Predictions 2009: David Webster of EMC
Efficiency is the keyword for 2009. Data will continue to grow, but budgets will not, so the winners through 2009 will be those organisations that are able to find new ways to do more with less - to drive greater levels of value from existing investments.
Opinions differ greatly as to how the Australian economy will fare throughout 2009. Regardless of one’s stance on the global financial crisis and its effect on the Australian IT landscape, organisations will continue to seek greater operational efficiencies and effectiveness throughout their IT infrastructure. They will have to justify IT and operational decisions down to the dollar.
The IT community is fascinated by virtualisation - and for good reason. It is a hot topic for organizations of all sizes. Virtualisation makes information infrastructure easier to use and manage by allowing users to see their IT environments logically, rather than being constrained by location or physical proximity. With simplified management capabilities, costs are reduced and utilisation and flexibility improved. Organisations will continue to look to virtualisation to minimise capacity and cost and virtualised desktops will become a reality for many.
When virtualisation is combined with Cloud-delivered applications, the proposition becomes even more compelling and the dollar savings are black and white. The explosive growth of user-generated content is driving the need for an information infrastructure solution that can efficiently and effectively manage petabytes of information. We will witness a revolution in the way large organisations manage their information globally and deliver new cloud-based services to market.
De-duplication will be another way that businesses enhance underutilised value. This technology works hand in hand with virtualisation to get more from less. Doing traditional full and incremental backups means companies are backing up 150 to 200 per cent of their data. Implementing a de-duplication solution means minimising redundant data, while optimising performance, and resolving bandwidth challenges. Organisations can reduce full and incremental backup data to between two and seven per cent on a weekly basis. In addition, Gartner Group states that application and production errors cause 80 per cent of unplanned downtime. De-duplication will be combined with consolidated storage, low-costs disks, and storing intelligently based on the value of information, and the benefits will be enhanced back-up speeds and reduced costs.
Security and risk management will continue to be at the forefront of progressive organisations’ planning. Information will continue to grow, creating greater risk, and compliance will become ever stricter.
Essentially, organisations will need to be more nimble in adapting to the market by transforming their information into a tangible asset. Through storing information more efficiently, adding intelligence to transform that information into an asset and then securing that asset, businesses will be at an advantage. Those that embrace these best practices will be able to use 2009 to enhance their position.
Organisations’ information challenges are centered around managing the explosion of information, compliance challenges, security and protection, energy efficiency improvements and simplified management of their complex IT infrastructures. All of this must now be managed within the context of a tight global economy and uncertain financial future.
Those that rise to the challenges of consolidating and streamlining their IT infrastructure as well as following the logic of driving efficiencies will benefit greatly from partnering with technology solutions providers with deep product portfolios and truly integrated solutions that provide real, tangible value.