Taming data explosion with data centre convergence

BANGALORE, INDIA: Data is becoming a double-edged sword for many organizations.

In today’s information-centric world, every data centre contains a wealth of information that may unlock new ways to improve revenues and gain market share.

In other words, having more of it in the hands of the right person can positively impact an organization’s competitive edge.

Also Read: Cos need to grow out of cold data centre fixation

Managing more data introduces increased risk for the business. It can clog network pipes, reduce data access performance and stretch storage resources. Simply throwing more storage at the problem is not going to solve it.

Since different applications may access and manage data differently, this can lead to silos of information that may not be consolidated.

The results are data centre inefficiency, loss of vital information and storage management costs spiraling out of control. That does not bode well for CIOs, who are trying to add value and improve competitiveness in a volatile and cost-sensitive market. 

Why convergence matters

A few of the reasons why data centre convergence is now grabbing mindshare in the IT and business community are that it promises storage management simplification, reduction in overall costs and physical space at the data centre facility.

Simply put, data centre convergence introduces a new class of integrated servers that leverage virtualization that combines processors, networking capabilities and storage innovations in a commonly managed platform.

It takes away the inefficiencies and costs of managing the vast array of devices and components in a data centre.

For customers, data centre convergence translates into two main value propositions that are immediately realized: It reduces the amount of actual equipment in the date centre, which translates into lower management costs, less floor space needed, and reduced energy consumption.

Secondly, the convergence allows all data centre components, whether they are servers, networks or storage assets, to be managed through one console. This drastically reduces the need for deploying multiple management tools, and the need to find expertise to manage each of them.

It can also free-up expensive IT manpower to other more value-adding tasks for the organization.

Combined, these two value propositions provide CIOs the necessary solution to tackle the proliferation of data more effectively. It also sets the foundations for cloud adoption.

Understanding the benefits

The recent spate of announcements and launch of new offerings may result in thinking that data centre convergence is new. As a concept, it is not new. Convergence and unified computing in the data centre has been the topic of discussion for several years.

The reason for the rise in prominence of data centre convergence recently is the result of two evolutions.

IT innovations have made it possible for consolidating data centre components to be managed as one. Through the introduction of virtualization, Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth, and more energy-efficient server and processors, integrated systems can now be designed and built.

The IT community is also now combining their resources and creating new relationships centered on data centre convergence. Introducing- converged data centre solutions helps in optimizing data centre environments for key environments. Together, this will make data centre convergence a practical reality for many organizations.

Although all these have raised the value proposition, customers remain skeptical about the evolution of data centre convergence - and with good measure.

Most announcements are centered on new products and ripping out existing infrastructure components. That’s a very difficult argument in an economy where organizations are bent on minimizing spend and maximizing each investment dollar. It also affects the CIO’s own value proposition as it can countermand previous arguments and decisions in deploying the legacy data centre components in the first place.

However, the benefits do outweigh the risks. Without deploying data centre convergence solutions, data management will continue to be a headache. As the needs of data centre convergence increase through higher demand for better data performance, CIOs will eventually need to fine tune their data center infrastructure.

Meanwhile, data centre convergence is often seen as the first step toward cloud adoption at the data centre. Its deployment will fundamentally improve data efficiency.

Conclusion

Overall, data centre convergence is becoming a potent answer for the age-old question of managing data proliferation. It enables data centres to become more aligned with business and market needs, and addresses current and future concerns about data availability and performance.

Many believe that the prices for these benefits may be too high in the current market situation. However, the current situation necessitates such solutions. What is needed in the market is a solution that makes more business and practical sense to organizations grappling with volatility and escalating user demands.

More importantly, data centre convergence is shaping the IT vendor environment. Instead of single-vendor solutions, they are building relationships to enable customer-centric solutions. This is immensely positive in the eyes of the customer as it allows them to deploy solutions to address real business needs instead of being hampered by lack of expertise and administrative burden.

The author is vice president and general manager at Hitachi Data Systems India.