June 2008

An analysis of key financial-management trends, tools and events about data center consolidation.

Data centers are constantly evolving to keep pace with the needs of the business. In particular, CIOs in nearly every industry and every company are consolidating data centers. Some are driven by the need for cost savings; others, to reduce their energy use and "go green." Still other data centers are consolidating as the result of global corporate mergers or acquisitions. All share a need for best practices and powerful tools that can make the job easier and the results more tangible.

• At IDC's Middle East CIO Summit in Dubai this past March, 120 of the top CIOs in the region — from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — were present for two days of dialogue about their IT leadership priorities and challenges. According to a blog posting by Frank Gens, IDC Senior VP and Chief Analyst, "building out a modern IT infrastructure is a big priority for many, as economic growth is putting pressure on CIOs to scale the IT foundation quickly." At the same time, CIOs in attendance were also "focused on consolidation and virtualization initiatives to make their existing IT operations more efficient," he writes.

• A National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) survey reports that U.S. states are actively looking for ways to consolidate their servers and implement virtualization. Read about data center consolidation progress among members. The group meets nationally as well as regionally so that the public sector CIOs can share best practices and support common needs.

• Green IT may be top of mind, but most corporate efforts are driven by costs, not environmentalism, according to a recent report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In its recent five-part report, PWC concludes that the main drivers of the sustainability movement for technology industry companies are economic rather than altruistic. The study, based on a global online survey of technology industry executives as well as in-depth personal interviews with industry leaders, says the potential to increase revenue through the increasing demand for greener products and services, data center consolidation, and the desire to cut costs by reducing energy consumption are key drivers for most current initiatives. The report also indicates that improving sustainability will require collaboration all along the supply chain and that unique opportunities exist for both hardware and software companies. Listen to the podcast.

• Is there evidence that CIOs can really show substantial ROI from green IT initiatives? That was the question posed to a panel of CIOs on a March broadcast of CIO Talk Radio called "Green IT: The True ROI." The answers were mixed. Some said that typical green IT efforts are primarily aimed at improving the global environment and meeting corporate or governmental sustainability goals, not at balance sheets. But if these efforts are really going to take hold, they also need to show tangible ROI on their related investments. Panelists included: Molly A. O'Neill, CIO of Environmental Information at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Wendy Bell, CIO of GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services; Pat Lawicki, Senior VP and CIO, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and Ashok Singhal, CTO and Founder, 3PAR. Listen to the full discussion of this impressive panel.

• The Uptime Institute — representing 100 of the largest data centers in the world — has conducted research and advised corporate data center executives about system availability, reliability and resiliency for decades. Recently, the organization expanded its expertise into the area of green computing. At Symposium 2008: Green Enterprise Computing, the Institute addressed some of the strategic and operational hurdles that businesses face in achieving green goals. It discussed the findings of a survey it conducted jointly with McKinsey & Co., as well as its own industry benchmarks for improving energy efficiency in data centers. Executive Director Ken Brill discusses the event in a podcast, and you can also read the Institute's new Four Metrics for Determining a Green Data Center. One recommendation? Hire an Energy Czar to drive the strategy throughout the organization.

• We've all heard of mobile computing, but how about data centers in a box? That's a concept that's attracting some corporate interest in the push to reduce the footprint of giant server farms. Sun's Project Black Box was released last year, and now Microsoft is considering similar offerings. Verari Systems unveiled what it calls a modular, portable, "container" data center that travels in railroad car-size units to wherever you want your processing power that week. It also offers rack-mounted storage units and telecom equipment. Learn more details about Verari's data center.

• Looking for someplace less expensive to locate a data center? How about Poland? According to a report by analyst Reineke Reitsma at Forrester Research, "Poland 2007: An Emerging Market of Technology Optimists — Business View Market Overview," Poland has a lot of potential for companies looking to expand business into Central Europe. The income of the average Polish consumer is growing and will increase even more in the future, thanks to a developing economy and high levels of investment in the region, according to the report. Moreover, the country has made huge progress in terms of democracy and its economy. Although it still has a long way to go when it comes to technology implementation, Forrester thinks there's reason to be optimistic for the future: Over the past two years, online usage in Poland has grown by 28 percent, the highest in Europe. Polish consumers are also adopting social computing activities faster than many other European countries and already shop online more often than consumers in Southern Europe. Read more about Poland's potential.

• CA Resources: A new CA study surveyed 300 CIOs and other top IT executives at companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia with more than $250 million in annual revenue and found the top three goals companies are hoping to achieve with data center automation efforts are: uptime/business continuity, performance management and enabling dynamic response to changes in business demands. It also revealed a significantly higher percentage of U.S. respondents (40%) identify compliance and audit as a top goal, compared to those in Europe (24%) and Asia (19%). Get more details.