ChannelVision Magazine

Now, that’s not to say we will be staring down a data center apocalypse any time soon. Businesses, after all, are using more data than ever today and will require plenty of ongoing services and support in the coming years. In many ways, though, the ground is shifting underneath as the very concept of the enterprise data center is evolving. “Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders today face a daunting challenge,” said Gartner analyst Dave Cappuccio in a blog post. “The IT they have known for decades is changing — radi- cally. IT’s primary function will be to enable the business to be more agile, to enter new markets more quickly, to deliver services closer to the cus- tomer, and to position specific workloads based on business, regulatory and geopolitical impacts.” The role of the traditional data center is being relegated to that of a legacy holding area, added Cappuccio, “dedicated to very specific services that cannot be supported elsewhere, or support- ing those systems that are most economically efficient on-premises.” According to Cappuccio, the decision to main- tain a traditional data center will have limited ad- Long Live the Data Center G artner recently predicted that 80 percent of enterprises will shut down their traditional data centers by 2025, an announcement that sent ripples throughout the channel partner space. Are enterprise data centers headed for extinction? Experts weigh in on what the future may hold. Zettabytes By Gerald Baldino 32 Channel Vision | September - October, 2018