Your organization can spend a lot to maintain a data center and still not get excellent performance. This may be due to old and outdated systems, updates that are behind, security concerns, or overworked staff. It could also be the complexity of managing today’s data center environment with virtualization layers at almost every level. If these are familiar struggles, modernizing your data center will save money while increasing efficiency.
Technologies have evolved and IT departments have likewise undergone significant transformation. This has made data center modernization compulsory if you want your organization to not only benefit from the latest technology, but do well despite the competition that grows daily.
HYPER-CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE INCREASES PERFORMANCE
Hyper-converged infrastructure, or HCI, increases the performance of old IT infrastructure and systems that can’t keep up. While a fast data center is important, it’s not worth much if it cannot be maintained. Some data centers have costly software systems that require many experts to run them. Hyper-convergence takes a different approach based on an affordable model resembling public cloud.
For an organization that is moving at an exceptional rate, there are increased workloads that need to process more data efficiently. Without a modern data center architecture, an organization will find it hard to cope with these needs.
HCI is one of the current technologies that ensures maximum productivity. While helping you solve the problems plaguing your environment, it also breaks down the silos between your organization’s units and IT department. This method of modernizing your data center has numerous benefits including:
1. TIME SAVINGS FROM MAINTENANCE
A modernized data center is made of cost-efficient hardware and scaled in small steps, which are easy to manage. It also enables IT to add any needed units for expansion, thanks to the use of a block building approach. It replaces the old model, where IT experts had to rip and replace large systems to refresh your data center, that would only last for a few years.
These systems also reduce the time to maintain the environment. HCI vendors test their systems as a whole to ensure that the patches, BIOS updates, and firmware upgrades all work together. Instead of your engineers needing to figure out what patches, BIOS updates, and firmware upgrades need to be applied, and in what order, an HCI system is upgraded from one “known good state” to another.
2. SAVINGS FROM MORE SYSTEM UPTIME
A modern data center has significantly less downtime. This is because the system is designed to work as one complete, certified whole. This also makes security easier to manage than traditional infrastructure.
In addition, modernizing your data center makes it easier to produce reliable data backups. This reduces downtime since you have access to your data when you need it.
3. IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
Digital modernization helps you enhance the performance and handling of workloads. When using outdated hardware and software systems, the performance is slow and usability is limited. Old hardware can be costly if money must be spent to maintain it. This gives your competitors an advantage in the marketplace while you pay more to run your applications.
If you want to save money and increase your return on IT investment, modernizing your data center should be a first step. Though it can be a costly investment, if done correctly it will boost your organization’s performance and improve security and scalability.
4. ENHANCED SECURITY
Security is a top priority for every organization and can be costly if the proper methods are not used. Modernizing your data center helps your organization meet the compliance requirements set by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and others. Your organization can also benefit from modern security data encryption.
5. INCREASED GAINS DUE TO AUTOMATION
Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) is one of the best ways to modernize a data center. It combines compute, storage, and networking resources, and brings management tools together into one cohesive certified system. This helps to eliminate complicated administration functions such as scheduling, updating, scripting, and many maintenance tasks. Your IT team will not have to create automated structures and can use their time to work on more strategic priorities.
CONCLUSION
For any organization that is looking for ways to enhance the benefits it receives from technology, modernizing their data center should be the number one priority. Before modernizing your data center, you should seek to understand the benefits and determine if the investment is worthwhile in your unique circumstance. Any organization that is poised for growth, has ongoing security needs, and/or staff constraints needs to consider modernizing their data center. It is a strategic move your organization can leverage for success regardless of your industry.
In order to navigate the myriad of choices, systems, options, virtualization layers, vendors, and other providers, partnering with a trusted partner like Logical Front will ensure that the end result is a data center and set of systems that are poised for the challenges of your modern organization, both now and in the future.
GET A FREE ASSESSMENT TODAY
Do you want to start enjoying peace of mind, efficiency, and all the side benefits that come with a modern data center today? Reach out to us for a free assessment and learn how a modern data center can best be integrated in your organization.
