The Dynamic Data Center

Today's data centers are generally static. The systems are configured and expanded manually, but they are rarely reconfigured to make better use of the overall data center. Reconfiguration is complicated, error prone, underdocumented, and time consuming.

The IT staff often act as firefighters, moving from one problem or to another. The N1 Grid software saves time by enabling administrators to focus on higher-level proactive issues. To reduce the number of problems, they should be thinking strategically about the improvement of the architecture through flexibility. The N1 Grid software helps provide proactive management, while increasing business and technical agility within the data center.

Because of their static nature, business services, and their required systems, are installed and forgotten. Patch maintenance is even problematic when it must be managed across various vendors. In contrast, the strategically flexible data center is built on infrastructure and application automation. After the infrastructure and applications are automatically built, recreated on demand, and virtualized, the business can use the technology in new and exciting ways. Imagine the following:

• An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that runs various payroll applications monthly needing additional capacity

• An e-commerce application that needs less capacity because the holiday season is winding down

• A new customer that requires a different service level on their outsourced application and additional network capacity during their busy time of year

These examples show how the business impacts the technology. The strategic data center can respond to these business requirements through a manual process or triggers and through additional policy-based automation in the future. The N1 Grid software enables the IT administrator to align system resources with the business needs on a daily or even hourly basis.

The biggest roadblock to strategic flexibility is the inability to realize the amount of control and opportunity for change the IT organization has over its systems. In a typical data center of today, making the types of changes that would allow the above examples to run with improved service levels is not a minor task. In fact, because of errors and the required time, the desire for change is often lessened when its value or impact seems too great.