At the center of Data Center Modernization is finding out how to do things faster, smaller, cheaper, and with more flexibility. IT departments within organizations are often challenged in that they generally inherit legacy IT hardware such as older storage arrays, server platforms, and software licensing that doesn’t match their long-term IT transformation goals. Business applications that control critical business functions might be outdated or poorly managed. They have pieces and parts that may or may not be fully integrated or running at optimal levels. Once the IT industry started moving away from monolithic big iron to X86 server architecture, costs came down; however, server and data center sprawl took place. Networking needs grew at this time as well as rack space, which directly increased power demands and the overall IT footprint.

Data backup vs. data archiving – these topics aren’t so much an either or, but rather a necessary combination. With the increase in attacks that often include malware, employee sabotage, ransomware, and a host of other denial of service events, being able to recover your data is now a boardroom discussion.

Most IT professionals understand the definitions of Big Data, but what they often struggle with is understanding how to monetize Big Data to deliver new insights for their organization. Ninety percent of all data was created in the past two years and continues to grow without limits. Truth be told, most IT departments focus on keeping the lights on by making sure that the hardware in their data centers stays up and running to keep the business moving. Big Data analytics are often times a “nice to have” and not a “need to have” solely based on limited internal resources, direction from the C-suite, and investment from the business. However, as IT transforms, IT becomes the business!

The Internet of Things, or “IoT,” is constantly evolving and taking on new meanings as technology penetrates industries that generally have not relied on IT to grow. At its fundamental definition, IoT can be seen as the convergence of multiple technologies, including wireless communication, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. IoT is also the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity. These objects collect and exchange data, resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit, in addition to reduced human intervention.