For me, the consolidation also meant more centralized management and monitoring, as well as better use of resources. And the larger systems came with excellent vendor support, including remote monitoring and real on-site support teams when needed.
My IT security manager, Bucky Rogers, was worried about putting all our server eggs into one vulnerable basket. The vendors promised solid solutions for separating virtual and physical server slices, but Bucky did his own research to confirm that we wouldn't cause a monumental security vulnerability.
There were a few other considerations. Where would the new servers go? We had plenty of room following our recent move to a new computer room. What about storage? We knew we'd need a SAN, and we had budgeted for it.
We considered a blade server alternative but decided against it. Marvin wanted true server consolidation, not just individual servers in a blade enclosure. And Dirk didn't like the idea of deciding which applications would fit onto what blade.
Dig Deeper
Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for Juniper Networks, explains how the advanced technology is transforming operations.
Contact center leaders from 8x8, Awaken Intelligence, and 360insight discuss the importance of agent experience.
AI may force enterprises to rewire parts of their data centers so they are fully optimized to run such workloads. The question is do you use Ethernet or InfiniBand?
