InformationWeek Reports, a service provider for peer-based IT research and analysis, announced the release of its latest research report. 2012 State of the Data Center encompasses analysis of results from InformationWeek’s recent State of the Data Center Survey and offers guidance on how far to drive virtualization and how to balance the benefits and drawbacks of standardizing on software and hardware. Of the 256 business technology professionals responding to this poll, 36% are from organizations with 5,000 or more employees.
Research Summary:
IT faces a delicate balancing act between standards and customization, efficiency and flexibility, and operational control versus outsourced convenience. And don’t forget the equipment. Hardware that packs more performance punch into every cubic inch has ratcheted up data center power and cooling demands to the point where simply renovating old facilities is often not an option, even as big construction projects are harder than ever to justify. These twin trends mean organizations may be forced to embrace the cloud or co-location despite any real or imagined downsides. This report examines these issues and more, and offers some tips for transforming data center strategies to meet changed conditions.
Findings:
- 73% of survey respondents say data center demands will increase compared to last year.
- 67% of IT budgets are spent on maintenance, with just 33% going to innovation.
- 50% say at least half of their servers will be virtualized by 2013.
- 57% cite cost savings as the most important metric to measure the success of server virtualization.
The report author, Kurt Marko, is editor at large for InformationWeek Reports and an IT industry veteran.
“Data centers must strike a balance between efficient operations and robust support for business applications,” says Andrew Conry-Murray, Editor at Large for InformationWeek Reports. “Our latest survey tells you how your IT peers are tackling this challenge, and offers practical insight to help you choose the right mix of premises gear, cloud offerings and colocation services.”