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Richardson Eyres: Complex IT Environments Are Putting Businesses at Risk

A combination of cost pressures, changing strategic priorities and the need to manage risk are among the key factors driving the need for data centre transformation claims data centre consolidation experts, Richardson Eyres.

Mandatory legislation is also fuelling the need for changes to the way organisations store and secure data. The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) introduced to drive energy efficiencies in a number of large organisations, has started enforcing penalties for non-compliance and legislation aimed at reinforcing data security and business continuity processes could also result in substantial fines if not adhered to.

According to Adam Kemp, director, Richardson Eyres, most mid-sized or enterprise organisations have built their IT infrastructures over the years using various technologies, from a variety of vendors, resulting in complex IT environments.

"Many businesses are now paying the price for the heterogeneous IT environments they have created. One of the biggest challenges they face is how to overcome the difficulties of managing these systems and security risks and there comes a point where they become unresponsive to changing business needs", said Kemp.

"A converged infrastructure - a blend of consolidating, virtualising and automating systems will significantly contribute towards efficiencies in the data centre. Standardising on components such as blade servers, when business needs change and new technologies need to be adopted, makes it far easier for them to deployed, and for organisations to work more effectively."

Convergence is still a along way off being common IT practice. However, large enterprises are already starting to adopt this approach and understand the clear business benefits such a transformation delivers. SMBs aren't immune to change either, especially as industry strives for best practice and new standards are introduced.

"Data centres can't be transformed over night, but moving towards a more efficient model will allow for greater flexibility and visibility of security and business continuity issues. It will also help improve the speed and ease with which systems can be deployed and managed", concludes Kemp.



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