Category "Blog"

Growth is about getting the right solution along with the right support at the right point in your revenue plan. The journey to higher growth needs to be supported by cost efficiencies and a well designed, well supported Data Center with fastest response times could be your biggest ally in this journey!

Over the next three years, all mobile data will double, and all forms of global IT traffic will quadruple. Your servers and even your cloud will not be able to keep pace with the data deluge that is on its way! What then, is your solution to meet this new business paradigm halfway… and still grow?

In a study conducted by Ponemon Institute in 2013, a one minute Data Center downtime can cost an enterprise up to $7,900. This was a 41% increase from 2010 costs, and if we maintain the same growth rate, 2016 will post huge downtime losses!

As your enterprise grows, it will bring forth the need for increased storage, sometimes also the imperative of virtualizing it. While this is a cost, an optimised and well integrated Data Center can actually be your best answer. It can smoothen the operations, increasing productivity and hence profitability, helping minimize TCO and maximize ROI for the enterprise. It also offers a seamless change in technology adoption to aid new processes and better business processing. This is your best path to improving agility, resilience, security and also meet compliance standards.

So, faster growth projections will need Data Centers that allow storage and computing power with much better and faster performance, much lower downtime and at much lesser cooling costs (while inflicting lower damage to the environment). There can be no compromise on storage technologies, since an unscheduled down time in a Data Center can translate into big losses. Ensuring minimal or zero down time means higher growth and profits!

A study by IDC says 2017 will see 8.6 million Data Centers globally, and the burden of maintaining these in fighting condition will fall on your Data Center services provider. So the choice has to be a wise one.

In order that costs and uptime can both be contained intelligently, there are some ways to plan on the Data Center build, virtualization and networking.

The golden rule – Monitor constantly – whether it is the energy consumption, the equipment and servers or the security threats- keep a constant watch on the Data Center. There is efficient software available that ensures a smooth functioning and setup, use it.

The Data Center is not merely a cluster of well oiled servers, upgraded to a virtualised bunch of servers on the cloud (perhaps). While most companies see it is an investment, from a bottom-line perspective, its real value manifests only when it is viewed more strategically. Disruptive innovations and game changing Data Center technologies like virtualization, convergence and cloud mobility can impact the business strategy and drive growth as well as profits. The agility and faster delivery of data and other business operations that these technologies ensure, provides IT a strategic weapon to push business growth. CIOs need to just change their view of Data Center investments-from dead CAPEX to dynamic OPEX.

Globally, companies have leveraged their Data Centers to grow their business by upgrading, unifying and virtualizing them. Adding to their speed to market, these companies have managed to launch newer and better products faster, thus capturing a bigger share of the market. The ability to expand customer base, leverage analytics and generate strategic insights from the data critically adds to the growth paradigm. Making money, here, is about increasing top lines and crunching timelines.

Ultimately the fast paced response of an efficient Data Center ensures agility that provides the best way of increasing the jingle on the till. A well organised, upgraded and well maintained Data Center is thus foundation for this sweet sound of money rolling in.

Investing a stringent IT budget in upgrades of Data Center or Transforming them may just be the smartest decision a CIO will take today. With business scenarios never being more competitive, this could be the best chance at market differentiation, business transformation and hence, growth in revenues and market shares.

The efficiency of your organisation today depends on the ability to allow employees to access information anywhere, anytime and from any device in real time. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that a stable, robust and agile network infrastructure base is the strongest foundation to achieve scale for enterprise with strong business model.

Today, information is power and business dynamics demands availability of information round the clock. CXOs and IT managers today simply cannot escape the burden of cost optimisation, and technology is a major cost. IT expenditures are driven by ROI and IT leaders find the walk on the edge of utility vs costs, a sharp blade to negotiate on. Efficiency (cost and operational) then usually becomes the deciding factor in the networking technology strategy.

With the right technologies and platform in place, it may even be possible to tilt the balance on the side of cost optimisation, without compromising on efficiency or security.

Here are 3 ways smart networking can help you save costs …

1. Deploy an intelligent network with automation capabilities

It’s a big investment, so ask the relevant questions and make prudent choices. You need a network platform that not only provides basic connectivity but also the base for next generation applications that allow innovative add-ons. Investments in a network deployment that can be automated, has intuitive abilities and can be relied upon to be secure and agile – ensure maximum RoI. While analysing the TCO of a network platform, also consider the costs of support, energy, and product life. Ensuring these do not become ambiguous issues later on, helps to save costs upfront. Then, it’s time to look into the actual business benefits. These could cover the absence of (or minimal) downtime, productivity enhancement such as network uptime, user productivity, and security. These, is handled judiciously, will ensure optimal costs savings.

While selecting a networking technology, make sure it assures:

• Adaptive network architecture – To accommodate new emerging applications as demand persists.
• Open, Scalable and software driven architecture to meet the need of today & future.
• Reduced power consumption – By device itself to operate and cooling requirement.
• Visibility through management platform to reduce man-hour spent during critical time.

2. Minimise complexity of vendor management

Smart Moves for a more cost effective network infrastructure:

• Understand – there is a paradigm shift globally, in networking infrastructure technologies and usage – the world is looking at Green network branches- so plan for virtualised, converged networks that are completely SLA driven and easier to manage
• A scalable and simpler network architecture could simplify your operations considerably AND save costs
• A SOA could help improve user experience

Opting for a single vendor network infrastructure has its advantages, the biggest one being cost optimisation it offers! A single line service, a singular helpdesk and a single point of contact for support, should be your objective. While juggling various products to get a network infrastructure in place may initially look like it saves some of your budget, in the long run, that will not be the case.

A composite vendor environment demands a skilled manager, and that is in itself a cost. Allowing a single vendor to take care of your end to end network integration saves that cost, as well as squarely places the onus of zero downtime on the vendor. This means resources and complexity saved at your end, leaving your skilled resources to attend to more significant operations – like the growth of your business!

3. Monitor your network

Network monitoring is every bit as critical as the network itself. In fact, not monitoring the network is the single biggest mistake enterprises make, which makes them vulnerable to all sorts of risks- security, downtime and even excessive energy usage- all definitive extra and huge costs. Enterprises ignorant of what links are down and what points are vulnerable, are completely exposed to all sorts of risks. Real time analysis and monitoring of the network is a must to detect any anomalies. Each of the network applications should be trained to identify anything amiss- by way of predictive and pre-emptive analysis.

Of course, the biggest beneficiary of real time network monitoring will be security assessment. Given that security breach could also trigger the biggest losses, the investment in a monitoring app is certainly worth every bit. Of course, the key here is proactive monitoring and immediate action on an anomaly, without waiting for it to mushroom into a threat.

However, monitoring need not be a huge and excessive expenditure. The whole operation of purchasing, maintaining and integrating costly paraphernalia for network monitoring will defeat the purpose. So, for optimal monitoring at minimum costs, it may be smart if the network team develops the base requirement for visibility and troubleshooting during the instances of upgrades or new installation of networks. This will prevent downtime, and yet ensure constant monitoring tools are up and running- saving incident costs.

There has been tremendous innovation in networking technologies, including software defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), overlay networks, open API’s, cloud management, orchestration, analytics and more. These innovations have great promise to improve operational efficiency and enable digital applications. However, the real life challenge of adopting new technologies has resulted in a slow adoption of these innovations.

What the CIOs need to do is draw an architecture that integrates the critical innovations in networking (that includes these technologies) in their roadmap for new features. This will not only help to improve process and productivity within the organisation but also reduce operational cost to manage infrastructure and ensure that it is adaptable to meet demands of new applications roll out.

Data Centers are the backbone of today’s IT world. Growing business, demand that the Data Centers operate at maximum efficiency. However, building Data Centers, maintaining and running them involves a lot of operational expenses for the company. It is important for companies to look for options that can help them lower Opex for their Data Centers. Proper capacity Planning, advanced monitoring techniques, and predictive analysis can help companies to achieve these goals and help improve business growth. Real-time monitoring helps Data Center operators to improve agility and efficiency of their Data Centers and achieve high performance at a lower cost.

Today’s digital world requires constant connectivity, which in turn requires all time availability. But there could be several things that could cause outages – like overloaded circuit chip, air conditioner unit malfunction, overheating of unmonitored servers, failure of UPS (uninterrupted power supply) and power surge. So how do we ensure availability? Implementing DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) technologies can help you improve reliability. DCIM systems monitor power and environmental conditions within the Data Center. It helps in building and maintaining databases, facilitate capacity planning and assist with change management. Real-time monitoring helps improve availability and lower Opex.

Servers and electronic devices installed in Data Centers generate a lot of heat. Overheated devices are more likely to fail. Hence, Data Centers are usually kept at temperatures similar to refrigerators. Thus most of the power in a Data Center is consumed for cooling purpose. There are various techniques and technologies that Data Center operators can implement to save energy. Recent strategies like free cooling and chiller-free Data Centers, expand the allowable temperature and humidity ranges for Data Center device operations. Implementing these strategies help save energy costs. A telecommunication giant Century Link had an electricity bill of over $80 million in 2011 which made them think of a solution to lower this cost. CenturyLink implemented a monitoring program. With this monitoring program, their engineers were able to safely raise the supply air temperatures without compromising availability and with this solution CenturyLink was able to save $2.9 million annually.

As per ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers) new guidelines, the strategies like free cooling and chiller-free Data Centers can offer substantial savings and one might expect Data Center operators would make use of these seemingly straight forward adjustments. However, as per a survey, many Data Center operators are not yet following these techniques and average server supply air temperature for the Data Center is far cooler than ASHRAE recommendations.

Most of the Data Centers are provisioned for peak loads that may occur only a few times in a year. Server utilization in most of the Data Centers is only 12-18% or may peak at 20%. However, these servers are plugged in 24x7x365. In summary, though the servers are idle they are drawing the same amount of power that other operational servers are drawing. Power distribution and backup equipment implemented in Data Centers also cause substantial energy waste. Similar to cooling strategies, most of the owners employ alternate strategies to improve power efficiency. However, most of them are on the computer side. Increasing density of the IT load per rack, with the help of server consolidation and virtualization, can offer substantial savings, not only in equipment but also in electricity and space. This is an important consideration when a Data Center is located in constrained energy supply or electricity situation in the context of high real estate prices, as in most of the urban areas.

Increasing density leads to concentrated thermal output and needs modified power requirements. The effective way to maintain continuous availability in high-density deployments is real-time monitoring and granular control of the physical infrastructure. Power proportional computing or matching power supply to compute demand is the recent innovation that few of the operators are using to improve energy efficiency. Few operators use dynamic provisioning technologies or power capping features already installed on their servers. However, raising inlet air temperatures causes the risk of equipment failure. Without an in-depth understanding of the relationship between compute demand and power dynamics, implementing power capping increases the risk of the required processing capacity not being available when required. Without real-time monitoring and management, there is a high risk of equipment failure in a Data Center.

Real-time monitoring helps businesses get critical information to manage possible risks in the Data Center. Monitoring helps improve efficiency and decrease costs, enabling businesses to have availability and saving. They can lower Opex and still maintain high availability.

With the help of Real-time monitoring, a small issue can be spotted, before it becomes a large problem. In a smart Data Center, several thousands of sensors across the facility collect the information regarding air pressure, humidity, temperature, power usage, utilization, fan speed and much more – all in real time. All this information is then aggregated, normalized and reported in a specified format to operators. This allows operators to understand and adjust controls in response to the conditions – to avoid failures and maintain availability.

Monitoring has lot many benefits. Monitoring data can be used by cloud and hosting providers to document their compliance with the service level agreements. Monitoring data allows operators to automate and optimize control of physical infrastructure. Real-time monitoring gives visibility at a macro and micro level, for businesses to improve client confidence, increase Data Center availability, energy efficiency, productivity and at the same time reduce their operational expenditures by optimizing Data Centers with the help of monitoring data.

With the Data Centers becoming more crucial to meeting the business requirements of organizations, older technologies are lagging behind. That’s why the savvy business professionals are embracing the software-defined Data Centers that extend the advantages of automation and orchestration, simplify management and provide a more business-focused approach.

Take baby steps

Designing software-defined environments often implicates re-evaluating business processes and operations model, ranging from automation and orchestration to service activation and user experience. It is often suggested that companies have to transform the whole Data Center operations, which seems daunting but in fact, is not necessary at all. You can simply begin your journey in the SDDC environment with small steps by starting projects that are associated with low-key services that address only one aspect – networking, computing or storage. If you start small with projects that are not mission-critical, your IT gets an opportunity to adapt and filter processes for the next project, hence shaping SDDC expertise without exposure to any business risk.

Skilled IT team is vital

In SDDC, it is imperative that the IT team has the capability of comprehending the automation and orchestration of systems. The technologies in a software-defined Data Center are generally vendor specific. It is crucial for businesses to choose platforms that can be conveniently and skillfully managed by the IT team. It is always better to consider in-house expertise rather than modifying the team for unfamiliar technology and spending a fortune on training and support.

Consider the IT role

In the age of software-defined Data Centers, businesses don’t run IT processes in silos, as they used to earlier. Since the data is coordinated at a higher level, there is no longer a need for separate groups for networking, storage, applications and servers. SDDC offers more applicable information gathered from various components and distributes it across IT for better operations and management. Server uptime, storage efficiency and security are significant. So are the prompt IT systems upgrade and completion of task to the user’s satisfaction. In the new scenario, the role of IT will shift dramatically. IT will have to optimize and deliver services as per SDDC standards on a virtualized infrastructure.

Use metrics for the business

Agility is the top-of-the-line driver for IT and in an SDDC infrastructure, businesses can notably crop down the time to deploy, upgrade and even fine-tune a user service. Metrics are critically valuable. In an SDDC-oriented environment, businesses are able to increase the speed of diagnosing issues. This enables them to adapt quickly to real-time demand, simply by measuring request and response times between servers and clients. Further, they get the opportunity to move storage resources with zero downtime along with the ability to scale infrastructure sans the user downtime. Ease of use, user satisfaction, moving workloads easily, re-purposing infrastructure for hosting various apps and the total cost are the metrics that can showcase that your business can be more agile and efficient in software-defined Data Center.

Today’s growing businesses need instant application deployments and deliveries at a much higher speed. While it is a major challenge for IT administrators, Software Defined Networking (SDN) has helped organizations to achieve this goal with the help of automation tools. SDN helps businesses to achieve flexibility and scalability with the platform that can efficiently handle the demanding network needs of present and future growth. SDN has made deployments of applications and business servers more speedy and agile. Cloud architectures are able to deliver automated, on demand application delivery and mobility on a scale required by SDN. SDN helps enhance the benefits of Data Center virtualization by increasing resource utilization and flexibility, thus reducing the overhead and infrastructure costs. SDN has a great contribution in converging management network and applications into an extensible and centralized orchestration platform, that can perform automation tasks of provisioning and configuring the entire infrastructure. This assists businesses in building a modern infrastructure, that can fulfil the demand of delivering new applications and services at a much faster pace than possible now.

With the legacy architectures and operating models, current Data Centers are finding it difficult to scale as per the required demands of today’s bandwidth hungry mobile data applications and consequent huge increase in traffic volume. Disaggregated virtual Data Centers and the multi-tenancy trend is creating further challenge in application deployments, delivery and provisioning. Operators need more capacity with the flexibility to allocate resources dynamically – to when and where they are needed most. Current demands need enhanced efficiency and networks that can dynamically adapt to the surroundings. The new SDN technology is the perfect solution for these problems. SDN by abstracting network elements, creates an open environment where network resources can be orchestrated to provide a fast, open, scalable and flexible network that is simple to manage. SDN solutions increase network efficiency by taking transformations from Application Layer and using that data to control network with increased application responsiveness.

SDN allows network administrators to have programmable, centralized control over the network traffic, without having actual access to physical network devices. It separates the control plane from the data plane and thus allowing external control of the network. Separation of the control plane and the data plane allows top level decisions to be made from management device with the knowledge of network, without having device centric configurations. By separating the control plane from the data plane, SDN makes the network, programmable and uses SDN controller to program switches, using industry standard protocol like OpenFlow.

Network orchestration and virtualization are the key to SDN that helps achieve flexibility. The most important goal of SDN is to implement flexible networks that can be provisioned dynamically. Network orchestration, network programmability, network virtualization and centralized control are the major factors that define SDN.

SDN and Network Orchestration

SDN is basically a mesh of technologies to control network hardware. Network devices have network operating systems which manage the internal device operations. SDN needs network operating systems to offer API that allows external software to configure the device. SDN applications use a network controller as a gateway, in order to access APIs on the devices. OpenDaylight is the most popular and widely available gateway. The consumption of the APIs offered by devices, enable the offering of end-to-end configuration services across many network devices. Orchestration can be described as the use of automation to provide services, by using applications that drive the network. Orchestration is the most important factor in Software defined network.

SDN and Network Virtualization:

IT operators are finding that network performance could be a bottleneck to deliver speed, agility and bandwidth that is required for today’s modern application. SDN and Network virtualization, along with other solutions like 10Gigabit Ethernet and Ethernet fabrics, are amongst the technologies that can efficiently address the problem of network performance and provide agility. Data Centers are required to handle more data and transactions resulting in network growth and expansions, which add significant complexity in IT provisioning and management. Network virtualization and SDN provide a solution to network architectures that they can use to design models that efficiently cater to demands of the business critical applications.

Implementing Network virtualization with SDN, IT operators can add flexibility and scalability to current network management. SDN based network virtualization decouples virtual network from the physical network. Today businesses demand quick virtual network deployments with diverse requirements and need most of the network functions to be automated. There are numerous ways network virtualization can be defined in SDN.

How SDN provide network flexibility and Scale?

Software defined networks provide flexibility to configure, secure, manage and optimize network resources using automated SDN programs. APIs offered by network systems of devices, facilitate the implementation of common network services such as routing, security, access control, multicast, bandwidth management, storage optimization, energy usage and allows policy managements. SDN provides much flexibility that allows network programming and management at a scale which traditional networks failed to provide. SDN, by decoupling Control and Data planes result in advantages such as high flexibility, programmability and a centralized network view. SDN is considered to be a solution to provide a flexible and scalable architecture. SDN offers higher opportunity for programmability, network control, automation and thus allows network operators to build highly scalable and flexible network, that quickly adaptable to changing business needs. It provides flexibility with new network capability and services that does not require to configure individual devices or does not need to wait for vendor releases. Centralized control and management of network devices improve automation and management. Centralized and automated management of network devices result in fewer configuration errors and increased network reliability and security.

SDN is the solution for future networks to become significantly intelligent, scalable and flexible. With the help of SDN, network virtualization and network orchestration, it offers network architects an opportunity to provide a truly innovative, flexible and scalable network solution, that will be more efficient and cost effective.

Growing your business with existing customers is the cornerstone of sustained success. It was observed among the top 5 companies in IT services, the ones which did a better job of growing existing customers, outperformed their peer group in overall business growth and profitability consistently over a 10 year period. With the initial investments in customer acquisition, building relationships & setting up infrastructure, incremental business from existing clients is significantly more profitable than winning new clients, as it requires incurring all the initial costs again. This is the reason why your cable, phone or security provider will reduce prices for you rather than have you leave for a competitor.

• Deliver the first experience well: This is the time to build relationships. Your client is getting the first experience with you at a time when exit barriers are low. The quality of this initial experience can create significant stickiness for the future. Failure can not only shut future doors for you, but also open the door for competitors. Invest overtime, effort to engage and make a success of this first experience.
• Grow first in your existing program: If the experience has been good, existing relationships are significantly easier to leverage compared to building new ones. Focus your near term growth plans on the existing area, in which you are already engaged.
• Dominate your footprint: Be the key player and the trusted partner in your current area of engagement. Fractional players are easy to dislodge. Focus, perform and grow in the technology, process, or business area in which you are already engaged. Be the partner who your client turns to and one who is integral to their success. The more critical you are to their program, the more your clients are vested in making you successful, as their success is intricately linked to yours.
• Make your client a reference: Existing clients can be great sponsors, helping you grow business in other areas within their company. To enable that, educate your referrer on what you want to sell, to whom, and why. This will let them understand your proposition and speak with conviction, should they choose to refer you. Win the confidence of your referrer first. Make him your salesman!
• Create your budgets: Budgets, especially the “run the business” areas, are constantly squeezed to free up resources for funding new initiatives. Take the lead and drive productivity in your existing area, freeing up funds for your client. While it may cannibalize your existing business, it will significantly raise your standing. It will position you as a partner who is thinking of the client’s goals and as a preferred partner for opportunities in new areas of spend.
• Upsell and drive value: The essence of upsell is to make a bigger impact on your client’s business goals. Understand the goals of your client and what makes a difference to their business. As you build that knowledge, repurpose your skills and deliverables, to deliver a bigger impact to your client’s G&O’s and business.
• Cross sell contiguously first: Your reputation and track record are most relevant in the area where you are already performing well. It will carry most weight in the adjacent process or technology streams. If you have done a great job with ERP systems, aim to extend into bespoke development or maintenance. Chances are the buyers are likely to be connected and your track record in an adjacent technology will lend credibility. It will take longer to make the leap into say BPO or infrastructure management, even if you have strong company credentials there. The buyers and the work there are very different from the applications side work in which you have a good reputation. First aim to grow contiguous to where you have demonstrated success and spread systematically.
• Engage actively and be a good listener: Engage actively with your clients. Solicit opportunities to learn about their businesses. Get feedback about your performance and standing as well as insights into new opportunities. The more you listen, the more you will learn and identify opportunities to get better and new areas to grow in.
• Ensure continuous communication: You are your best spokesperson. Regularly let your key stakeholders know what you have accomplished. Look for forums beyond your existing touch points and message to adjacent and senior levels as well. Each of them can be sponsors, buyers or influencers in the future.
• Crises are opportunities: In the course of any relationship, things may go wrong. All mature buyers understand that. What’s important is how you deal with the crisis. Be responsive, constructive, engaged and focused on resolutions and results. If anything, take on greater ownership of than you are contractually obligated to. These are great opportunities to demonstrate that you stand by your clients when the chips are down.
• Keep your eye on the ball: However successful you are with a client, that success has to be earned every day. Keep your eye on the ball and ensure that existing programs and relationships get focus and you deliver consistently.
• There is always room to grow: Even if you have a dominant share of business with your client, there are opportunities to grow. Technologies change, processes change, regulations change, markets change, M&A’s and divestments happen. Your client is an organic, living, breathing entity and change is ongoing. Each change creates new opportunities to engage and grow.

In closing…
Growing with existing clients is the secret sauce of the most successful companies. It is also the most profitable avenue for growth. To ensure success with your clients, focus on delivering to your promise and making them your references. Actively engage to understand where your client’s business priorities lie and how you can help in successful outcomes. Grow in your existing engagement first and then into contiguous areas. A track record of performance and constructive engagement opens up new avenues for growth in other parts of the business, new areas of spend, and as your client transforms their business.

Data is the most critical asset of any organization and businesses are faced with the imminent challenges of managing and governing data while ensuring data compliance. Data management is critical for every company to improve business agility with up-to-date information available anywhere, anytime to the employees who need it most. There are entire ecosystems that grow perennially around Big Data and Data Analytics, which make enterprises aim for significantly critical tools to manage everyday data.

With businesses realizing the dynamism of what can be done with their data, they are moving on from their existing resources to well-equipped Data Centers to aid better data management. Data Centers have become top priority for businesses across the globe to measure up their IT infrastructure requirements. With this shift in addressing information, Data Centers have moved beyond being just an additional storage facility. Infact, they have emerged as a key business parameter. Here is why Data Centers are necessary for enterprise businesses.

Consolidated Leadership: As an enterprise business, you have to recognize the potential in terms of leading, managing and governing your organization. Therefore, you should consider the enterprise level IT infrastructure provided by a potential Data Center service that helps your enterprise with lesser makeshift in different parts of the business. This results in consolidated leadership, centralized management and a stable governance approach to help better business decision making, for the benefit of the entire enterprise.

Reduced Barriers: Enterprises have so many facets and managing each aspect of the business is quite demanding. With the common goal being the customer, every segment of the enterprise shares the same business processes, ideologies, investment plans and capital expenditures. But due to its enterprise nature, the business is often dispersed in terms of location, products and services. This results in lack of engaging the customer across various operations of the company. With an efficient Data Center solution for enterprise business, you can reduce barriers to internal operations that affect customer service. With a convenient data management and flow, managed hosting services offered by an expert provider, will help you strengthen your ability to engage the customer across your operations.

Higher Margins: Enterprises are increasingly recognizing the growing importance of a Data Center. Investing in a tactical Data Center solution will help enterprises avail scale cost, data security and service efficiencies. Data Center service providers enable enterprises to customize solutions as per local requirements without compromising on the elemental course of the core business process. With the expansion of business, enterprises have to take account of additional resources. But with Data Center solutions, you can leverage the technical resources promptly and cost-effectively. In addition, if you require fewer systems or less storage, your provider will simply reduce implementations as per requirement. It is one of the major reasons why enterprises go for vendors who offer services, with costs incurred as per their service usage.

Data Storage and Management: Data storage needs consistently increase in an enterprise and keeping pace with the requirement surge, Data Centers continue to push the horizons of tangible capacity. Innovative ways of data management and storage are being introduced by Data Centers that instigate more enterprises to branch out into the utilization of Cloud Computing. Data Centers as well as companies are focused on meeting data storage demands that integrate both cloud and physical storage capabilities. This shift in the technology is at the cusp of driving M&A activities resulting in exponential growth in data gathering and collaboration that further enhance the need for data storage.

Safety: Given the sheer amount of data accumulation and transaction in today’s competitive environment, data security has become the top priority of every enterprise business. It has become imperative for every company to put efficient systems in place that are not only updated frequently but also monitored regularly. Constant monitoring of the systems allow you to maintain its security as potential risks and attacks are detected at the earliest. That’s why enterprises rely on third party Data Center solutions with expertise and monitoring processes to identify risks and breaches within the required time frame to be able to deal with them effectively. Most vendors offer multi-tier infrastructure setup, to effectively secure valuable data of enterprises. Besides technological security of the data, vendors also emphasize on physical security of the Data Centers, ensuring surveillance, access management, intruder alarms and physical security systems. Moreover, quick recovery processes and data retrieval in shortest turnaround time are also offered in times of environmental disasters.

Better Growth Opportunities: Most enterprises are embracing Data Center solutions after understanding the crucial role data plays in the growth of their ventures. With the advancement, Data Centers bring in the business and technology realm. And enterprises are increasingly becoming aware of managing their company from the prospect of fetching more resources to utilize high potential and growth opportunities. Your business can leverage the scale, to dominate the market with the assistance of a competent Data Center service. All you need is a proficient vendor who can help you monitor and control your data with a robust infrastructure, by automating and integrating Data Center management.

The relentless growth in the volume of data created every day, has compelled Data Center administrators to integrate new technologies and processes. With the global popularity of cloud computing, the role of Data Centers has extended beyond providing enough storage capacity with data security. Data Centers – optimized with various tools and services, are now transformed into strategic business assets. Here are five cool features of next generation Data Centers.

Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC)

In IT, everything is literally virtualized and delivered as a service. And the virtualization of Data Centers is the next logical step. The virtual layer is taking over in Data Centers, making them flexible, highly secure and extremely agile. Infrastructure and network, both are not just virtualized in a software defined Data Center but are delivered as a service also. Many mainstream mega-scale Data Centers are moving forward to gain edge with software-defined Data Centers.

Data Center Operating Systems (DCOS)

Data Centers have a diversified need for an extended control layer and the interconnectivity in Data Centers depend upon Data Center management. Many providers deploy Data Center operating control layers that manage resources, users and virtual machines to meet the needs of improving scalability of management infrastructure. Aiming at greater scalability, Data Centers are now better equipped for controlling various crucial components ranging from chips to cooling systems. The DCOS layer has considerably enhanced infrastructure due to its integration into every critical aspect of every Data Center.

Infrastructure Optimization with Agnostic Data Center

The next generation Data Centers will have layered management tools that can pool resources logically as per required workloads. This kind of infrastructure will only be obtained with an agnostic Data Center that lets admin to create more powerful and scalable cloud platforms. The Data Center will become much more abstract and with infrastructure optimization, vendor lockdown can be prevented. Moreover, administrators get to manage traffic influx while leveraging hardware and software optimization. In future Data Centers, what will matter is that you smoothly present resources to the management layer irrespective of the kind of hardware deployed, enabling clients to integrate with outside technologies, flawlessly.

Better Control Layers

Each Data Center hosts a diverse variety of systems. Therefore, the control layer also needs to be greatly diversified. And since the management console integrates into APIs, it can grow exponentially to keep pace with the increasing Data Center footprint. The new-age Data Centers allow API integrated management consoles to render the big data clout, manipulation and management along with allocation of resources. Furthermore, you can even vie for better multi-tenancy options and optimum cloud scaling by embracing API integrated networking technologies.

Greater Logical and Physical Automation

With the continuous enterprise popularity of cloud computing, vendors lose sleep over supplying application performance and predictability. It is not easy to achieve a fully functional, automated Data Center environment. Hence, introduction of robots in Data Centers will be one of the most basic features of next generation Data Centers. It will provision the resources more actively.

Data Center is the core of today’s IT world. With growing technologies like cloud computing, virtualizations and latest IT applications, building today’s Data Centers are a bit more complex. It is important to protect Data Centers from malicious attack. Equally important is to ensure that the Data Center infrastructure like network, storage, servers and desktops too are secured and monitored all the time to avoid any possible threat. Traditionally, network teams would secure network and applications with encryptions. However with today’s growing IT requirements, it is important to have more robust and dynamic security systems to secure the Data Center.

Data Center security is of primary importance to IT organizations. Organizations should make sure that every element of Data Center is monitored and secured. They may either decide on managing it on their own or opt for outsourcing. However they should carefully evaluate the options that is suitable for optimally securing the Data Center.

Access Control methods for Data Center

Physical access to the Data Center should be carefully planned and managed. Entry to the Data Center should be restricted with limited access. Only Authorized person should be allowed to enter Data Center – with badge access to the building and security-escorted entry to the visitors. Additional Security layers can be added by separating Testing, Development and Production zones. Depending upon the sensitivity of the data in the server, access to each zone should be restricted with key card admittance and biometrics. The entire Data Center should be under video surveillance.

Network Security

Network is the backbone of your IT infrastructure when security solutions are planned. It is important to implement security methods zone wise. The Production Zone where you have all your mission critical data should have strict rules implemented for incoming and outgoing traffic. The Development Zone may have a less rigid environment. The Testing Zone environment should be isolated from random traffic of Development Zone. There should be a physical separation between internet accessible servers and other infrastructure.

Data Security

Data Security should be separated from Server Security. Different servers handle different type of data and security rules should be implemented accordingly. Firewalls should be setup to separate the access to different data. The firewall rules should be implemented and configured depending upon the access levels required for each type of data. Moving data should be scanned for potential privacy leaks and it should be ensured that data goes to right person and is properly encrypted. Encryption policies should implemented with software encryption. Patching programs should be implemented regularly to avoid vulnerabilities on the servers.

Application Security

Today’s IT applications are big with complex architectures and it is important to take care of application vulnerabilities before it goes into your production systems. Applications must be scanned for vulnerabilities that hackers can easily exploit. The reported vulnerabilities should be rectified and proper security metrics should be applied before any application goes into production. Developers should run their own code through a code scanner that scans the source code for buffer overflows and other vulnerabilities. Before it goes into production, it is important for both code scanning and application scanning for all possible vulnerabilities.

Cloud and Virtual Network Data Security

Organizations need to focus on securing the cloud based, virtualized network and storage as well. Virtualization has added new security issues. Virtualized network can be separated and isolated so that different set of rules can be implemented to manage the security. The host based security systems can be implemented to monitor virtual machines and network, to detect any malicious activity. Within a virtualized Data Center, administrators can compare and analyse client to server traffic to check the legitimate traffic. Cloud computing requires a different security approach. Hence security methods need to be implemented to ensure the data flow between Data Centers, Client Systems and Data Centers and between Virtual Machines within the Data Center. It is important to ensure that these flows and not carrying malicious traffic. Good coordination of networking devices, firewalls, SSL devices and intrusion prevention solutions can ensure a robust security for cloud computing environment.

Overall, a good Access Control System, Fenced off Boundary, guards to control Physical Access, Video surveillance, Network, Data and Application Security measures – all implemented together can form a robust Data Center security system.

A growing number of organizations are adopting cloud computing to meet the challenges of deploying their IT services as fast as they can and addressing their dynamic work load environment there by maximising their ROIs (Return on Investments).

Across the globe companies have started to view hybrid cloud as a transformative operating model – a real game changer that presents the wealth of opportunities to businesses. The two mantras which helps you to follow while adopting this technique is Enhanced agility and Overall cost savings.

Cloud computing help’s the users to access the IT resources faster than the traditional Data Centers. It also provides improved manageability requires less maintenance. This technological service also helps the users to access the resources they need for a specific task. This not only prevents you from incurring cost for computing resources which are not in use, but, improves the operational efficiencies by reducing cost and time.

By adopting Cloud computing, businesses can rapidly integrate and deliver services across the other adopted cloud environments and thereby improving business agility so also lowering the costs. Once businesses recognize this they need to choose the cloud computing option that best fit their business requirements.

Like public cloud model, private cloud models also offer seamless access to applications and data with minimal IT support. But in private cloud the service will be offered only to a particular organization. Two common types of clouds are Integrated stack and Custom cloud. The key benefit of integrated stack is pre testing and interoperability to reduce operational risks and faster deployment time as the stack is most often delivered as a single bill of material. And the importance of custom cloud is, a modular plug & play approach that allows organizations to build cloud infrastructures in smaller increments, adding capacity when needed.

Hybrid model is a combination of public and private cloud models. Now a day’s every organization started looking and adopting it due to its cost benefit. Getting into a hybrid model and the key to success is, understanding how to get started on your hybrid cloud. First of all you need to know the integration method. The dominant strategy in creating a hybrid cloud that ties traditional Data Centers with public cloud services involves the use of a front end application. Most companies have created web based front end applications that give customers access to order entry and account management functions, for example, many companies also used front end application technologies from different vendors to assemble the elements of applications into a single custom display for end users. You can use either of these front end methods to create a hybrid cloud.

The front end application based hybrid models, the applications located in the cloud and the Data Center run normally; integration occurs at the front end. There are no new or complicated processes for integrating data or sharing resources between public and private clouds.

A business can choose from a vast array of potential organizational structures. Lateral organizations, top down organizations and other type of organizational structures can all be combined into a hybrid structure. This allows a company more flexibility in distributing work and assigning job rolls. It can also be beneficial in small businesses where there are fewer employees to manage daily operations.

Hybrid structure also helps the organization to choose Shared Mission where it creates a shared mission and allows it’s employees to work on a different projects and in different sectors. This structure creates a unified team of individuals with a common goal and different experience and interest levels. Each employee is able to perform work in the areas he/she best suited to, moving from project to project and reporting to different individuals as and when it is required.

Another example of hybrid structure is Market Disruption, through which when an organization adopts itself into a market and overcomes traditional barriers of the market such as advertising budgets that could cripple financially smaller organizations. Here considering the B2B perspective, this structure can ride the wave of market disruption to a peak of creating a massive media blitz that fuels product development and demand.

The next benefit to the hybrid organizational structure is the Massive Scale that can be reached by its use. Instead of having a top heavy, traditional structure of management and employees, a hybrid organization uses a spider web based structure involving groups of individuals, sometimes in different geographic areas, working together to accomplish shared goals. This also removes the problem of distribution pipelines slowing down access to the finished product.

Ease of maintenance is another attractive characteristic. It is because cloud computing architecture requires less hardware than distributed deployments. Fewer dedicated IT staff members are necessary to maintain the integrity of the cloud’s infrastructure particularly during peak hours.

Cloud computing also supports the real time allocation of computer power for application based on actual usage. This allows cloud operators to meet the demand of peak load hours accurately without over provisioning, increasing the clouds efficiency while freeing up additional capacity for on demand deployment. From an IT perspective, support for rapid provisioning and deployment is another attractive characteristics that appeal to growing enterprises.

Cost reductions, easier implementation & maintenance, and a better flexibility are the significant benefits of cloud deployment.

Operating costs are controlled by a good design and implementation of the same. Over the long term it is very critical to optimize both capital and operating expenses. Every industry has its own leaders, with a unique jargon and cultural conventions that B2B marketers must take into accounts.