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Ed Holub
Research VP
Role Service Director
IT Infrastructure & Operations: Top 10 Trends to Watch
Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day.
? Did You Know?1) 50% of U.S. 21 year olds have created content
on the Web.
2) 70% of U.S. 4 year olds have used a computer.
3) Over 31 billion Google searches wereperformed — last month — vs. 2.6 billion3 years ago.
Content access and management are the key enablers for IT.
Trends You Need to Watch
Virtualization Is Just Beginning
Big Data — The Elephant in the Room
Energy Efficiency and Monitoring
Unified Communications — Extended
Staff Retention and Retraining
Social Networks — Ready or Not
Legacy Migrations — Your Users
Compute Density — Scale Vertically
Cloud Computing
Converged Fabrics
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The Virtualization of Everything
How Does It Affect You?• IT becomes one logical system
• Changing how IT is used
• Additional "power" on demand
• Mgmt. players: VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems
• Plays well with green IT
• Migration flexibility
Next Monday Morning• Review consolidation plans; can we do
more?
• Do you have all the virtualizationbases covered?
• Do we have a plan?
Critical Time Frame(s)2010 to 2012
Virtualization is a continuing process, not a one-time project.
Storage
Networks
Apps
Desktops
Servers
1
Virtual Clients — Becoming Real
Emerging Client• Multidevice, mobile• Remotely hosted (terminal services) • Remotely hosted (virtual desktops)• Non-enterprise-owned• "Bubbles" (virtual machines)• Streamed applications• Software as a service
Traditional Client• Standard PC• Enterprise-owned• Corporate image and
installed applications
1
? Did You Know?More video was uploaded to
in the past two months
than if ABC, CBS and NBC had been airing new content 24/7 since 1948
Business Trends Are Shaping Storage
Cloud-based services offer an alternativeto on-premises IT infrastructures
Transition to virtualized server infrastructures drives shared-disk storage
Applications and users expect all data to be available all the time
2
Big Data
• Five-year 800% growth
• 80% unstructured data
• Tiering critical toreduce costs
• Deduplication becoming standard
• Audit, archive and recovery increasingly complex
• Solid-state drives
How Does It Affect You?• Growth continues — regardless of
budget constraints
• Pattern-Based Strategy — how willyou manage?
• Demand-driven — more access creates more data — this will get worse
• Compliance, backup, audit, security
• Flash and SSDs will shift the landscape
Next Monday Morning• Virtualize storage, deduplication now
• Evaluate all data inputs, keep only what you need
• Segment and prioritize
Critical Time Frame(s)2010 to 2013
2
1) Data centers can consume 40x more energy than the offices they support.
2) Energy Star Data Center standards were announced in June 2010.
3) Monitoring and reporting on energy consumption will be expected by 2012.
? Did You Know?
Energy and Green IT
• EPA and EU are getting involved
• Forced review of IT efficiency• Intersection between facilities
and IT• The power issue is moving up
the food chain• Corporate social responsibility
tightly linked• Consumption becoming as
critical as performance• New construction and retrofits
focus on efficiency and reuse
How Does It Affect You?• Increased awareness/focus on power
• Compute-to-consumption ratios critical
• EU or EPA metrics are coming
• New KPIs based on efficiency
Next Monday Morning• Begin evaluation of PUE and/or PPE
• Begin continuous improvement planning
• Begin evaluating DCIM vendors
• Focus on consumption, rather than technologies
Critical Time Frame(s)2011 to 2012
3
Automation and Monitoring
How Does It Affect You?• Critical key success factor!
• Reduce amount of effort expended by IT professionals on the day-to-day routine aspects of I&O
• Principally an "O" issue: "The Human Use of Human Beings"
Next Monday Morning• Where are you with ITIL? CMDB?
• Review Gartner's automation framework
Critical Time Frame(s)ITIL and CMDB: Now
RBA: 2012
Inte
gra
tio
n
Orc
hes
trat
ion
Wo
rkfl
ow
Mgmt. Processes
ITIL and Process Improvement
3
Wikipedia launched in 2001, and averages 4,300 new articles every day.
A current-generation network switch could move all 13 million articles …
… in 0.001 seconds.
? Did You Know?
Unified Communicationsand Collaboration
Unified Communications
Tightly integrated communications
applications
Wireless
VoIP
VTC
ATC
MobilityPBX
Presence
IM
E-Mail
Workspaces
Text/SMS
How Does It Affect You?• Combines many overlapping areas
• A technology and organizational issue
• Strong area for managed services to take hold
Next Monday Morning• Are your apps providers planning for
taking advantage of unified communications? What's their strategy?
• What other UC business scenarios make sense in your business?
Critical Time Frame2011 to 2013
4
How many text messages the average American teenager sends each month?
584?
1,150?
1,812?
2,282 per month
? Did You Know?
Mobile Unified Communications
HIGH VALUE
LOW VALUE
UnifiedMessaging/
Calling
Presence
MobileExtension
Location-Based
Services
Fixed-Mobile
Replacement
Mobile platform is the key unifierIntegration of corporate and social
media streamsPresence and context primary
application targetsApplications can drive UC&C
business case
4
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates thatthose in today's labor force will have 10 to 14 jobs
? Did You Know?
by the age of 38
Creating the "T"-Shaped IT Staff
Critical Skills Needed• Vertical focus is limiting
• Breadth of knowledge rare
• Project management skills
• Understand cascade effects
What Can You Do?• Get out of comfort zones
• Enable/reward learning
• Cross-pollinate skills
• Break down silos
Business Linkages
Technology Depth
Related Skills
Related Skills
Value to the Business
Val
ue
to t
he
IT G
rou
p5
If Facebook was a country,
it would be the 3rd largest in the world
(between China and the U.S.)
Facebook reached 500 million users in July
Twitters' world rank would be No. 7.
? Did You Know?
Open-Source Collaboration
Social Media
Facebook
Twitter
Plaxo
LinkedInText
Orkut
Yammer
How Does It Affect You?• Consumer input can drive IT
• You cannot stop them long term
• New employees bring theirnetworks to work
Next Monday Morning• Begin evaluation of usage patterns
• Develop a code of conductfor usage
• Listen to the collective — carefully
• Focus on consumption, ratherthan technologies
Critical Time Frame(s)2010 to 2012
6
2011 20132012 2014
Migrations — Windows and Office
Reduced ISV
support for XP
How Does It Affect You?It affects everyone
Depending on license downgrading,XP ends when Windows 7 SP1 ships
Ensure viability/value of Office licenses
Next MondayBuild a migration timeline
Build inventories, classify applications and users
Critical vendors Windows/Office support?
Critical Time Frames:Windows 2000 and XP SP2 support ended
Windows XP support ends April 2014
Office 2003 support ends April 2014
The longer you wait to start, the faster youneed to move!
You have less time than you think
Accel/AttritionForklift
3-Year Attrition4-Year Attrition
5-Year Attrition
XP extended
support ends
7
? Did You Know?
In 1997, a gigabyte of Flash memory cost $7,870.
Today, it costs $1.25.
Compute and Data Center Density• Cores doubling every two years
• Racks continue to get denser
• Liquid cooling on the increase
• Movement toward smaller size, greater density in DCs
• Energy efficiency a key factor
How Does It Affect You?• Virtualization is critical to success
• Trend is high-density, high use of floor space
• Utilization levels and compute-to-energy ratios paramount by 2012
Next Monday Morning• Analyze asset use (highs and lows)
• Map server growth to energy and cooling required
• Engage facilities team
Critical Time Frame(s)2010 to 2012
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
New Server ($B) Power and Cooling ($B)
Installed Base (M)
8
DL380 (G1)
DL380 G2
DL380 G3
DL380 G4 (3.8
GHz Xeon)
DL380 G5
(5160, Wood-crest, 2 core)
DL380 G5
(L5430, Harper-town, Quad-core)
DL380 G6
(L5530, Ne-
halem, Quad-core)
226
172 170
63.7
394
258 253
187
Idle 100% Perf
Performance per Core/Kilowatt
• Consider upgradesin place
• Reduce refreshcycle times
• Double capacity and reduce energy
• Retain your footprint
• Increase cores, virtualization, or force parallel processing
Server performance per kilowatt gains can justify the purchase price ...
Watts per Server Model
8
Cloud Computing
• Where do I compute?• Who do I trust?• Stabilize service levels• Shrinking data centers• Commodity services
How Does It Affect You?• Common services are available now —
may reduce operating expenses
• Private clouds improve agility andwill dominate
• Reassess critical compute requirements
• Ignore the hype — focus on results
Next Monday Morning• Evaluate commodity services you
provide and what can move to the cloud
• Evaluate cloud delivery model for internal use
• Categorize applications/services based on SLAs and risk before proceeding
Critical Time Frame(s)2010 to 2013
9
Fabric Computing orInfrastructure Convergence
How Does It Affect You?• The end of "silos"?
• Completely different approach to data center design
• Highly scalable viaresource pools
Next Monday Morning• Assess; be ready when vendors
come knocking on your door
• Develop long-term data center strategy; think "hybrid"
Critical Time Frame(s)2012 to 2014
10
The computer in your cell phone today
is a million times cheaper,
and a thousand times more powerful,
and about a hundred thousand times smaller
than the one computer installed at MITin 1965
? Did You Know?
Source: Ray Kurzweil
"So, what used to fitin a building,
now fits in your pocket,
and what fits in your pocket now,
will fit inside a blood cell in 25 years"
Recommendations
Be aware of the top trends. Determine which ones will influence your career
plans. Develop a strategy to keep informed of
developments. Prepare to be a change agent as you enter the IT
workforce.
Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day.
