CDW Says Cost Reduction Drives Server Optimization

Cost reduction is the key driver for server optimization, according to survey results released this week by CDW.

In a survey of 420 IT manager, 66 percent said they consolidate and virtualize for savings, while 56 percent said they do it for improved business continuity or disaster recovery, according to CDW Corporation, a technology products and services provider. Sixty-two percent of respondents said optimization helps improve business processes, and 51 percent said it increases application uptime.

"The survey results mesh with what we see from our customers who realize they can lower their total cost of ownership by running multiple applications on a single physical server instead of buying a separate server for each application," Firooz Ghanbarzadeh, senior segment manager of CDW Solutions said in a statement. "Virtualization, blade, and dual-core servers are key server optimization components that are reinventing the data center by creating cost efficiencies and extraordinary levels of flexibility." One of CDW's customers, Batteries Plus of Wisconsin, created redundancy using blades in its data center to avoid downtime, which costs an estimated $26,000 per hour.

"As our e-commerce needs grow, we won't need to buy as many new servers," Josh Moore, IS director of operations at Batteries Plus told CDW. Ghanbarzadeh said server optimization lowers expenses because of reduced costs of service, cooling, maintenance, management, as well as less demand for power, rack space, switching, and floor space.

Twenty-six percent of respondents preferred virtualization technologies, including partitions, while 22 percent favored blade servers and 21 percent preferred dual-core servers. Thirty-one percent of respondents ranked server sprawl as a top reason for optimization.Fifty-three percent of respondents said the initial investment is the leading obstacle to server optimization, although 90 percent rated overall cost savings as an important benefit. Forty-one percent of respondents said time is the second largest obstacle. Thirty-five percent of respondents cited the impact on service during the project/implementation, and 22 percent referenced a lack of experienced, efficient internal resources.

The survey was conducted this spring.