IT Strategy

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05
Dec 13

SearchDataCenter – IT priorities in 2014 move beyond virtualization to cloud, automation

Knowing which technologies are on the way out and where you should ramp up IT efforts in 2014 could mean the difference between profit and loss.

But navigating the ever-changing IT space is a daunting challenge — with your business hanging in the balance. TechTarget recently surveyed over 4,100 IT professionals to learn about their IT priorities and to gauge changes on the horizon for 2014. Here’s what we found:
IT goals for 2014

Any adjustment to IT — and its role in everyday business operations — must start by reviewing and establishing a new set of goals. More than 4,100 IT professionals shared their thoughts on the changing focus for their departments, and 37% plan to expand IT to support business growth. Organizations depend on computing as a critical business resource; as the scope of employees, partners and users grows to global proportions, IT must have appropriate computing levels in place to handle the load.

Even when growth is not the top priority, there are always opportunities to enhance the business with key IT projects, and 23% of IT professionals reported selective spending in some technological areas. This may include initiatives like data protection, strategic upgrades to network infrastructure, deploying a virtualization or consolidation project, or some other targeted technology that offers a measurable business benefit.

More of the SearchDataCenter article by Stephen J Bigelow

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04
Dec 13

ZDNet – 8 habits of high-performing IT teams

What separates the high performers in IT from the average blokes? They are more open to new ideas and approaches, as well as working closer with customers.

Those are two conclusions coming out of Accenture’s latest research report on the habits and tendencies of high-performing IT teams. The consultancy says it interviewed IT executives in more than 200 global companies across a range of industries.

Here are some of the key areas that Accenture identified as separating “high performers” against average IT teams:

1. High performers invest more in new initiatives, versus maintenance projects. Accenture finds high performers allocate seven percent more of their IT budget to new projects than do other organizations. Although their day-to-day IT operating expenses are expected to stay flat this year, 54% of high performers will spend significantly more on new projects.

2. High performers are further along in their transition to private and public clouds. Regarding current and future initiatives for cloud computing, more advanced IT teams report greater proportions of their infrastructure, application development, and applications will be transitioning to cloud. High performers are transitioning 43% of their infrastructure to cloud, versus 20% of average IT teams. High performers also are moving 27% of application development to cloud, versus 14% of average IT departments.

More of the ZDNet article by Joe McKendrick

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03
Dec 13

ZDNet – PC shipments to decline further than expected; no significant recovery expected

Summary: IDC reckons the number of PCs shipped will decline even further to double-digits. The research firm describes it as the most severe yearly contraction on record.

Based on latest figures from research firm IDC, the PC market will decline even further as this year’s shipments will plummet by 10.1 percent, down from the previous projection of 9.7 percent.

IDC said in a release published Monday it is by far the “most severe yearly contraction on record.”

Because interest in PCs remain limited, the firm explained, as the world increasingly takes up tablets and post-PC devices, there’s little chance of the traditional desktop and notebook market showing positive growth beyond device replacement.

Total shipments are expected to decline by an additional 3.8 percent in 2014, but may show some signs of positive growth in the longer term. Even in emerging markets, which have previously seen increased growth, developing countries are losing interest in PCs with shipments expected to decline in 2014.

More of the ZDNet article by Zack Whittaker

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02
Dec 13

CIOInsight Slideshow – Data Governance Efforts Continue to Lag

While there’s always been a lot of concern about how data is governed, a new survey suggests a significant gap exists between the level of concern and organizations’ actual plans to implement data governance as part of a larger compliance strategy. A new survey of 454 IT executives conducted by Rand Secure Archive finds that while organizations are facing more compliance regulations, their investments in backup, archiving and e-Discovery technologies continues to lag behind. One reason for this, of course, is the popularity of applications, which are also competing for a slice of the IT budget.

More of the CIO Insight article and slideshow

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27
Nov 13

Rich Miller – Facebook Ops: Each Staffer Manages 20,000 Servers

SAN ANTONIO – Facebook has been an industry leader in building its Internet infrastructure for scalability. That includes the scalability of the people that work in the company’s data centers.

Each Facebook data center operations staffer can manage at least 20,000 servers, and for some admins the number can be as high as 26,000 systems, according to Delfina Eberly, Director of Data Center Operations at Facebook. Eberly was the keynote speaker Tuesday morning at the 7×24 Exchange 2013 Fall Conference, speaking on “Operations at Scale.”

Facebook’s performance appears to break new ground in the server-to-admin ratio, which has rarely exceeded 10,000 to 1 (see High Scalability for more). The company’s success affirms the potential of using an integrated approach in which the operations team works closely with other teams in IT and facilities.

More of the Data Center Knowledge article by Rich Miller

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26
Nov 13

CIO.com – Data Centers Play Fast and Loose with Reliability Credentials

IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau) — How reliable is your data center service provider? Perhaps not as reliable as you think.

The Uptime Institute says some data centers are playing fast and loose with its “tiering” system for rating data center reliability, making false claims or at best being economical with the truth about how resilient their facilities are.

The upshot, the Institute says, is that some companies may be running important applications in data centers that are more susceptible to failure than is advertised, and they may get a rude awakening the next time a hurricane strikes or a transformer blows out in the local power grid.

“At a time when more enterprises are moving at scale to an outsourcing option, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Julian Kudritzki, Uptime Institute’s chief operating officer, who along with a few data center operators is trying to raise awareness of the issue.

The Institute’s tiering system is only one way of indicating data center resiliency, but it has become well known in the industry. It gives four tiers of certification, with Tier III the most common type awarded. A Tier III data center has multiple delivery paths for power and cooling, and redundant critical components, so that downtime is minimized and maintenance can be performed without taking the computing services offline.

More of the CIO.com article by James Niccolai

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25
Nov 13

Baseline – Data Breaches May Be Worse Than Reported

Despite the growing awareness of cyber-attacks and the increasingly sophisticated tools and technologies available to combat data breaches, the problem is getting worse. What’s more, organizations face steep challenges in dealing with cyber-attacks, and many are underreporting incidents, according to a recently released research report from ThreatTrack. The company polled 200 security professionals in U.S. enterprises and found that 57 percent had experienced a data breach that they did not disclose. Moreover, 72 percent said that addressing malware is equally or more difficult this year than it was last year. Part of the problem is that the nature of data breaches is growing more diverse and affecting firms on a wider scale. As a result, enterprises are struggling to keep up.

More of the Baseline article and slideshow by Samuel Greengard

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22
Nov 13

Baseline – Why IT Pros Think They’re Better Than the Boss

Who’s in charge? That’s a good question in IT departments, as a recent survey from TEKsystems reveals that a majority of tech professionals feel they can do a better job than their bosses. Specifically, they think they’re more creative, intelligent and reliable, among other qualities. Fortunately, this doesn’t necessarily lead to acrimony within the office. Actually, findings show that an overwhelming majority of IT pros enjoy a good relationship with their managers. It’s important, however, for managers to understand which qualities help them achieve positive responses and respect, and which are considered signs of weaknesses.

CIO.com – The Keys to Keeping Mobile Simple

Summary: As mobility moves into the enterprise mainstream, simplicity is key, but it is hard than it appears. Successful enterprises will build on platforms that make life simpler for everyone in the mobile value chain.

As we look forward to 2014, the biggest challenge facing most organizations worldwide in adopting mobile is that, according to various surveys including SAP’s own, fully 70-80 percent of all enterprises are investing tactically in mobile while about 20 percent have taken the step to look at mobile as a strategic investment.

The tactical nature of investment is understandable as the technology provides, market adoption and end user expectations are moving at a much faster pace than a typical IT organization’s resources allow.

That’s where the theme of simplicity begins, because if you interview all the people involved in mobile adoption at the tactical level, you will find that end user adoption skyrockets when mobile apps are easy to find and provision, when developers can innovate and distribute their creations in a simple way, and when the sheer act of supporting end users is made simple, either through automation or self-support.

More of the CIO.com article

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19
Nov 13

CIO.com – How Load Balancing Is Playing a Bigger Role in Tech Transitions

Load balancing isn’t just for websites that expect surges in traffic any more. Companies of all sizes, and in all verticals, find load balancing an effective way to address disaster recovery, scalability, failover and application virtualization needs.

CIO — Load balancing technology, which took off in 1990s with the rise of the Internet, continues to find behind-the-scenes work in the enterprise — including a supporting role in the current mobile boom.

Take the case of Richard Fleischman & Associates, an IT consulting firm that uses load balancing products from Kemp Technologies in its disaster recovery (DR) line of business. RFA’s financial services industry clients include hedge funds and broker-dealers, and financial industry regulations require a disaster recovery plan. (New York City customers can cut over to RFA’s Purchase, N.Y. disaster recovery center or the company’s Boston center.)

Stevens Demorcy, senior systems engineer at RFA, says Kemp Technologies provided a solution to a tricky DR issue: Making customers’ iPhones, Android and Windows smartphones quickly available in the event of a disaster. In the last few years, many customers had migrated from BlackBerry and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) to smartphones that use Microsoft’s ActiveSync mobile data synchronization technology. (ActiveSync is a Microsoft Exchange Server feature that lets users access email, calendar and contacts on mobile devices.) During Superstorm Sandy, many clients had to go to DR and wait hours for DNS updates to propagate and reach their devices.