The Issue:

The shift to a data-center centric model for enterprise computing
continues to increase the importance of the reliability, scalability and
management of the underlying network infrastructure. Consolidation of sites
and resources demands major changes in WAN architecture and backup
strategies. New technologies such as virtualization, storage virtualization, Web
services and clustering will dramatically affect information processing and so also
network requirements, leading not only to increasing demands for bandwidth,
but also to fundamental changes in the way data flows across enterprise
networks. New end-user applications such as voice and video create contention
issues for available bandwidth. Enterprise organizations must plan for these
changes, and must concentrate on obtaining and delivering network services
capable of meeting these changing requirements.

Organizations are, at the same time, focusing on data-center management
and operations, attempting to cut costs, improving efficiency, automating
repetitive tasks, and better aligning IT spending with business needs and demand
for services. More than three-quarters of enterprise IT executives interviewed for
Nemertes’ “New Data Center” benchmark take a holistic view of the data center
as part of a broader shift in IT culture to “IT as a service.” This translates to data
centers as business-service delivery centers, with critical requirements for
performance and availability.

Read this Issue Paper:

Clients: Network Services and the New Data Center [1] 

Non Clients: Nemertes Issue Papers are available to clients only. If you're not a client and would like to receive a copy of the Issue Paper, please contact us [2].