2013 Gartner Data Center Conference - An Inside Look
Source: Gartner Newsroom View: 300 Date: 2013-11-22

The annual Gartner Data Center Conference is taking place in Las Vegas next month. In the run up to the event, we asked Mike Chuba and David Russell, Gartner analyst conference chairs, to share their thoughts on what to expect at the conference, along with important insights regarding the outlook for the data center market.

Q: What can attendees expect at this year’s Data Center Conference?

Mr. Chuba: We’ve developed a rich, broad and deep agenda that touches on every aspect of infrastructure and operations (I&O), and the data center. An exciting addition is a full track devoted to the impact of the very different approaches that “new –age” IT organizations are taking – what we’ve coined “web-scale IT” - and how that is shaking up industry norms. The impact of web-scale IT on traditional enterprises and organizations is already dramatic.

We also have tracks dedicated to the impact of cloud and mobile on the data center and I&O. Best efforts to improve organizational effectiveness have seen little improvement over the last five years, so we will explore the changes in people, process and technology that can drive improvements with efforts such as DevOps.

Mr. Russell: We’ve also got tracks dedicated to data center sourcing strategies, servers, storage, and networking. The recognition that I&O budgets are often not growing commensurate with demand for new workloads from the business means we will offer a heavy concentration on cost optimization strategies – if I&O can reduce spending on legacy, it can free up precious budget dollars to spend supporting these new initiatives.

We have also ratcheted up the presentations on popular Gartner constructs such as Magic Quadrants, Hype Cycles and Market Clocks. We have keynote interviews with I&O executives from eBay and Goldman Sachs. With attendance tracking towards a record turn-out, the peer networking opportunities should be tremendous, and there will be more than 100 sponsors on the show floor.

Q: A key theme of the conference is the move toward an “Intelligent Data Center”. What is an “Intelligent Data Center”, and how can it be achieved?

Mr. Russell: The implications of the Nexus of Forces – social, mobile, cloud and information – on the data center and I&O organizations are enormous. Traditional approaches will no longer work, as the business requirements of anywhere, anytime in any format, will accelerate demand. The challenges of planning for the unknown, the need for rapid response to constantly changing market requirements balanced against long term capital constraints means that the sourcing of future data center capacity will be focused on workload, not workflow, and not on where the work is located but on what it is doing.

Mr. Chuba: The intelligent data center will be constituted by a global topology that will be a combination of internally and externally sourced capacity – a dynamic model based upon business needs and requirements. A characterization of an intelligent data center will include a virtualization of infrastructure and service components, applications that span both physical and logical, common orchestration and workflow that spans all sites. It will be achieved by breaking out of the traditional silo mentality and one-size fits all approach that has historically been taken. The role of the traditional data center manager will evolve to one requiring the skills of a portfolio manager, a finance manager, a risk manager, a marketing manager and a diplomat.

Q: What are the IT forces making new demands on the data center?

Mr. Chuba: There are many IT forces making demands on the data center. Across all areas, there are expectations of rising service levels, which places even more pressure on already stressed high availability, backup/recovery and disaster recovery systems. Simultaneously there are needs to modernize the data center in order to remain competitive and/or to replace aging systems.

The number of technologies, new approaches and emerging vendors has risen sharply in the last several years. An increasing menu of choices can also lead to greater challenges in determining the optimal course of action. As if this all were not enough, the increasing need to address all of this with an eye towards cost optimization (often cost containment) means that making the best decision and doing so rapidly becomes critical.

Mr. Russell: We have more than 50 analysts delivering presentations on these issues, offering best practice advice on how to break through current data center constraints. The ability to have one-on-one sessions with specific analysts and attend round tables with peers that are moderated by analysts offer even greater opportunity to ask specific questions, network with others and get the answers that you need in this evolving area.

Q: How important is an organization’s cloud strategy in the success of the data center?

Mr. Russell: The cloud is one of the most profound and yet complex and over hyped trends in the history of IT. For I&O leaders and personnel, determining what your cloud strategy will be, for what workloads, with what deployment model, all while maintaining or increasing security is a non-trivial task. No doubt that in the future, the cloud will take on an even more important role in the data center and for many it will become the predominate I&O delivery mechanism. The ability to understand the best uses of private, public and hybrid cloud is important in order to leverage the cloud to offer new IT services, optimize costs and become more agile in order to meet your future needs.

Mr. Chuba: At the Gartner Data Center Conference, there will be dozens of sessions on the cloud as a technology and deployment model, how to secure the cloud and what server, networking and storage virtualization considerations are needed in order to maximize results. The cloud offers the ability to lower capex costs and to respond to dynamic workload changes, but it will place new demands on management. There will be sessions focused on this critical element. We will also have industry leaders, and Gartner analysts outline how attendees can approach the cloud to succeed.

For more information on the Gartner Data Center Conference, taking place December 9-12 in Las Vegas, please visit www.gatner.com/us/datacenter. Members of the media can register for this event by contacting janessa.rivera@gartner.com.

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