As a new digital world emerges from the dual impact of the Nexus of Forces and the Internet of Things, the personality, structure and role of data centers will need to be changed or business agility and competitive strength will be compromised, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite changes in technology for power and cooling, and changes in the design and build of these structures, the basic function and core requirements of data centers have, by and large, remained constant.

Gartner highlighted five reasons why organizations need to develop a more appropriate and modern data center strategy: 

Make the Data Center Behave More like a Factory and a Laboratory

By 2020, more than seven billion people and businesses, and close to 35 billion devices, will be connected to the Internet. This will result in a significant increase in the speed and volume of data that needs to be handled by data centers. Therefore, certain parts of the data centers need to behave like a laboratory, forensically analyzing this vast ocean of data to provide insight and actions for the business. 

Manage the Pressure on the Data Center to Become Agile and Innovative

The disruption triggered by digital business is fluid and nonstop, with the potential for massive innovation driving significant changes in IT service delivery. In order to deal with these rapid changes, many organizations have begun operating in two modes or speeds of IT. Gartner calls this "bimodal IT." As core engine delivering IT services, the data center will need to become far more agile and responsive than it has ever been and operate in a bimodal way.

Manage Different Types of Risk

Traditionally, data centers have focused on risk management, which is normally associated with downtime, system availability and application-centric breaches. Data center strategies fit for the digital world must have a key focus on a broad approach to risk management. Another important risk is that no single entity will own availability and performance service levels for the complete end-to-end transaction.

Make the Data Center Part of a Broader Hybrid Topology

Traditionally, IT spending has been about data centers delivering IT services. Currently, 38 percent of total IT spend is outside of IT, by 2017, it will be more than 50 percent. As a result, infrastructure & operations leaders must ensure that their internal data centers are able to connect into a broader hybrid topology. 

Embrace New Technologies in a Different Way

The digital world is bringing a host of new technologies that need to be managed differently in data centers. At the edge, there will be mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, which will need the operational control of data centers, such as software configurations, standardized operating environments and security patching. 

At the same time, there will be changes in the hardware of servers, storage and network equipments, and forcing data center managers to rethink about their procurement, management and support strategies. The digital world is reshaping and the technologies and vendors that have traditionally been instrumental in strong data center services are going through changes, meaning I&O leaders will need to reshape their strategy for providing IT services. 

Source: Gartner