Dell, VMware, Oracle, Big
• Processors and Architectures: Switch Networks
- RISC, x86, Itanium, SMP • New Architectural Models:
• Big "Brands": - Atom, ARM, Extreme Scale-Out
- Established Vendors • "Bring Your Own Server":
• "Best-of-Breed": - Quanta, Wiwynn, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS
- Established Vendors • "One Throat to Choke":
- Integrated Systems
• General Purpose:
• Performance Optimized:
- Established Vendors
- Compute Appliances
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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Your Action Plan
What CIOs and data center executives should do:
Today:
- Understand and document what your data center will look like in 5 years time.
- Focus on intelligence, SDE and measurement tools.
- Make sure your team and your managers buy into this vision. Develop a hybrid data
center vision.
Near Future:
- Map your applications to the right data center delivery service (internal, hosting, cloud
etc.) using the pace-layering approach.
- Start deploying intelligent software tools (DCIM, ITSM etc.) to move your data center
from a "factory" to a "laboratory."
- Develop new types of data center manager skills.
Longer Term:
- Reorganize your data center delivery teams to focus on agility and innovation.
- Recruit specialist roles such as data scientists.
- Change your vendor relationships to focus on those that give you intelligent products.

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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Recommended Gartner Research
 Eight Benefits of a Process Approach to Data Center Cost
Optimization
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 How to Ensure Good Financial Returns for Data Center
Consolidation Projects
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 Eight Critical Forces That Will Shape Enterprise Data Center
Strategies for the Next Five Years
Rakesh Kumar (G00248547)
 Save Costs and Optimize Service Delivery by Limiting Your Data
Center Topology to Two per Continent
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 How IT Leaders Can Improve the Data Center's Economic Value Amid
Global Pressures
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 Use an Innovative Approach to Manage I&O Budgets Beyond 2013
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For more information, stop by Gartner Research Zone.
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© 2014 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.