Report: Data center consolidation can reduce costs
Consolidation and virtualization can help reduce data center expenses.
By Max BurkhalterApril 6, 2011
In a recent TMCnet report, IT expert Amir Peles claimed consolidation and virtualization of data centers can help companies reduce costs and increase efficiency.
According to Peles, consolidating and virtualizing data centers enables organizations to reduce both the number of network infrastructure components in a data center and the total number of data centers the company uses.
Furthermore, data center consolidation can lead to financial savings on several expenses, including space, management, spare units and electricity costs.
Virtualization at a data center level can also help improve efficiency. According to Peles, server virtualization allows for a reduction in the number of physical servers "by allowing to run multiple, logical server instances on fewer physical servers."
Similarly, virtualization of network infrastructure "enables for the reduction of the number of network infrastructure elements, such as switches, routers and application delivery controllers," he wrote.
At the same time, network infrastructure virtualization enables application service level agreements to be maintained and requirements met, without the need to sacrifice computing resources, Peles said.
Peles also noted the importance of orchestration and workflow automation systems for ensuring data center efficiency. Data centers, according to Peles, are becoming increasingly complex, with companies often utilizing a range of applications, business processes and products from different vendors.
In order to deal with this growing complexity, data center operators ought to employ centralized orchestration and management systems that can help increase IT agility, reduce risks and cut down operational costs.
Centralized management and orchestration systems, Peles said, "are being adopted by customers to enable data center automation and to have complete end-to-end visibility and control over various data center operations."
Peles also argued for the centrality of scalability in today's data centers. As cloud computing continues to grow, many organizations are coming to expect that their IT solutions will be completely scalable. Without needing to invest in extra hardware for the future, companies expect to be able to increase their IT performance and capacity with short notice.
According to Peles, "Today’s data center managers are required to scale their data center 'on demand,' breaking the vicious cycle of a two-to-three-year platform refreshment period and extending it to five-to-six years, hence allowing to address future network and business demand with minimal changes to existing hardware."
As data centers adapt to new technologies, many data center managers are looking for ways to reduce spending. According to a recent InfoWorld report, data center managers may be able to cut costs by employing a range of techniques, including allowing temperatures to remain relatively high.
According to Peles, consolidating and virtualizing data centers enables organizations to reduce both the number of network infrastructure components in a data center and the total number of data centers the company uses.
Furthermore, data center consolidation can lead to financial savings on several expenses, including space, management, spare units and electricity costs.
Virtualization at a data center level can also help improve efficiency. According to Peles, server virtualization allows for a reduction in the number of physical servers "by allowing to run multiple, logical server instances on fewer physical servers."
Similarly, virtualization of network infrastructure "enables for the reduction of the number of network infrastructure elements, such as switches, routers and application delivery controllers," he wrote.
At the same time, network infrastructure virtualization enables application service level agreements to be maintained and requirements met, without the need to sacrifice computing resources, Peles said.
Peles also noted the importance of orchestration and workflow automation systems for ensuring data center efficiency. Data centers, according to Peles, are becoming increasingly complex, with companies often utilizing a range of applications, business processes and products from different vendors.
In order to deal with this growing complexity, data center operators ought to employ centralized orchestration and management systems that can help increase IT agility, reduce risks and cut down operational costs.
Centralized management and orchestration systems, Peles said, "are being adopted by customers to enable data center automation and to have complete end-to-end visibility and control over various data center operations."
Peles also argued for the centrality of scalability in today's data centers. As cloud computing continues to grow, many organizations are coming to expect that their IT solutions will be completely scalable. Without needing to invest in extra hardware for the future, companies expect to be able to increase their IT performance and capacity with short notice.
According to Peles, "Today’s data center managers are required to scale their data center 'on demand,' breaking the vicious cycle of a two-to-three-year platform refreshment period and extending it to five-to-six years, hence allowing to address future network and business demand with minimal changes to existing hardware."
As data centers adapt to new technologies, many data center managers are looking for ways to reduce spending. According to a recent InfoWorld report, data center managers may be able to cut costs by employing a range of techniques, including allowing temperatures to remain relatively high.
