For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For Infrastructure And Operations Professionals: Infrastructure Virtualization, Q4 2009

I/O Virtualization Enters Its Growth Phase

by Galen Schreck, November 16, 2009

Every major category of IT infrastructure has been endowed with some virtualization capability. Although virtualization can make your IT environment more cost-effective and agile, the underlying technologies have matured at different rates. Furthermore, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Low-Hanging Fruit That Service Operations Teams Should Consider Now

by Evelyn Hubbert, November 13, 2009

Some IT organizations are confident that they can weather the storm of our current economic situation. Others believe they can maintain their current staffing level, and some are saying that they can maintain their current IT technology investment levels. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Vendors Beware: Virtualization, PaaS, And SaaS Are Changing The Capacity Management Tools Market

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, November 10, 2009

Continuous improvement in the server technology performance-price ratio has caused many organizations to simply dismiss the need for accurate workload and resource planning efforts. In the current economic climate, infrastructure optimization and operational . . .

For CIOs

Catalog Of Technical Services  (66 KB XLS)

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., Wolfgang Benkel, November 6, 2009

The workbook defines 10 generic profiles of technical services and associates provisioning processes and activities with each of them. The activity-based descriptions enable IT executives to establish the link between technology assets, resources, and . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Client Virtualization Adoption Trends, 2009  (528 KB PPT)

by Natalie Lambert, October 6, 2009

A look at the most recent client virtualization adoption trends.

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Tech Horizons: OpTier, A Step Toward Business Service Management (BSM) 2.0

Is Business Transaction Management The New BSM?

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, October 5, 2009

BSM is firmly established now as a way to manage IT as a business tool rather than as a collection of fragile technologies. In this transformation of IT into a service provider, technology is only one element of the equation and is no longer the only . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

UK Firms Continue To Look To Green IT For Cost Reduction And Business Benefits

Findings From The UK Green IT 2009 Conference, May 2009

by Onica King, Doug Washburn, October 2, 2009

Findings from Forrester's second joint survey collaboration with Tech:Touchstone Events, organizer of the Green IT 2009 Conference in London, uncovered that after a year of economic turmoil, financial drivers and efficiency gains are still the core motivation . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals: Cloud Computing, Q3 2009

As Much Diversity Of Maturity Across Categories As Confusion Among Them

by James Staten, October 2, 2009

The No. 1 challenge in cloud computing today is determining what it really is. What categories of services exist within the definition and business model, and how ready are these options for enterprise consumption? Forrester defines cloud computing as . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The IT Automation Imperative

Putting IT On The Road To Industrial Mass Production

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, July 30, 2009

Cost reduction is the universal 2009 battle cry. With 35% of a typical IT budget spent on personnel, staffing represents the heaviest IT financial burden. The way in which IT evolves in complexity and size, combined with the current inefficiency of many . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Know Your Facts: Understanding The Realities Of Desktop And Application Virtualization

by Natalie Lambert, July 29, 2009

Despite client virtualization becoming increasingly popular, there is still much confusion about the different technologies and how they will play out in the enterprise. During end user interviews, inquiries, and roundtable discussions, Forrester found . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Market Overview: Client Management Suites

Evolving Computing Market Shifts Focus To Security And Virtualization

by Natalie Lambert, July 29, 2009

Desktop operations managers are watching their computing environment change. There are now more types of devices and more varieties of operating systems entering the enterprise than ever before. This is leading to an architectural shift, one that moves . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Virtualization Is This Season's Cap Management

Capacity Management In A Virtual World

by Simon Yates, June 17, 2009

With improved service performance, coupled with the rise of virtualization and the limits of hardware sprawl, Forrester anticipates improvements to the capacity management process. Data centers will make a comeback. They'll be different though, and better, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For I&O Professionals: Green IT 1.0 Technologies, Q2 2009

Helping IT Ops Professionals Understand And Prioritize Green IT Hardware, Software, And Service Investments

by Doug Washburn, June 12, 2009

Green IT is on the rise. Even in the face of a weak economy, twice as many organizations expect to accelerate their green IT plans as expect to slow them down. Why is this? Green IT initiatives are financially motivated, exposing opportunities for cost . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

What Vendors Need To Know About IT Management Software In SMBs

Overview Of Market Sizing, Buying Trends, And Preferences

by Peter O'Neill, May 28, 2009

IT management needs vary according to company-size segment, and distribution of the IT management software market is 77% to enterprises and 23% to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in 2009. While the greatest difference in buying drivers is between . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Open Source IT Management Tools

Cost Is Not The Only Differentiator

by Evelyn Hubbert, May 26, 2009

With shrinking IT budgets and a continued need to control IT environments, the use of open source solutions to manage infrastructure and operations is no longer just an interesting experience but a viable alternative for enterprises of all sizes. The . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

CDN Road Map: New Solutions Storm The Market

Bundled Services Expand The Business Value Of Content Delivery

by Henry Dewing, May 22, 2009

Content delivery network (CDN) leaders like Akamai Technologies, Limelight Networks, and CDNetworks face a perfect storm. Ever more demanding customers, a burgeoning Web, and new content delivery business models threaten to undermine the leading position . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Sun Is The Center Of The New Oracle Universe

How Cisco, HP, And Oracle Are Shaping IT's Future

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, May 21, 2009

There are defining moments in IT where all the stars align to create a big bang. Twenty years ago, IT vendors faced clients wanting application and service value, not technology. The market dominance of IBM mainframes forced these smaller vendors to find . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Inquiry Insight: IT Management Software

Sustained Activity In Spite Of The Economic Downturn

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, May 13, 2009

Forrester analyzed the IT management software (ITMS) inquiries received from vendors and end users in 2007 and 2008. Inquiries are a good indicator of the tactical issues faced by Forrester's clients and of the activity surrounding a given subject matter. . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Knocking The NOC: Enter The New Operations Center

by Glenn O'Donnell, April 30, 2009

The operational hub of any well-run and complex organization is a strong operations center. In IT, this function is often fragmented into pockets that tend to be too isolated. Such isolation is a principal cause of much of the chaos that characterizes . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Capacity Management In A Virtual World

Transforming The Traditional Process To Serve Virtualization Imperatives

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, April 17, 2009

Traditional capacity planning is seen as an exercise in forecasting the alignment of hardware resources to enterprise activity growth. Cheap systems meant that this was eventually considered to have little value: Why use scarce and expensive intellectual . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Desktop Virtualization: The Updated Rules Of The Road For Virtualizing Windows

Understanding Windows Licensing As It Applies To Your Desktop Virtualization Initiatives

by Natalie Lambert, April 9, 2009

You asked, and Microsoft listened. At the beginning of the year, Microsoft updated its Windows licensing for desktop virtualization. This means that IT professionals exploring the use of desktop virtualization to support various scenarios, such as contractors . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Infrastructure & Operations Organizational Structures, Q1 2009

by Doug Washburn, Rachel A. Dines, March 11, 2009

Infrastructure and operations (I&O) departments are currently in a state of flux. Beyond increasing centralization, I&O departments are reorganizing to become service-oriented or are at least considering such a change. Why? When surveyed, IT executives . . .

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 Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview 2008: Automated Testing Software

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, November 7, 2008

Conventional wisdom says that the goal of testing is to find bugs in software, and that this should be achieved by running known usage cases that yield expected results. This opens the door to automation and automated testing solutions. New applications, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Strategies To Cut Application Costs Using Diagnostic And Monitoring Tools

by Phil Murphy, November 5, 2008

Once developers have implemented and stabilized applications in a production environment, the applications are placed in "maintenance mode"; thereafter, many receive little scrutiny. As time passes, business volumes grow and hardware components change. . . .