Whether your data center is aging, or if you are just starting up, modernization can help you improve your IT infrastructure. By following a few simple tips, you can streamline the process and improve your business's IT Infrastructure. Listed below are a few important tips that can help you modernize your data center:
Object-Based Storage:
As the volume and type of data grows, the decision to use object-based storage becomes more important. Object-based storage reduces manual management and overhead while meeting the requirements of modern applications. The solution is also capable of load-balancing, supporting peak demand events, and avoiding hot-spots. For a complete overview of the benefits of object-based storage, read the eBook. It also includes a detailed comparison of traditional backup and modern object-based storage.
Enterprise data centers are increasingly relying on object-based storage solutions to meet their storage requirements. Object-based storage solutions provide speed, scale, and affordability for modern cloud-native applications. Object-based storage is a key component of the modernization of data centers. Spectra, for example, has integrated its BlackPearl(r) Converged Storage System with an object-based storage engine for openness, scalability, and efficiency.
Hyper-converged Infrastructure:
Hyper-converged infrastructure combines computing, storage and networking into a single platform. Its goal is to simplify data center architectures and increase scalability. It typically consists of standard server hardware, but can be configured to use various combinations of storage, compute, and networking resources. For more information, see Hyper-converged infrastructure for data center modernization. For more information, see the Hyper-converged infrastructure product comparison.
As businesses continue to evolve at a rapid pace, so does their IT department. In response, IT must be able to provision new resources on-demand and add them just in time. In addition, IT departments must eliminate systems management oversights and errors. Hyper-converged infrastructure allows IT to meet these challenges without adding additional staff or spending additional money. The goal of the technology is to simplify IT operations while decreasing capital expenditures.
Software-defined Storage
In today's world, software-defined storage (SDS) is taking the traditional paradigm of storage and moving it to the cloud. This approach takes the intelligence out of the hardware and manages the entire storage infrastructure, without the need to worry about complicated configurations and interface protocols. It allows enterprises to focus on the applications they need to store, and SDS makes this easier than ever. Read on for a closer look at SDS and how it can help modernize your data center.
One of SDS' most important advantages is its ability to scale out and accommodate growing data storage demands. It can also extend the life of existing storage hardware by allowing you to add capacity as needed. In contrast, traditional storage systems are often expensive to augment and incompatible with other vendor's products. Because of this, SDS has leveled the playing field and enables organizations to scale their storage infrastructure as needed.
Networking
A successful data center modernization strategy includes implementing the latest-generation networking infrastructure and managing the workloads of all network components. This helps reduce overall costs by as much as 70 percent, but it also requires the update of legacy equipment. This can be challenging for customers, because they cannot simply replace their legacy equipment with the latest. The solution is to install new equipment alongside legacy gear. New products are turned up on modern data center pods and expired users are removed from older applications.
The most significant challenge in deploying a distributed architecture is network complexity. Distributed architectures, such as active-active and active-hot-standby applications, enable application workloads to run in different locations to minimize the impact of downtime on users. While this approach is gaining popularity among enterprises, many data centers are still not ready for it. In this article, we will explore some of the major challenges of distributed architectures, as well as offer some tips to help organizations make the most of it.
Application Portfolio:
Streamlining your applications requires a holistic, integrated approach to application management. Using an application portfolio can streamline your IT infrastructure and reduce complexity while improving overall resource utilization and efficiency. Identify and prioritize high-value applications. Retire applications that are nearing the end of their lifecycle and modernize those that have a long-term business value. This approach can improve your company's performance and overall return on investment.
To make the most of the benefits of application portfolio optimization, IT executives must understand their current application portfolios and map out their journeys to the desired future state. While this is a challenging endeavor, the benefits of leveraging an application portfolio approach are significant. The results of a comprehensive assessment will increase manageability and cut costs. For example, understanding application interdependencies and error profiles will reduce the number of developers needed and increase developer productivity.
