Data center consolidation can be attained by leveraging a mix of strategies and technologies to make IT architectures supremely efficient. The process involves consolidating more than one data center or inversely, making one large data center run more effectively with available resources.
IT experts opine that a data center is not only the most complex but also the most critical part of any IT architecture. That’s why any improvement measure for boosting the efficiency of a data center will generally have a broader effect as the performance and efficiency of overall IT systems will also get a pull up. Data center consolidation is generally considered for focusing on the finite data storage resources and building enhanced legacy systems.
There are many ways of consolidating data centers and improving the efficiency of IT systems. The commonly used strategies are:
Server or storage virtualization in which the physical networking systems are replaced with virtual networks also known as logical access systems
Using blade servers or similar alternatives.
Using new cloud hosting systems as a replacement for in-house hardware and software systems
Using third party vendor services for business automation and for carrying out other improvements for reducing resources dependence
Saving Time, Money and Resources
Of all your IT infrastructure components, the data center is easily the most complex one. If you can find a way of simplifying data center setup, you can save substantial sums of money and a large chunk of your resources.
If you are a small and growing enterprise with a fairly recent market presence, you can definitely benefit from adapting to the cloud environment. However, if you are a business with a fairly established market presence and have grown to become a larger establishment through acquisitions and mergers, and have over the years established an impressive data center network, then the benefits if data center consolidation are many.
You Can Benefit In At Least Three Ways Through Data Center Consolidation
Savings
When you take steps to consolidate your data center, it can result in smaller hardware infrastructure. This can automatically translate into savings in operations overhead over a period of time. However, there are many other associated benefits such as agility as the IT can be turned into a revenue center by accelerating time to market.
Planning a data center consolidation blueprint but not sure about moving to the cloud? You don’t have to actually take the dive to know about all the benefits. Staffing costs can also be brought down significantly through cloud consolidation.
Security
Cloud consolidation can also give your security measures a huge push up. When you consolidate all your call centers, your security perimeters also come within a smaller frame, thus limiting the entry and exit points. With malware attacks becoming more frequent in recent times and hackers going hi-tech, security should be accorded the highest priority. The best way to do this is to consolidate your data center and intensify security power. Having a single data center with fully updated systems is any day better than having multiple data centers, spread out across diverse locations with outdated legacy systems.
If your data consolidation moves involve moving data to the cloud, you could be dealing with some major security concerns. The cloud is viewed by many as being less secure than a physical data center. Many feel that having your data in a physical space is a better way of ensuring its security and you will remain in control at all times. However, this perception might not be always right. There are many instances that prove beyond any element of doubt that better control does not mean better security.
Control
Consolidation of data centers offers greater future flexibility and scalability. When all your critical business resources are placed neatly and systematically in one place, you can remain in absolute control of operations and resources. You can easily find out what the problem areas are and what needs to be made redundant. If there is an outage or an attack, you will be able to zero in on the problem and secure any gaps quickly and effectively.
There is a key benefit of streamlining your data center and that is a simplification of auditing tasks. It also makes compliance easy as you will be operating a local cloud storage system with access to all operational systems and processes. Global enterprises that operate in countries with stringent data laws can make sure that their data remains secure within that country.
There are many reasons for companies to have a large, comprehensive data center. This is especially true for companies with colossal amounts of data and looking for secure storage. Unconsolidated data center will work for you but moving to a large physical data center can be that differentiating factor between average and super efficiency and of course, security.
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