Transforming IT Operations with Software-Defined Data Centers
by Karyn Price 12 Dec 2013
In my last post, I examined the
software-defined data center craze and how it can transform data
centers, allowing them to become more flexible, agile, and efficient. We
did a deeper dive on the technology that supports Software-Defined Data
Centers (SDDCs) and how it enables flexibility and agility in the IT
environment.
But software-defined data centers facilitate far more than a shift to the latest technology: they make transformation of IT operations possible.
Some may ask why such a shift is necessary, but my guess is that you already know. Budgets have stagnated for years and within enterprise IT, doing more with less has become “business as usual.” In fact, a recent Frost & Sullivan survey showed that more than half of IT decision makers have flat budgets, and nearly 40 percent express concern about restricted capital budgets. Clearly, massive hardware upgrades to migrate to new technology is becoming harder and harder to justify. Despite this, business expectations increase and there is constant drive … to do more, be more, enable more … that requires IT to respond.
So business as usual is no longer an option. IT is discovering that it needs to make changes – sometimes difficult ones – in order to thrive in the hypercompetitive world that is global enterprise. Technology alone is not enough … IT must also shift its mindset and operations if it expects to succeed. So we turn to operations … but can technology really morph so drastically that it enables us to change the very ways that we interact with it?
In a word … yes.
IT as a Service, powered by a Software-Defined Data Center, recognizes that people outside of IT are becoming more tech-savvy. Years of navigating iTunes, Google Apps, and a never-ending string of e-commerce sites have given employees outside of IT a sense of confidence that they can procure the services that they need to work effectively. And in response, IT can create environments that enable a greater level of self-service and choice within the business, while maintaining control over key aspects of security and compliance. Doing so allows business leaders greater control – and responsibility – over the technology that they choose to support their departments; including how much is spent and how well it is optimized.
It also allows the IT department to make an important shift in focus: no longer is day-to-day management of hardware the most critical task. In today’s IT world, innovation in the form of new applications and services is imperative to business’s overall success. Every new service that fosters collaboration, enables road warriors to work better, or helps those in the office to be more efficient in daily tasks stems from the innovation provided by the IT department. The majority of IT’s focus must be trained on these key tasks, and move away from the pure management function.
But how does an SDDC achieve this IT efficiency? Once again, it’s the overlaying orchestration layer that manages the environment that drives this level of effectiveness and progress. Operations management within the orchestration layer offers insight into the health, efficiency, and compliance of the environment. When administrators use an SDDC management platform, they can optimize network traffic, manage resources based on traffic and usage, and ensure the integrity of the environment automatically, using easy-to-understand dashboards, infrastructure maps, and management panels. Pre-set policies also enable bandwidth allocation changes based on current conditions in the data center—like traffic spikes or increased usage of a particular application.
In this environment, tasks like provisioning or maintenance, which could take hours or even days in the old, manual IT environment, are now completed in minutes, thanks to the automated orchestration within the SDDC. So what can your department do with its newfound free time that was formerly devoted to IT management? Innovate.
That’s right … IT innovation will be the key to the new generation of business. I believe we are entering a time of even greater innovation in IT, thanks in part to the shift that IT can make away from monotonous, routine management tasks and toward creation and delivery of services that directly impact the business. By making the shift to an SDDC environment, you’re enabling the environment to run with little intervention, while your team focuses on higher-value projects.
For more information on transforming your business with an SDDC foundation, visit the VMware SDDC website.
But software-defined data centers facilitate far more than a shift to the latest technology: they make transformation of IT operations possible.
Some may ask why such a shift is necessary, but my guess is that you already know. Budgets have stagnated for years and within enterprise IT, doing more with less has become “business as usual.” In fact, a recent Frost & Sullivan survey showed that more than half of IT decision makers have flat budgets, and nearly 40 percent express concern about restricted capital budgets. Clearly, massive hardware upgrades to migrate to new technology is becoming harder and harder to justify. Despite this, business expectations increase and there is constant drive … to do more, be more, enable more … that requires IT to respond.
So business as usual is no longer an option. IT is discovering that it needs to make changes – sometimes difficult ones – in order to thrive in the hypercompetitive world that is global enterprise. Technology alone is not enough … IT must also shift its mindset and operations if it expects to succeed. So we turn to operations … but can technology really morph so drastically that it enables us to change the very ways that we interact with it?
In a word … yes.
IT as a Service, powered by a Software-Defined Data Center, recognizes that people outside of IT are becoming more tech-savvy. Years of navigating iTunes, Google Apps, and a never-ending string of e-commerce sites have given employees outside of IT a sense of confidence that they can procure the services that they need to work effectively. And in response, IT can create environments that enable a greater level of self-service and choice within the business, while maintaining control over key aspects of security and compliance. Doing so allows business leaders greater control – and responsibility – over the technology that they choose to support their departments; including how much is spent and how well it is optimized.
It also allows the IT department to make an important shift in focus: no longer is day-to-day management of hardware the most critical task. In today’s IT world, innovation in the form of new applications and services is imperative to business’s overall success. Every new service that fosters collaboration, enables road warriors to work better, or helps those in the office to be more efficient in daily tasks stems from the innovation provided by the IT department. The majority of IT’s focus must be trained on these key tasks, and move away from the pure management function.
But how does an SDDC achieve this IT efficiency? Once again, it’s the overlaying orchestration layer that manages the environment that drives this level of effectiveness and progress. Operations management within the orchestration layer offers insight into the health, efficiency, and compliance of the environment. When administrators use an SDDC management platform, they can optimize network traffic, manage resources based on traffic and usage, and ensure the integrity of the environment automatically, using easy-to-understand dashboards, infrastructure maps, and management panels. Pre-set policies also enable bandwidth allocation changes based on current conditions in the data center—like traffic spikes or increased usage of a particular application.
In this environment, tasks like provisioning or maintenance, which could take hours or even days in the old, manual IT environment, are now completed in minutes, thanks to the automated orchestration within the SDDC. So what can your department do with its newfound free time that was formerly devoted to IT management? Innovate.
That’s right … IT innovation will be the key to the new generation of business. I believe we are entering a time of even greater innovation in IT, thanks in part to the shift that IT can make away from monotonous, routine management tasks and toward creation and delivery of services that directly impact the business. By making the shift to an SDDC environment, you’re enabling the environment to run with little intervention, while your team focuses on higher-value projects.
For more information on transforming your business with an SDDC foundation, visit the VMware SDDC website.
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