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Redefining IT Consolidation StrategyBy Eedo Lifshitz, DiskSites
IT consolidation is one of the hottest trends in today's economy. It is viewed as a means of lowering IT expense while simplifying IT management.
Some perceive the consolidation trend as a desire to return to the 'old mainframe days,' when IT was centralized and considerably easier to control and manage. The real opportunity presented by the consolidation trend, however, is gaining the best of the two IT models: the benefits of centralized management of IT along with the high performance and end-user productivity of the distributed computing model.
In its Enterprises' 2005 IT Priorities report, issued in March 2 2005, Forrester Research surveyed 515 large firms and discovered that Infrastructure consolidation will be a high priority for 63% of enterprises during the next 12 months. In its "Remote Offices: Critical Links In Enterprise Architecture" report published March 24th, Forrester stated that 'a critical aspect of the consolidation and IT rationalization plans of large enterprises is support for remote offices. If not planned for data consolidation will slow branch office users' data access to a crawl, hurting productivity and morale.' Many enterprises enter into data center consolidation programs only to realize that a substantial fraction of their IT resources and expenses are "outside the walls" in hundreds of remote offices of varying sizes and degrees of independence. Companies that fail to plan for this consolidation will end up spending more for their remote branch offices than their peers -- and will not be able to respond as rapidly to the dynamics of today's business: change! The Server- Based Computing Approach
Server-Based Computing (SBC) solutions, such as Citrix, were introduced to the industry several years ago as a mean of consolidation -- and have gained significant market share. The key concept behind SBC is that both the data and application reside in the data center -- and that the user interface is transferred, over the wide area network (WAN), to branch users. This solution introduces significant benefits as a result of the centralized management approach -- but it does so at the cost of performance and end-user productivity:
The Wide Area File Services Approach
Wide area file services (WAFS) solutions allow branch users to have access to a centralized file server - but do so at LAN-like speeds and over the existing WAN. What makes this approach more valuable is that users can benefit from the data (no -) center's best practices regarding IT, along with significant shared infrastructure cost savings.
WAFS solutions are implemented by replacing file and print servers at the branch with an appliance that is simple both to install and maintain. In this approach, data is stored in the data center, taking advantage of the centralized management model, while applications run on user desktops, achieving the high performance and end-user productivity of the distributed computing model.
Consolidation Requirements
Branch offices typically have four main components: Exchange Servers, Application Servers, File Servers and Branch IT infrastructure services:
Defining the Consolidation Strategy
The consolidation strategy should be derived from the requirements and the available solutions. In some cases, the SBC solution is clearly the best approach; in other cases, a WAFS approach with branch IT services should be selected. In yet other situations a combination of the two approaches will provide the ideal consolidation strategy.
Conclusion
Consolidation is a key trend in the market and there are several ways to approach it. WAFS solutions have added a new opportunities for consolidation while achieving improved service levels and cost reductions. In some cases, the SBC solution is clearly the best approach; in other cases, a WAFS approach with branch IT services should be selected. In yet other situations a combination of the two approaches will provide the ideal consolidation strategy.
Author Bio:
Eedo Lifshitz is VP of International Sales for DiskSites, Inc. DiskSites VBranch solutions provide wide area file (WAFS) and branch level services that simplify network administration, increase data integrity and ensure access to resources, while also protecting enterprise information. For more information please visit us at www.disksites.com, or contact us at [email protected].
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