For Vendor Strategy Professionals

IT Buyers Prioritize Virtualization Over Cloud

Strategists Should Plan Practical Offerings And Messaging For Buyers

by Frank E. Gillett, October 30, 2009

In the Forrester Enterprise And SMB Hardware Survey, North America And Europe, Q3 2009, we used carefully worded questions to test buyer priorities on initiatives for virtualization, consolidation, automation, internal cloud, and infrastructure-as-a-service . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Virtual Machine Consolidation Ratio Benchmark, 2009

How Many Virtual Machines Can Enterprises Fit On A Single Physical Server?

by Rachel A. Dines, Galen Schreck, October 23, 2009

According to a recent Forrester survey, the physical to virtual consolidation ratio of server virtualization users varies significantly by company and industry. If your organization has implemented server virtualization but not realized the expected cost . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For IT Infrastructure And Operations Professionals: Branch Office Technologies, Q2 2009

Core Technologies Ripe For Consolidation And Centralization

by Chris Silva, May 26, 2009

As businesses look to IT for the efficiencies, savings, and streamlining that will improve the bottom line, consolidation of branch office infrastructure represents a distributed but easy-to-optimize area of IT infrastructure. All the technologies included . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Q&A: Consolidating Linux Workloads On System Z

Best Fits For Making The Technology And Business Case

by Brad Day, April 21, 2009

Transitioning Linux workloads to run on a System Z footprint will first require your chief information officer's (CIO) sponsorship — as any step away from convention would entail. Take the shortcut on this assignment by asking him three simple questions: . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Best Practices: Aligning Your Infrastructure And Operations Department Around Virtualization

by Galen Schreck, Rachel A. Dines, March 20, 2009

Getting the most out of virtualization requires firms to overcome cultural divides that exist within even the most functional of IT departments. Persuading the business to make the upfront investment in virtualization is no small task, but even companies . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Case Study: The State Of Indiana Tunes Its I&O Department For Virtualization Success

by Galen Schreck, Rachel A. Dines, March 20, 2009

Prior to 2005, the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) was distributed over 100 agencies and four data centers. By mid-2006, on Governor Mitch Daniels' orders, IOT was completely centralized with only one data center and had dropped from 100 system administrators . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: IT Consolidation, Q1 2009

by James Staten, February 20, 2009

Forrester has recognized consolidation as a success imperative for IT infrastructure and operations professionals for some time, and the recession has only increased that interest. In 2008, Forrester fielded more than 100 client inquiries on various aspects . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Green Data Center Starts With A Rationalized Application Portfolio: A Sprint Case Study

How One IT Ops Group Generated Eco(nomic) Value By Removing Underutilized Apps And The Infrastructure Tied To Them

by Doug Washburn, February 12, 2009

Sprint's end goal was to cut costs, increase capacity, and reduce the carbon footprint of IT infrastructure in the data center — but that's not where they started. Recognizing that the data center and its server, storage, and network assets exist to support . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Should Your Windows Apps Move To The Cloud?

New Cloud Computing Options Are Worth Your Consideration

by James Staten, December 10, 2008

With the announcement of the Azure Services Platform at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, new attention has been focused on Windows and its fit with cloud computing. But this interest may be misdirected, as Azure is more interesting today . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Infrastructure And Operations Professionals: Must-Read Research In An Economic Downturn

by Simon Yates, November 7, 2008

The global economy stands on the brink of a complete meltdown, but the impending threat to the 2009 IT budget is nothing new to infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals: For years now, you've been asked to do more with less. However, this . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: IT Consolidation Consultancies, Q2 2008

IBM And Accenture Lead A Strong Field Of Worldwide Providers

by James Staten, June 13, 2008

In Forrester's 42-criteria evaluation of IT consolidation consultancies, we found that IBM Global Services (IGS) and Accenture led the pack due to their breadth of capabilities and superior ability in business justification of consolidation efforts. HP . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Untangling Windows Server Licensing Issues

by Christopher Voce, May 14, 2008

Windows Server 2008, formerly code-named Longhorn, is finally out in the wild. The new version delivers enhancements in virtualization, manageability, and security that will entice firms to the new edition — but Microsoft's server virtualization solution, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Can Specialty Engines Save The Mainframe?

Deploying New Workloads On System z

by Brad Day, April 29, 2008

System z specialty engines are specifically designed to make IBM's System z more attractive for the optimization of new workloads, while helping to significantly lower the life-cycle cost of running those workloads on a System z server. Specialty engines, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Trimming The Fat From Exchange

Strategies To Consolidate Resources Dedicated To Running Microsoft Exchange Server Infrastructure

by Christopher Voce, April 28, 2008

Consolidation is top of mind for many IT managers, and a portly email infrastructure is a ripe target to put on a diet. Business factors such as mergers and acquisitions and technical factors such as scalability limitations have driven up the cost of . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Why Consolidate Linux On IBM System P?

by Brad Day, April 25, 2008

With the evolution of IBM's Power Systems server (formerly known as System p), the core differentiation of its feature/functionality has first and foremost centered on its sustained advantage in scaleable availability and scaleable performance versus . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Topic Overview: IT Consolidation

Rationalizing Data Center Infrastructure Investments For Greatest Efficiency

by James Staten, April 14, 2008

The majority of IT infrastructure and operations professionals today are rationalizing IT to some degree. This leads to IT consolidation projects for most large organizations, as the finite resources must do more and as nearly everyone faces space, power, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Mainframes And RISC Server Trends For IT Infrastructure Consolidation

by Brad Day, March 27, 2008

In a recent Forrester survey, more than half of the respondents who are consolidating servers as part of an IT infrastructure consolidation strategy are focusing on their mainframe environment. Long thought of as separate and largely untouchable, the . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

What Applications Are Enterprises Virtualizing?

And What Will You Virtualize Next?

by James Staten, March 6, 2008

Virtualization is a powerful tool in the infrastructure and operations professional's IT consolidation arsenal. But how is it being wielded? According to a survey of 60 server infrastructure executives and managers at US enterprises, not all applications . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Cost Analysis And Measurement Help Ensure Consolidation Success

by James Staten, January 15, 2008

Most enterprises are involved in or planning IT consolidation projects to address cost issues, but those that have made the effort have found that their expectations going in often are hard to quantify and that success is often found along other lines . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

How Large Enterprises Approach IT Infrastructure Consolidation

by James Staten, December 28, 2007

Most IT shops are either down the path or plan to engage in IT infrastructure consolidation projects in the next year. How are they approaching it? Forrester surveyed 246 IT executives and managers at US enterprises to find of those actively pursuing . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Five Trends That Will Shape The IT Infrastructure And Operations Profession In 2008

by Simon Yates, December 14, 2007

2008 will be a busy one for IT infrastructure and operations professionals. With CIOs openly espousing the benefits of server virtualization and losing sleep over the real costs of power leakage in their data centers, you will be on the CIO's "must call . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The IT Consolidation Imperative: Out Of Space, Out Of Power, Out Of Money

How To Get Started With IT Consolidation Before It's Too Late

by James Staten, October 5, 2007

Nearly every large enterprise IT shop is struggling to accommodate growing business demands within their existing budgets and infrastructure. This requires IT consolidation. But where do you start? And how do you know when you are close to crisis? Forrester . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Preparing For A Server Consolidation Negotiation

Critical Steps In Developing The Art Before the Deal

by Brad Day, February 23, 2006

Careful planning is required to set the stage for the "best and final" bid process before commencing a server consolidation project, but many firms fail to complete the required due diligence ahead of time. The side effect is that the buyer cannot clearly . . .

Identifying Server Consolidation Cost Savings

by Brad Day, October 3, 2005

Numerous servers that are physically distributed in several locations require a significant amount of management effort. As a result, many companies are now consolidating their systems to regain both financial and administrative control of their IT resources. . . .

Using Virtualization For Server Consolidation

A Checklist Of Virtualization Drivers And Deployment Scenarios

by Brad Day, July 19, 2005

The primary reasons for using virtualization technology — often referred to as system partitioning — as a core underpinning in server consolidation projects are based on three drivers: 1) greater flexibility in use of systems architecture resources; 2) . . .