By comparison, Dell believes that improving server utilization offers customers profound, continuing benefits. Such efforts also address critical issues related to IT and data center costs. The company found that since 2002, average x86/64 server utilization has declined from 12 percent to 5 percent, in large part due to the inefficient use business applications make of new, multi-core processor technologies. In addition, during data center assessments, Dell finds that up to 20 percent of clients' servers are essentially idle.
Dell advocates the aggressive use of virtualization to improve server utilization, drive down energy usage, and capture immediate and ongoing savings. Additionally, along with curing current problems, the company sees virtualization as a key to helping companies address next-generation issues. Even as organizations have had to deal with scale-out server "sprawl," Dell expects the next big IT challenge facing businesses will be volume storage sprawl. Accordingly, the company is developing a number of solutions, including virtualization-enhanced storage technologies.
Overall, Dell believes that in highly virtualized environments owners can recoup acquisition expenses in as little as three years. That can help companies keep spiraling IT budgets in check, and, over time, it could also drive more aggressive equipment refresh schedules. This should ensure that organizations capture the benefits of continually evolving hardware performance, but it is also likely to change acquisition, maintenance, and support models.
Esser and Becker concluded by discussing the importance of virtualization in Dell's current products and in its ongoing strategy. The company offers both rack and blade servers optimized for virtualization (with twice the memory and more robust I/O than standard servers) and supports virtualization technologies from vendors, including VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix. In addition, Dell's EqualLogic storage systems have been optimized for VMware environments. Finally, the company provides numerous consulting services related to virtualization and considers the technology essential to future offerings.
Improving data center efficiency and performance are issues embraced by virtually every IT vendor and qualify as critical goals for "green" IT and related solutions. But close examination of those offerings reveals a common dichotomy -- that vendors tend to objectively define terms like "green" and "efficiency" according to their subjective individual strengths. No surprise there, though it is akin to someone defining beauty by gazing into a mirror. More importantly, such practices tend to confuse customers and, over time, devalue the technologies and practices they intend to promote.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
There are many network courses that can address your present job's priorities and help you gain the needed skills to keep pace with industry changes and new technologies.
